"Always do more than is required of you."
It's a simplistic yet critical part to success. It has nothing to do with intelligence or talent but is linked to attitude and commitment. Many people have forged ahead in life by simply doing more than is required.
Here is a part of Mr. Maxwell's post though I recommend you read it all here.
Here are three “don’ts” and one “do” if you want to consistently exceed expectations:
Don't rely on your reputation.
I think that when we’re successful, our greatest temptation is to enjoy living on the past. We’ve gained a reputation for doing great things, and it’s really easy to “rest on our laurels,” so to speak. We forget how we got our reputation and start putting our energy into guarding it, instead of growing it anew. But we got our reputation by producing, and that’s how we need to build on it. Don’t just protect your reputation for good work. Do better work.
Don't rely on your relationships.
I’ve noticed that this is a real problem for a lot of people. For whatever reason, when they don’t meet or exceed expectations, their response is to play the “relationship card.” They say, “I know I didn’t do what I needed to do, but after all, we’re friends.”Relationships are definitely important in life and can carry us through a lot of hard times. But this kind of thing is an abuse of a relationship, and it will suffer as a result. When you rely on a relationship instead of your efforts, you not only don’t exceed expectations, you don’t meet them either.
