Work Ethic - Courage
My mom taught me at a young age that I should never let money impact the way I work. Regardless of compensation, I should do my best. She further explained that the people who do not show their best work, because they aren’t being paid very much, may never get a chance for a better paying job because others will assume that the quality of their work reflects their full capacity and motivation.
She also taught me a valuable lesson about discouragement and self-doubt. Summer 1989, I was struggling to learn algebra in a summer school class. I was sitting alone in front of my school book and notepad, frozen with frustration, anger, and discouragement. My mom was often busy with church service, community volunteer work, managing a household of eight (six being her children) but she always took time to sit with me, help me with my homework, and impart wisdom.
On this day, she sat down next to me and said, “I can see that you’re frustrated and discouraged. It’s common for people to feel these feelings. Always remember though, when someone is paying you to do a job, they do not need your frustration or discouragement, they need your help, your best, and right now your job is being a student. So don’t let your frustration and discouragement stop you from doing that today.” This conversation was not much of a conversation, she did all the talking, while I hung my head low, staring at the floor, not speaking. Before the mother-son conversation was finished she said, ”Look at me, tell me you understand and promise to do your best.” Looking at her, and speaking the words, “Yes, I understand and yes, I promise,” gave me the courage to keep working, to keep trying to understand my algebra homework. About thirty minutes after that conversation, the dark clouds of discouragement left and my mind was clear; I was figuring out my homework.
I’ve reflected on that conversation many times over the past 30 plus years. I’m also happy to report to my mom, that this single conversation long ago, likely did more for my success in the workplace than anything else. Although frustration and discouragement have been a consistent struggle in my personal life, it has not been in my work life.
For the benefit of my sons, I knew that I needed to figure out why I had this division in my life. Why was I able to deliver quality work to employers, but not give myself the same benefits in my personal life? Situational excellence is a common condition in western society and I’ve come to see it as something very harmful to the individual. I feel that the inconsistency inside of us, creates fractures and disfunction. I’ve also come to believe that if we want to be happy and whole, we need to treat all of our work the same, with excellence as the constant goal, and if anything in life doesn’t deserve excellence, maybe it shouldn’t be in our life.