This is the Key to Exceeding Every Expectation (or at least this is how Amazon.com does it)

How do you stay ahead after you get ahead of the competition?

“How do you stay ahead of ever-rising customer expectations? There’s no single way to do it — it’s a combination of many things. But high standards (widely deployed and at all levels of detail) are certainly a big part of it.”

— Jeff Bezos, from the 2018 Letter to Amazon.com Shareholders

Most people feel like they try as hard as they can. They feel like they give the most effort that is possible.

Most people put their best effort into a project and then think that is the best they can do.

But the truth is that in nearly all cases, we can do better.

Years ago, I heard a speaker start a presentation by asking everyone in the audience to reach their hand in the air as high as possible. Immediately, you had thousands of people thrusting their hands into the air — this was seemingly as high as each person could reach.

Then the speaker asked the audience, “Is that as high as you can reach?”

Nods of yes could be seen across the stadium.