I always tell myself to never start something without the intention of finishing it. Or in some cases, don’t start something without building from it. For the most part, I always stick to that. I used to question why my friends jumped from jobs so often. Can’t you find something that suits you? Then, I had a similar experience of terror and to say the least I am now more open minded. No one goes into a job with the intention of being a failure or to just quit. Sure, not everyone has the same work ethic, but I believe when people quit they are not quitting the job. They are quitting the factors that make the job unbearable. The boss that doesn’t appreciate them, the negative feeling they get every time their alarm clock goes off for work, the fake smile they wear when talking to co-workers that they know speak poorly of them, that’s what they are quitting.

When I go into something, I go into it with every intention of becoming successful. It doesn’t matter what it is, I just want to be the best that I can be at it. The awful reality of it is, you can be doing everything right and still be brought down. You can be the most enthusiastic, hard working person that there is and not be enough. At first you can ignore the negativity but eventually you suffocate in it. It drains every ounce of positivity you have until you finally hate showing up. After you reach that point, you’ll never thrive at that job. So, you’ll leave and feel even worse about it but only for a few weeks.

I feel like employers don’t realize the importance of giving feedback to their employees. Everyone wants to know how they are doing in a job and better yet how they can improve themselves. If I am showing up to work every day, giving my all, and going above and beyond my role duties but still don’t get any recognition, I’m not going to feel very good about my job. Sure, I feel like I did everything I could, I’m literally exhausted, but if no one realizes the effort put in I feel like it still wasn’t enough. I can’t be the best that I can be if no one is there to guide me to be better. You don’t have to come hold my hand through everything, but if I am a part of your company I want to feel like I make a significant difference. That also goes with whatever I may be doing incorrectly. Don’t allow me to continue making mistakes, let me know if you prefer something different so that I can fix them. I’m here to grow but I can’t do that without knowing.

I also am not one to suck up to authority figures to gain some sort of leniency for the work that I am supposed to complete. It is nice to have good relationships with managers and co-workers but not to a point where people can get away with not doing their share of work. There is always that handful of people that get to spend half of the shift talking it up with managers. Must be nice to get paid to stand around and leave everyone else to pull the weight. However, I think that the work that someone does speaks for them. It shows their dedication to what they accomplish as well as how determined they are to meet their goals. I personally think that nothing that I could stand up there and say about myself matters. It is one thing to talk yourself up and another to show what you can do. Actions speak for themselves.

My work ethic was strong, I stayed over multiple hours every shift. You will not find too many that are willing to do that. I was dedicated to my work, as I try to be with everything that I’m a part of. I did more than I was paid for because I wanted to feel proud of the job I did. I covered more shifts than I really had the time for because I thought it would help build connections. The only thing it led to was being called in for more. I never missed a shift and was always early, most of the time I worked through breaks. I tried too hard because I was never sure if I was doing a good job, even though I was doing nearly triple the work of some. Then I stopped wanting to put in the extra for people that didn’t appreciate my efforts. I stopped trying to rush myself at work to get more than I was assigned done and instead settled for only getting my tasks accomplished. Why overwork myself to help people that don’t appreciate my efforts? They never noticed my extra efforts but were quick to notice how much I had slowed down.

It just goes to show that surroundings change work ethics. The negative comments from employers change attitudes. The lack of recognition kills optimism. You can take some of the best workers and turn them into average. They will not stay that way, just while they are in that environment. People need to know that they are doing the right thing, that they are in the right place and making a difference. Good workers deserve that much. If people are not treated well, they are not going to stay. They can give 110% but only for so long before they realize they need to take care of themselves. You cannot pour from an empty cup. If you are continuously giving to a company and they fail to return even the slightest praise, your cup runs out.

What do you want to be at the end of the day? Successful. You should want to be better than you were yesterday and strive to be even better tomorrow. You always have the power to do that, just make sure that you are happy while doing so. Life is too short to settle for less. There are so many opportunities where you will be appreciated that you do not need to stay where you are not. A little appreciate goes a long way.