We should do our best at whatever job we take on

No matter what you do for a living, should you do the best work possible? An interesting article by Nick Bilton on taking pride of ones work caught my attention:

M.G. Siegler highlighted a key paragraph that’s worth discussing:

do your best

Which triggered a discussion about what should motivate people

https://twitter.com/cookednick/status/629973307182329856

To do your best, why you do it matters

I think there’s a balance between doing things for yourself and doing something for the betterment of others; it’s not either or. But one thing that you can count on to make a world of difference, a factor that drives people to do their best, in how one sees him/herself is having a purpose; doing something meaningful.

The challenge is that most people only see what they do, not why they do it.

Again, why makes a world of difference. We discussed this story on my podcast a few weeks ago. Basically, as John Maeda shares, most people work at keeping their job rather than doing a good job. The common result is crap: stuff no one cares about.

People work in boring jobs because it’s easy, they are simply motivated to make a quick buck:

The new research was looking at why is it that many people are stuck in jobs that they find dissatisfying and boring … and it found that people sometimes choose occupations and professions and activities that are boring because they’re unwilling to take a chance on activities that might be more fulfilling, because they actually might carry more risk.

The truth is, as Jon Westenberg bluntly puts it on “How make something people give a shit about“:

If you want to make something that people really care about, that they actually give a hot shit about, you have to care about it yourself. Because if you don’t, then try as you might, it’ll come out in the final product.

I believe this attitude is the beginning of greatness.

Bottom line: Aim to be a person of value, no matter what you do. To do so, find your why.