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> in environments where they are poorly monitored and paid a fixed wage ... Surely any rational worker would do the bare minimum to get by. This line of thinki

> in environments where they are poorly monitored and paid a fixed wage ... Surely any rational worker would do the bare minimum to get by. This line of thinking drives me crazy. Work your ass off, not for your company, but for yourself - someday you're going to have a project you really love and care about, or start your own company, or something important for yourself. If you've built habits that are lazy, bad, procrastinating, and blaming others and avoiding responsibility - you can't just flip those off. If you're mopping the floor, be the best damn floor mopper the world has ever seen. This will serve you later when you're working for the causes you care about.

SkyMarshal 16y ago
WTB more upvotes for this. Habits are everything. Maybe even the key to life, or at least professional success.
- rudyfink 16y ago
  “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Your sentiment made me think of that quote. I completely agree.
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dabent 16y ago
My motto is if one can't be a general, one can be a great lieutenant, or in the floor-mopping case, private. I didn't used to feel like that, but over the years I've changed.
silverlake 16y ago
> If you've built habits that are lazy, bad, procrastinating, and blaming others and avoiding responsibility This is a false choice: work hard vs. lazy, bad behavior. The middle ground is to meet expectations, but don't bother exceeding them if there aren't any benefits. You can use that extra time to learn new things, improve yourself, or actually have a real life outside work. I got the top job rating in my first job at a giant company, but my boss explained that due to HR policies I couldn't be promoted much faster than the average employee. So I subsequently aimed for a good rating, but didn't bust my ass anymore. I did grad school part time instead. Worked out well.

SkyMarshal 16y ago

WTB more upvotes for this. Habits are everything. Maybe even the key to life, or at least professional success.

rudyfink 16y ago
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Your sentiment made me think of that quote. I completely agree.

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dabent 16y ago

My motto is if one can't be a general, one can be a great lieutenant, or in the floor-mopping case, private. I didn't used to feel like that, but over the years I've changed.

silverlake 16y ago

> If you've built habits that are lazy, bad, procrastinating, and blaming others and avoiding responsibility This is a false choice: work hard vs. lazy, bad behavior. The middle ground is to meet expectations, but don't bother exceeding them if there aren't any benefits. You can use that extra time to learn new things, improve yourself, or actually have a real life outside work. I got the top job rating in my first job at a giant company, but my boss explained that due to HR policies I couldn't be promoted much faster than the average employee. So I subsequently aimed for a good rating, but didn't bust my ass anymore. I did grad school part time instead. Worked out well.