Yesterday, I listened to a radio interview with comedian Kevin Hart who explained that he doesn’t do anything half-heartedly. If he’s going to do it, he goes all in, a trait that was evident even when he worked in a mall as a shoe salesman before hitting it big.
His attitude was that if he was going to sell shoes, he wanted to do it so well that he’d one day work as an executive at Nike. That was the vision he had for himself. He took the time to learn everything about every shoe they sold. Every paying customer left with a pamphlet that described their new purchase. And not surprisingly, he always kept his co-workers laughing, so much so that his manager recommended he try performing during an open mic night at the comedy club she frequented. He first performed to an audience of 15 people, half of whom were his co-workers who showed up to support the funny guy from work.
Today his movies have grossed nearly a billion dollars. I wonder if that would be true today if he’d just gone through the motions when he was peddling shoes?
Whatever the job, activity, assignment, etc., if you’re going to do it, why not try to do it well? Sure, some ways to spend your time are inherently more productive than others. But you can’t always predict what will lead to your best opportunities. All you can do is try to influence the value of whatever you’re doing by putting enough thought, energy, and effort into it.
A work ethic gets stronger the more you use it. So don’t be that student who’s only willing to work hard if you like the teacher, if you’ll earn service hours, if you win the elected office or get named to the starting line up or get the raise you’re hoping for. Instead, find a way to make every opportunity as valuable as possible. Yes, you should seek out things you really enjoy and try to avoid those that feel like drudgery. But not everything you do will feel like your dream job. So don’t save your work ethic for something better. Put it to work for you today and the better opportunities will almost certainly follow tomorrow.