From Knowing to Doing II

Do the Job Well—Even When You Don’t Want to Do It

There are going to be things in life that you simply don’t want to do. Sometimes it’s a job you’ve outgrown. Sometimes it’s an assignment you didn’t ask for. Maybe it’s paperwork, a difficult conversation, a household responsibility, or one of those tasks that seems to drain your energy the moment you think about it. Our natural response is often resistance.

We procrastinate. We complain. We do just enough to get by. We tell ourselves, “I don’t care about this anyway.”

But there is another way to approach it. If you have to do it, do it well. Not because the task deserves your best effort, but because you deserve to maintain your standard.

Your Feelings and Your Standards Are Two Different Things

You don't have to pretend to enjoy something you dislike. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging, “I really don't want to do this.” The problem comes when that feeling determines the quality of your effort. When we allow our standards to rise and fall according to how we feel, we give our emotions control over our performance.

Ask yourself:

“Regardless of how I feel about this, what does doing it well look like?”

Look for What the Experience Is Building in You

Sometimes the value of an experience isn't the experience itself. It's what the experience requires you to develop. A frustrating job might be strengthening your patience.

A tedious assignment might be developing your discipline. Working with a difficult person might be improving your emotional self-management. Completing something you don't enjoy might be teaching you how to follow through when motivation disappears.

Try asking:

“What can I develop in myself while I'm doing this?”

Don't Wait for Motivation—Create Momentum

One of the biggest mistakes we make with undesirable tasks is waiting until we feel like doing them. Don't think about the entire project. Identify the next action. Action has a way of creating energy that thinking about action rarely does. Once you begin, progress becomes visible. Visible progress creates momentum. And momentum can carry you through work that motivation never would. Give yourself a finish line as well.

Set a deadline. Break the work into manageable pieces. Decide what “done” looks like. And when appropriate, give yourself something to look forward to when you've completed it. You're creating a system that helps you act even when your feelings aren't cooperating.

Your Work Is Temporary. Who You're Becoming Isn't.

You may not control every responsibility that comes your way. You may not like every assignment. You may even recognize that it's time to leave a particular job, role, relationship, or situation. But until you make that transition, you still get to decide how you show up. So when you don't want to do the job, remember three things:

Separate your feelings from your standards.

Look for what the experience is developing in you.

Create momentum instead of waiting for motivation.

Then do the best job you can. Not because every task deserves the best of you.

But because repeatedly choosing excellence, discipline, and intentionality helps shape the person you are becoming. And sometimes the greatest benefit of doing a job well has very little to do with the job.

It's about who you become while doing it. Narrow the gap. Grow into your greatness.