“Doing work we’re proud of is a fine alternative to being seen as less than human.”
When I was growing up, my parents tried to instill in me that doing a job right is a job worth doing.
Just doing the bare minimum isn’t enough if it doesn’t make it right or better. I want the finished job to be something that I can be proud of.
Over the years, I have always tried to go above and beyond what is asked of me. This gave me a reputation that I could be trusted for doing the job right.
I wouldn’t agree to do something if I knew I couldn’t do a good job doing it. That isn’t fair to the person asking. I knew my limitations and I knew that if I couldn’t do it and made a mess of the job, I would be disappointed in myself.
As a teacher, there were things that were expected of me every year. Each year, I tried to improve myself on these things. If there were deadlines for paperwork, I tried to have them ready before the deadline instead of waiting for the deadline. Sometimes I would have things prepared before they were even requested because I knew in advance that it was going to be needed.
If I saw other colleagues who needed help, I would try to offer to help if possible. By doing this, I knew that at some point in the future, these people might offer to help me if I needed it. Sometimes all others needed was a sounding board or an extra pair of hands. Instead of just doing what is expected of me, it never hurt to offer help to someone else.
If I saw something that needed to be done, I would pitch in to help. I didn’t wait for someone else to do it or ask me to do it. I didn’t do it to get recognition or praise. I just did it because it needed to be done and it was the right thing to do.
I can’t go through life just doing the bare minimum. That is a sad way to live and it doesn’t make me happier. Doing more makes me happier.
What things do you do more of? Please share.
No comments:
Post a Comment