How can you keep yourself accountable? What motivates me is to focus on the other, instead of on myself. If you're doing the minimal amount of work, does that

How can you keep yourself accountable? What motivates me is to focus on the other, instead of on myself. If you're doing the minimal amount of work, does that mean that the users are suffering? If you had put in more effort, would they be able to get more out of your software with less effort? The drive to make the best experience for my users motivates me to learn everything I can about design. What about your fellow programmers? Does anyone else have to deal with the code you wrote? If so, is your code sloppier or harder to maintain than you could have made it, had you put in more than 10%? The drive to make code a joy to work on, for others and myself, motivates me to learn. What about Google? Are they getting their money's worth out of you? This is a bit harder to sympathize with, being that now we're talking about a rich company instead of particular people. But think of it as a test of your honesty. Did you agree to work a certain number of hours but are really working a fraction thereof? Don't get me wrong, no one that I know can code for 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, without burning out. But I think your managers, if they understand programming, expect some reasonable fraction of your day to spent working hard, doing your best, etc.