★ Rich Habit #19: Exceeding the Expectations of Others

This is part of our Rich Habits series, by best-selling author Tom Corley. Be sure to check out all previous habits we’ve covered!

Successful people seek to exceed the expectations of others in everything they do. Doing so helps build trust and confidence others have in you. It makes others believe in you. As a result, they are more than happy to give you more responsibility, which further leads to increased opportunities. In order to exceed expectations, successful people have developed the habit of under-promising and over-delivering. They set themselves up for success, even before they take on any challenge. Successful people make it a habit of changing the other person’s perception of reality right out of the gate by reducing their expectations at the beginning of the promise stage. By reducing expectations this way, they set themselves up to over-deliver, making it easier to get that "wow" at the end. Unsuccessful people do it backwards. They have a tendency to want to “wow” others at the beginning and not at the end. They make promises right away that exceed the others' expectations before they even get started. Unsuccessful people set the bar too high in the beginning, and then fail to meet these high expectations they set for themselves. This results in distrust and a loss of confidence that others have in you. Eventually, responsibilities will be taken away and results in a loss of further opportunity down the road.

In Summary

Successful people exceed the expectations of others by managing the expectations at the very beginning of a project. They make it a habit of under-promising and over-delivering. ***** Miss any habits? The full list can be found here, and below are the last four: