Let Your Work Speak For You

While driving on the road in Durham, NC, the other day, I saw a pick-up truck from a roofing company. On the back of the truck was the company's motto on it that I thought was pretty deep.

"We always do good work,
For a profit if we can,
At a loss if we must,
But we always do good work."

That motto would make me want to call them up! Most companies have lame mottos that have no depth at all. But this small-business company had the best mottos that I've seen in any company, because that motto describes the integrity of that company. They would give me good work no matter what. That is to say, they take PRIDE in their work. They know that their work reflects who they are, and any sloppy work they do would tarnish their name.

I could put their motto in this manner: we always do good work, even if we get nothing for it.

You see, your work is your signature in life. How good you do something reflects the amount of integrity you have. It's easy to do good work when you're getting paid for it, but a person of high integrity would do good work even if he or she didn't get a dime from it.

I'm the type of person who prides himself on his work. No, I'm not going around boasting about how awesome I am. No, for me, I let my work do the talking for me. No matter what kind of job I do, I make sure that my work tells the world who I am. My work is my voice. If my work can't praise me, then all the words I could speak boasting about myself would be meaningless.

With my ZUMBA fitness classes, I especially make sure that I do good work. I get very little payment from it since the class is donation based. I could easily get sloppy with the class, thinking that since the class is essentially free, I don't need to work too hard on it. But no, I want to give my participants the BEST, especially to those who are financially struggling. I want those folks to feel that they could get a high quality class for nothing. At one time, one woman remarked, "I can't believe something this good is free! It's like a gem!"

Yes, I take pride in doing good work.

When I have new people come to my class, I don't tell them how great it is. I don't boast about it and I don't tell them that they would get a great work-out. I don't even tell them what the average attendance is like anymore. No, I just give them the basic cues of the class and tell them to have fun. Then, I would just let my work do the talking. Almost always, the new people would tell me, "That was great! I am definitely coming back!" And no, I don't even stop them after class to ask how they liked it. I figure that if they enjoyed it, they'll be back. If they didn't like it, I won't see them again. Plain and simple. Either way, when the music is off, my work has stopped talking. My work has told the new folks everything they need to know about the class.

When I was having sound issues at the church not too long ago, I felt embarrassed! Something went wrong with the speakers, so I had to use my portable sound system -- and man, that nearly killed me! The music was so low, the energy was low, and you could hear everybody's foot steps. I told my wife that I can't conduct a class like that again! This was a POOR reflection of my work. I would rather cancel the ZUMBA class and do an outdoor fitness activity than to conduct the ZUMBA class with poor-quality sound. If I believe that something would make my work seem poor, I won't do it if I could help it.

You see, so many of us talk too much. We put more emphasis on our words than on our work. If your work can't praise you, then you have bad work. If your work can't convince me of the greatness of your ability, then you need to do some better work.

How many of you have taken your car to the shop but never knew who worked on your car? Typically, you don't know the mechanic who would be dealing with your car. But all you care about is whether or not the mechanic would do some good work. You could care less about how awesome the mechanic thinks he (or she) is. If that mechanic could do good work, then as far as you're concerned, he (or she) could be a 16-year-old drop-out who just got off parole!

How well does your work speak for you? Do you take so much pride in your work that you will make sure to do exceptional work even if you get no credit for it? Would you do exceptional work even if you didn't get paid for it? Do you equate your work with your name? That is, do you see your work giving you either a good or bad reputation?

I love the idea of "working interviews." Instead of verbally interviewing a candidate, watch the candidate in action. In fact, if it were up to me, I wouldn't ask anything about that candidate. Let me just see this person's work, and THEN I would care to know more about this person. You might be the holiest person in the world, but if you can't do the job well, then, well, things won't work out for you on the job.

The whole idea of temping agencies is to allow employers to watch candidates in action. If you're a part of a temping agency, then you REALLY need to polish your work. Because all the employer is looking at is the quality of your work: do you always come to work on time, how do you treat others, do you get the job done on time, do you seem to be an expert at what you do?

The older I get, the more I realize that your work speaks louder than your words. Your work should be so good that you shouldn't have to say anything about it. Just do the work and let everybody stand in awe. Then once you see all the "shock and awe" in the crowd, you could just simply smile and still say nothing. What would you need to say? Your work did all the talking for you. If you're selling your work, all you need to say is, "Would that be cash or credit?"

In life, your work makes or breaks you. If you want to be respectable among your friends, co-workers, bosses, etc., then do good work. Do the work well, even if you won't get any material gains from it. Do great work even if it's at a loss. Do superior work even if you won't receive any credit for it. Make it a goal to always do good work no matter what.