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:
A lesson for my newborn son, inspired by a breakfast with Steve Jobs and my mother's last meal: http://t.co/ex9Xolxjer
— Nick Bilton (@nickbilton) August 7, 2015
M.G. Siegler highlighted a key paragraph that’s worth discussing:
Great column by @nickbilton that is applicable in literally all walks of life. http://t.co/tGpkMUfY9r pic.twitter.com/wkPo99MnZN
— M.G. Siegler (@mgsiegler) August 8, 2015
Which triggered a discussion about what should motivate people
https://twitter.com/cookednick/status/629973307182329856
@ehat @mgsiegler @nickbilton no doubt. But people should be able to (and should) derive pleasure from doing things well w/o thot of others.
— Patrick Breitenbach (@pbreit) August 11, 2015
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.
“Most people work at keeping their job rather than doing a good job.” —George Lois pic.twitter.com/NpKTOo1XPK
— John Maeda (@johnmaeda) August 15, 2015
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.
