There are three ways to approach a task.

We can be negligent about it and not meet expectations. The expectations can be our own or someone else's. Sometimes, we do our best and still don't meet expectations. That's when we have to re-evaluate the expectations in the first place. But to be negligent or not is a choice.

We can do just about what's needed to meet expectations and avoid any surprises. This is a safe choice in that nobody can point fingers at us for not doing what we were expected to. Whether the result goes our way or not, we can claim to have done our bit.

Or, we can go the extra mile and do something more than what was expected of us. We can aim to positively delight and exceed expectations. Of course, the downside here is that the extra effort may not work out. It may not result in a positive delight that we intend. And thus can be confused with negligence and the first bucket. But when it works, the results are much better than the safe choice. 

We're always considering all three options in everything that we do and picking one. The most frequent choice is the second one. That's the default and the safe choice, after all. 

But maybe we should change that.