Why a job well done is so satisfying

Ken Albrecht

A young lawyer was setting up his first office after graduation in a small storefront when a client walked in the front door. Immediately, he picked up the phone on his desk and pretended to be having an important conversation. “Yes. We need to contact London today to close the deal. I’ll be in Chicago next week to discuss the merger with them.” He finished his phone conversation and spoke for the first time to the man standing in the reception area. “May I help you?” The man replied, “Yes. I’m from the phone company and I’m here to connect your phones.”

Being busy suggests a life of purpose. However, being busy is not the same as being productive.

Author Steve Chandler observed, “If I’m going to bust my butt doing all this extra work, I want to do it in the name of mastery, not in the name of pleasing my bosses and getting their attention and winning them over. I’m going to do it in the name of mastering what I’m doing because that accrues to me, that becomes my increased inner strength and I own that as opposed to ‘Oh, look, I did all this work. I stayed late and the boss didn’t even say anything about it. What a wasted night!’ ”

That’s the lunacy of doing things to get other people’s approval and to please others. It always backfires and turns into your own personal hell. Become great at what you do. No one can take that away from you.

Our greatest satisfaction will always come from a job well done.

Ken Albrecht is president of Reliable Propane in Clarence Center, N.Y.