What do you do when doing your best isn’t good enough? You do the usual best things and put forth your usual best efforts but they don’t achieve what you’re pursuing. Then what?

Should you expect more of yourself? From others? Or should you just shrug your shoulders and say, “We did our best. What else could we do?”

Watching, coaching and interacting with high performers, I’ve come to observe that this is one of the critical areas where you separate yourself. This is where you step up and become more than you are. It’s the moment of truth when you find out what you’re made of.

You’ve heard the adage, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” How many times has a tough moment of truth crossed your path and you took the “did my best” route instead of the way that took you to a higher place? Yes, you avoided any risk of failure. You maintained stability. You retained your comfortable boundaries. But you didn’t go anywhere. You stayed the same. No growth. No development. No progress.

I’ve seen otherwise ordinary people do extraordinary things for one reason—because it was necessary. They wanted the result more than they wanted to just do their best. When their best was insufficient, they found other ways. That’s when their creativity, imagination and innovation came into play. That’s when they kicked it into high gear, motivating themselves and inspiring others around them to reach for something more than the usual.

This week, reach for more. Be more. Expect more. And your best will get even better.