I have this problem for being motivated at day jobs. Rationality and de-compatmentalization actually make it worse, not better.
I’ve yet to find anybody whose personal answer to “why work any harder than the minimum to avoid getting fired?” (industry: embedded programming) works for me:
Hoping for raises or promotions: Those are so nebulous, and dependent on external factors, the expected ROI is small or nonexistent.
Pride in product: Experience has taught me that taking pride in quality work will put you at odds with your employer quite often; usually they just want something that, if you squint a bit and don’t exercise it very hard, can sort-of be called “shippable”.
Growing skillz: Seems better done on one’s own time.
Paychecks: Great for that minimal level of motivation.
Or maybe I just hate The Man more than most and am being motivatedly skeptical.
Full disclosure: I misjudged this minimum and got canned a couple months ago.
Growing skillz: Seems better done on one’s own time.
If your job allows you to grow skillz, and you are not doing so, and you are not doing anything else with your time beyond relaxing a bit, I think you’re wasting time, which is a limited resource.
(Not all jobs allow you to grow skills, and some may allow you to accomplish things you care about while getting the minimum done, so this isn’t always applicable.)
This is also a good argument for finding a job that does let you grow skillz. If you have a full-time job, you spend a lot of your time working, much more than you’re likely to spend growing skillz “on your own time”. Since you generally get better at what you practice, you may as well find a job that involves practicing skills you want to improve.
Yeah; your “full disclosure” gets at what my answer would be… one reason to target more than the absolute minimum to avoid failure is to give myself a margin for error.
Yeah rationality has helped me realize just how foolish my workplace is.(how irrational it is, actually)
For me, motivation came from doing a cost-benefit analysis on what I do at work.
Firstly, I love most of my colleagues, so I don’t want to let them down, so any work associated with them must meet or exceed their expectations and not harm them.
Secondly, I do what I commit to do, so integrity motivates me. That being said, doing extra tends to be wasted on those I do it for. So I don’t. it’s like ‘bare minimum’ but in the sense that I do the bare minimum, very well, because thats what I said I’d do. Extra mile stuff doesn’t bring enough benefit to anyone to be worth doing.
So instead, when I find myself with more time on my hands than I know what to do with, i re-invest it in myself. Growing skills, namely in Office programs, email etc, because that also serves the company in that it improves my utility. Better than if I drew up a report that no one would read.
That analysis is updated as the nature of my job changes. Currently it remains there, although that is likely to change, as people have noticed my skillset improving, and the quality of the work that I do to meet expectations is of high quality.
anyway, just my two cents, if anyone finds that useful.
I have this problem for being motivated at day jobs. Rationality and de-compatmentalization actually make it worse, not better.
I’ve yet to find anybody whose personal answer to “why work any harder than the minimum to avoid getting fired?” (industry: embedded programming) works for me:
Hoping for raises or promotions: Those are so nebulous, and dependent on external factors, the expected ROI is small or nonexistent.
Pride in product: Experience has taught me that taking pride in quality work will put you at odds with your employer quite often; usually they just want something that, if you squint a bit and don’t exercise it very hard, can sort-of be called “shippable”.
Growing skillz: Seems better done on one’s own time.
Paychecks: Great for that minimal level of motivation.
Or maybe I just hate The Man more than most and am being motivatedly skeptical.
Full disclosure: I misjudged this minimum and got canned a couple months ago.
If your job allows you to grow skillz, and you are not doing so, and you are not doing anything else with your time beyond relaxing a bit, I think you’re wasting time, which is a limited resource.
(Not all jobs allow you to grow skills, and some may allow you to accomplish things you care about while getting the minimum done, so this isn’t always applicable.)
This is also a good argument for finding a job that does let you grow skillz. If you have a full-time job, you spend a lot of your time working, much more than you’re likely to spend growing skillz “on your own time”. Since you generally get better at what you practice, you may as well find a job that involves practicing skills you want to improve.
Good point, thanks.
Yeah; your “full disclosure” gets at what my answer would be… one reason to target more than the absolute minimum to avoid failure is to give myself a margin for error.
Yeah rationality has helped me realize just how foolish my workplace is.(how irrational it is, actually)
For me, motivation came from doing a cost-benefit analysis on what I do at work.
Firstly, I love most of my colleagues, so I don’t want to let them down, so any work associated with them must meet or exceed their expectations and not harm them.
Secondly, I do what I commit to do, so integrity motivates me. That being said, doing extra tends to be wasted on those I do it for. So I don’t. it’s like ‘bare minimum’ but in the sense that I do the bare minimum, very well, because thats what I said I’d do. Extra mile stuff doesn’t bring enough benefit to anyone to be worth doing.
So instead, when I find myself with more time on my hands than I know what to do with, i re-invest it in myself. Growing skills, namely in Office programs, email etc, because that also serves the company in that it improves my utility. Better than if I drew up a report that no one would read.
That analysis is updated as the nature of my job changes. Currently it remains there, although that is likely to change, as people have noticed my skillset improving, and the quality of the work that I do to meet expectations is of high quality.
anyway, just my two cents, if anyone finds that useful.
Excellent, thanks!