How hard do you work, really?
Do you you work harder on projects that are for yourself or for a client who is paying good money for your best efforts? This is a question that came up recently while I was chatting away on twitter the other night, and I thought I would just put it out there and see what you think.
Most people answered yes, and this lead me to ask another question…is that really ethical? Should we not give our all when we are being paid to do something? Whether it is a freelance project or a 9 to 5 job, I think we all sometimes (for lack of a better word) tend to slack off a little.
I guess this is human nature, but is it fair to the other person or organisation who has invested their trust and money into us and are expecting to receive something that is of the highest quality. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not judging anyone, I just would like to know what people think about this issue.
Why not let me know 
../Ant
Posted on October 9th, 2008 at 11:44 amI find that I work harder for clients than for myself. I don’t know why this is, maybe I’m just trying to impress them more? ;/
Online HOmeschooler
Posted on October 9th, 2008 at 2:09 pmI would ask a slightly different question. Do I work harder at the things that I’m supposed to do or the things that I like to do?
I run a small online education company. I am supposed to audit/analyse the finances every month (to make sure all is healthy and squeeky clean), to review my staff each quarter, to do detailed plans and follow them, to measure progress against schedules, and other vital managerial stuff.
In reality, that all gets little attention. I tend to burn thru my days (and nights) working on new lessons,refining graphics and audio, exploring the technology & seo world, discussing theories of education with other nutcases/visionaries, or otherwise pursuing projects only vaguely related to my responsbilities.
Bottom line: Passion versus responsibility. But, before you oversimplify the lesson, let me add that my company is doing well, I indulge myself. If I was only scraping by and scared of $$$ problems, I’d be a lot more responsible.
(Sorry for submitting this twice but your template/my computer meant that the text that I was typing was not visible so I trusted my typing and unedited writing. Big mistake This second draft went thru notepad first. BTW, I think it’s your template that is creating this problem.)
John Joubert
Posted on October 9th, 2008 at 2:33 pm@Ant: Yeah, I think this is a very subjective question and would often depend on the situation, as you say, it may be important that impress you clients and therefore you work that much harder!
@Online HOmeschooler: Nice comment, I tend to agree with you, when you enjoy doing something it you seem to work harder and put more effort into it. Is this possibly just human nature?
P.S I took the liberty of removing your first comment, I hope that’s ok? Also, I have fixed the problem you were experiencing, you can now write as much as you want without losing sight of the text! Sorry about that one
Got an opinion?