Go an Extra Mile

. . . and achieve your goals

Og Mandino, in his book The Greatest Miracle in the World, writes, "GO ANOTHER MILE." He believes this is the single most important rule of success. I could repeat it over and over and over.

When we do more than others expect of us, we get noticed. At work, this often means we have first crack at opportunities for advancement. When hiring or promoting, management usually considers employees' ability to do more than is expected.

When our tasks are complete, we could help someone else complete theirs. Not only will our boss appreciate it, but our co-workers will too, and our work environment will be more pleasant. When we go the extra mile at work, our services become more valuable and we can eventually negotiate better terms for them.

Continually ask yourself as a worker, "Am I doing more than is expected of me?" Your career will take off. Continually ask yourself as an employer, "Am I doing more for my employees than is expected of me?" Your company will attract dedicated, hard-working employees.

Outside of work, there are many ways to go the extra mile and many benefits that come from it. Going the extra mile with compassion in a relationship allows both people to trust each other more. As a consequence, each receives a greater degree of honesty and intimacy.

Going the extra mile by re-negotiating an agreement that can't be met, rather than breaking it, shows the other person respect. And often the respect is returned.

Sometimes going the extra mile is about perseverance. When I miss making a sale, for example, going the extra mile can be achieved by making more sales calls until I reach my goal of making a sale.

The best retail salesperson I’ve met, just keeps saying, ‘Next,’ and knows that when he perseveres, there will eventually be a sale. He keeps doing sales interviews until he succeeds. Then he sets a new goal. He goes the extra mile in the way he thinks, and he follows through with perseverance.

The payback comes. It's the law of attraction. You've probably heard of "bad" Karma, which sees our "bad" feelings and actions return to us. But there is also "good" Karma, which rewards positive feelings and actions in equal fashion.

If we aren't directly acknowledged for going another mile, we needn't fear that we aren't being noticed. We are—not necessarily by those we thought would notice, but certainly by those truly interested in someone who desires success. We may, for example, be offered a better job with a customer or competitor's firm if our current boss doesn’t notice.

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