As we draw towards another graduation ceremony time across the country, I am reminded yet again about the value of hard work. Last December, I went to the graduation ceremony of a close friend getting his Master’s Degree from the University of Central Florida. The speaker was Lt. General Thomas L. Baptiste, USAF (Ret) who now serves as president and executive director of the National Center for Simulation since January 2010. Since my friend was graduating with his degree in Engineering Modeling and Simulation, Lt. General Baptiste was a great choice. Better, he delivered a powerful message.
As I listened, I was drawn into one of his main points, that life demands your best effort at every stop on the way. Since he had spent all those years in the military, thus had travelled around and had lots of stops, he said that often he is asked for what was his best job. He said that “I always replied the same way. My best job was the job I had currently.” Wow. Powerful.
He then went on to explain the point. Having grown up in a lower-middle class family (sounded like mine), he had experienced the reality of hard work. But just hard work wasn’t the deal; instead the idea was how that when he had whatever job, he needed to give his very best effort.
Now, “very best effort” is in the same arena as “diligent effort” or “hard work,” —they are related ideas, yet different. To work hard speaks to the overall effort being put in. Yet, there are times when people will “work hard” or “put in the effort” yet still have a bad attitude and their overall work product is low. The quality of their work, even hard work, was low.
In my classes, I incorporate the concept of daily preparation for the students. It’s part of their overall grade (only 10%, so slight, but it pays big dividends). Those who come to class prepared are more engaged in the class and typically score better grades than those who don’t come prepared. Students who prepare at least 80% of the time for the class get an “A” or a “B” 80% of the time. Those who only prepare at a C or worse level, get a C or lower grade 80% of the time. But, 20% of the time, students who do enough to get a “passing” mark from me on the “prep work” don’t get an “A” or “B.” Typically, the reason why is because the work that they put in was not very impressive. Yes, they did the work, and turned something in, but the quality was low, so when it came time to confront the assessment for the unit, they did not do well.
Baptiste’s point then was to always work at a high quality level. He said that he had jobs cleaning the toilet early in his military career. He recounted how he didn’t bemoan his fate, or argue that he was “better than this” or deserved better or that the job was beneath him. He didn’t waste time daydreaming about some future day when he’d have a better job. Instead, he just got to work, doing both the effort and the quality.
If you read this blog, I know you want to live well. You want to be on the road to success. You obviously have dreams and goals of future things you hope to succeed at. That’s great, but it will never happen if where you are right now never gets your best effort. So, today, do whatever you do as if this was the best possible job and put in your best quality ever.
Trust me, it will make a difference and be noticed—if not now, then later.