Sometimes you have to remind yourself when the race is over...

I was having a discussion today with someone on the Warrior Forum about knowing when a product or service we have created or are promoting is “good enough” and how much we should service we should “over-deliver”.  In fact part of the discussion centered around what “over-delivering” really means.

You see, sometimes success oriented persons will try to please every customer to the point of giving away much of their time and products/services just because we have a mindset that we want to please them – but we really do them a disservice as well as to ourselves and our families.

I recently wrote a post about “Closure – 99 percent is not Done” but after you reach that 100 percent mark, once you have given a little bit more than you said (your “over-delivering”), then you need to say: “It is done.”

At that point, you need to manage your time, perhaps you charge a small fee for support, perhaps you write a FAQ for general questions and only respond to questions that have actual merit, or point out a true deficiency in your product or service where you have promised to deliver something that is not there.

You need to know when to draw the line, and say, “I have other obligations to myself, my family, my God, whatever.”  Because when you are Achievement Oriented, it is easy to consider every project, service, product, and area of your business as your baby – and it is! but sometimes we need to remind ourselves that in reality these things are THINGS.  As such, they do not actually deserve to exhaust us, and deplete us.  As in everything about being a Master Achiever, balance must always be sought for true success.

So by all means deliver products, services, performance above and beyond what you promise – but make sure you know where the finish line is, and when you cross it, be able to say to yourself and others: “I am done.”

David T. McKee