I recently came back from FMCAD in November and I was fortunate to meet a lot of great people there.  One thing I love to ask for is advice, especially from successful people.  Here’s a tidbit from my experience there:

When working at a job as an employee, people may tell you that you’re doing a good job.  They may even say you’re exceptional but if you’re just doing your job, how exceptional are you really?  How does this compare to someone who is consistently going beyond their job requirements?  Consistently surpassing expectations?  Consistently outperforming?  That’s truly exceptional.

To accomplish this you need to be proactive and assertive.  The only problem is that no one will tell you this.  They’ll keep telling you about the great job you’re doing.  And that’s what you’ll end up doing, a great job.  The same job.  Until you decide you want to do more.  So the question is, what kind of job do you want to be doing?