A Tip for Success: OVERDELIVER!

Some people ask me, "Tri, how do you differentiate good staff from bad staff in your team?" I find the single most important determinant of a successful person is that he/she always overdelivers on promises. This is the type of staff and team member that I will always reward and cherish.

What does OVERDELIVERING mean? You have to overdeliver in both the 'what' and the 'when' - no matter what! So for instance, if you tell your boss or your team or your clients, "Oh, I am going to finish so and so by next Tuesday", then you'd better finish the whole job superbly by, for example, one day before. This is what overdelivering means: In both the 'what' and the 'when'.

I see a lot of young people these days, particularly those born and raised in a relatively rich family, to lack this characteristic. They tend to be 'spoiled' (or what Indonesians call 'manja') in this department. They are more interested in the instant money ('what have you done for me lately' syndrome) before they overdeliver continuously over a sustained period of time. They usually have various excuses (and often self-pity!) to explain why they can't follow through on what they promised. Frankly, a lot of this come from upbringing. My parents always taught me to focus on overdelivering on what I promised, again and again and again and again, and when I deserved it, the reward would eventually come.

Overdelivering is a special skill - it takes persistence, strong will, discipline, hustle and just sheer 'bulldog' ness! It doesn't matter if you 'feel like it' or 'don't feel like it', 'in the mood' or 'not in the mood', you still have to follow through and overdeliver.

There's one other key test which is related to the above which I recommend you use to see if your team members are good or not. Just see if they follow through when 'no one is watching'. Will they follow through on their promises to you or not? Do they only perform when you stand next to them waiting for the tasks to get done? And when you are not watching, does it get done? This can be observed and discerned. Successful people are self-driven: they continue to perform with fierce resolve even when no one is watching.

I hope this would be helpful in your lives as well. Or perhaps if you or someone close to you fall in the category of the 'underdeliverers', then remember this tip: Make sure you always OVERDELIVER on your promises to others, and to yourselves, even if no one is watching!

Psalm 139 - The Inescapable God

I read this wonderful Psalm tonight - I was so inspired that I want to write the whole Psalm here and share it with you.

Regards
Tri


PSALM 139: The Inescapable God
- A Psalm of David -

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night,"
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God?
How vast is the sum of them!
I try to count them - they are more than the sand;
I come to the end - I am still with you.

O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me -
those who speak of you maliciously,
and lift themselves up against you for evil!
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts.
See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.