Why do some people do the bare minimum (school/job) to get by while others give 110% and try their best?

JEDI

Lifer
Sep 25, 2001
30,160
3,300
126
i say it's motivation, or lack thereof.

but what motivates them to do their best?

or if you have a different theory...
 

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,716
417
126
tbqhwy.com
because some people realize there is no benefit to doing anything more then exactly what is needed

Peter Gibbons: You see Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care.
Bob Porter: Don't... don't care?
Peter Gibbons: It's a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don't see another dime, so where's the motivation? And here's another thing, I have eight different bosses right now.
Bob Porter: Eight?
Peter Gibbons: Eight, Bob. So that means when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that, and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.
 

cain

Banned
Aug 1, 2003
2,512
0
0
yeah, so people are just more motivated than others. some people are more open to the challenge.
 

ggnl

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2004
5,095
1
0
Because to some people money is not the most important thing in life.
 

Zanix

Diamond Member
Feb 11, 2003
5,568
12
81
Some people are stuck in the Oral-survival Circuit.

Improvement and challange is the only means to "living".
 

Mathlete

Senior member
Aug 23, 2004
652
0
71
Because some people have an intrinsic need for knowledge and to live up to their potential while others have no problem with waisting the gifts that they have been given.

This question reminds me of two things
1. The story of the talents from the Bible
2. "There is nothing sadder in life then waisted talent" A Bronx Tale
 

NuclearNed

Raconteur
May 18, 2001
7,831
295
126
My last job I was highly motivated and worked my tail off because I felt that I was doing useful things that helped people, and people appreciated my efforts. The people for whom I worked made me feel like I was an important part of the overall effort of the company.

In my current job, days can go by without me hearing even a 'hello' from my boss. Even the friendliest of my coworkers is fairly antisocial. The only hint of praise I ever get comes during my yearly review. On the flip side, I hear about every little mistake that I make. After 5 years of this, I couldn't care less about how much effort I exert, because the outcome for me will always be the same.
 

CVSiN

Diamond Member
Jul 19, 2004
9,301
0
0
becasue I get paid the same if I bust ass or not...
why punish myself there is no reward other than lost time off and being stuck in hell doing something I dont want to do in the first place...
 

Looney

Lifer
Jun 13, 2000
21,941
5
0
Personally 110% is slacking imo. I think people should be giving 200, maybe even 300%. And for the really exceptional people, 500%.
 

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
26,066
1,550
126
It depends.

I HATED everything to do with school. I thought 90% of it was a load of crap, and 10% of it was actual education/content.

I slacked off a lot there




Now at work, I actually like the company I work for (quite a bit), and I understand the importance of doing good work, so here I usually work hard.
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76
Originally posted by: JEDI
i say it's motivation, or lack thereof.

but what motivates them to do their best?

or if you have a different theory...

because there is so much more to life than school/work.
 

Amplifier

Banned
Dec 25, 2004
3,143
0
0
People who aren't giving their best dislike their line of work. No two ways about that.

Ever seen a Garbage man give 110%?
 

MoobyTheGoldenCalf

Golden Member
Jul 26, 2001
1,146
0
76
I give maybe 3-4% at my job tops cuz I can get away with it. I work with buffoons and morons. They pay me 60K+ to sit on my ass and do nothing. In fact, I only have to show up in the office once every 2 weeks. Rest of the time I "work" from home. Work... yeah right.
 

Demon-Xanth

Lifer
Feb 15, 2000
20,551
2
81
Consider my position:
In the last three years, I got the MAXIMUM raise allowed by upper management. Last year, I actually was above that. The raises I got? 0%, 2.5%, 3%. Not exactly keeping up with inflation there, much less the cost of living which has gone up some 25% in that time. The previous management said "We need to get some vacation time off the books to reduce liability, so I took some. Three months later they had a two week company wide shut down. Everyone who was a good employee got screwed. Sold our division. "You know how you rarely call in sick and have built up 155 hours of sick time? Well, sick time isn't vacation time. So you don't get anything for it.". The management isn't in it for the long term. They don't care if we aren't here two years from now. They won't be. Every extra effort I do towards making someone's job easier means more sh1t work for me. "Hey, I found a way to make a neat little fixture that you would use alot!" "Great! Now document it, make sure you get every detail right, make no less than three documents involving how to test the thing even though there's only switches and resistors, there will also need to be a document that will never be read by anyone else aside from the QA guy who is going to make sure that there are no mispelled words and that lines are bolded but has no clue what the actual meaning is..."

Or another more recent scenario:
"Hey we need you to make up this test box for us."
"What about that one I gave you two years ago?"
"We weren't using it, so we lost it."
"That's not a simple quite item to make."
"Well, we don't know where we put it."
"The thing is attached to a PC. It shouldn't be that hard."
"Make another one anyways."

I've just been lacking a reason to put in any effort. No good deed goes unpunished. Want to change my mind? Find me a job worth doing.
 

Forsythe

Platinum Member
May 2, 2004
2,825
0
0
Originally posted by: JEDI
i say it's motivation, or lack thereof.

but what motivates them to do their best?

or if you have a different theory...

I dunno. I never read a book regardnig homework in my life. But i still exelled in school. If jsut i didn't have to hand in papers it would be cool.
 

olds

Elite Member
Mar 3, 2000
50,047
706
126
It's called principles. But the last couple of generations don't know what that is. You were hired to do "X", so do "X" well.
Basically, it's doing the right thing even when there's no one around to see it.
 

KoolAidKid

Golden Member
Apr 29, 2002
1,932
0
76
The "giving 110%" thing makes just as much sense as having a guitar amp that goes up to 11.