To constantly succeed at your job: Add value beyond expectations & Don�t become a clock watcher. In your job, you are selling your skills and your employer is trying to make money from your skills.

1. Add Value At Every Turn

3. Over The Years… I became very proficient at identifying these types of people. Generally, people of the latter persuasion, who may feel they do not need to impress their superiors or work as hard, end up getting cast out of organizations and having very marginal careers. Before I go any further, I want to let you in on a secret. I do not care who you are or what work you have done in the past. This secret is as old as the hills but very few people understand it.

4. The Secret Is This… You will never arrive and be treated with massive deference because of your past achievements. You never, ever arrive. At each stage of the game you will be called upon to prove yourself even more.

5. Watch How the Media Treats Presidential Candidates, Movie Stars… And other celebrities. At each stage of the game, the scrutiny they undergo gets tougher and tougher. The price for past success is great, and expectations for further achievement become increasingly higher. People’s generosity tends to diminish in relation to other’s success. You will get less of a “break.” Every subsequent endeavor is expected to surpass the last achievement. Therefore, you never really arrive. The journey simply continues.

6. The Primary Purpose of Any Business, Job, Industry, or Service… Is to add value in greater proportion than the cost of what you are hired for. This is what the entire business world is about. In your job, you are selling your skills and your employer is trying to make money from your skills. Just like a product that is sold for a profit, your services are “goods” that your employer needs to see a high profit margin on.

7. Several Years Ago… As I was thinking about buying a car, I remember being confronted with two choices: one was an American car, the other was German-made. The one thing that convinced me to purchase the German car was its predicted resale value. Incredibly, after two years of owning the German car, I ended up selling it for only $2,000 less than it had cost me to purchase it new. If I had purchased the American car, I would have lost $10,000 or more in value in those two years. The German automaker-on more than one level-provided more value in its product than the American automaker. It is like this with jobs and other products as well.

8. At Work… I am sure you see people who work very, very hard and don’t waste time on the job. I am also sure you see people who are “clock watchers” and do the opposite. Companies want to surround themselves with people who work hard and are out to give more than they take. The worst thing you can do in any job is focus on performing at the minimum level for what you are earning.

9. I Have Seen… Employees on salary talk about how much they make per hour. These employees obsess over how much they are getting and only work the minimum amount that they can get away with. When you are on salary you should not think like this. You are a part of the team.

10. Your Task In Every Job Is… To add as much value as you can to your employer. You need to understand that if you do not add value, you may not have a job. In terms of your team and the people you work with, your task is to add value to the customers you are serving. If you do not add value to your customers, you may not have a job. If your team does not add value, you may get laid off. If what you are doing does not add value, your industry could cease to exist.

11. No Matter What The Job, Service, Or Industry… It is always about adding value beyond expectation.