Early in my career at BigConsulting, I was part of an MVNO platform pursuit where we sold capabilities that were still vaporware. We believed hard work and ambition would close the gap. It didn't. The firm took a bath on it.
Takeaway
Ambition and hard work do not circumvent reality. I vowed never to overstate capabilities again, and that conviction shaped every deal I scoped and priced from that point forward. If I tell you I can do something, it's because I've done it or something genuinely close to it. If I haven't, I'll say so.