Of the three factors Adam shared as factors his company tries to deliver, I have failed in the past on the first one, “Deliver Quality Work.”
Something I have struggled with for many years at this point is mental health. Although it fluctuates, there is an overall effect on my ability to make or finish work to a caliber I am content with. It meant that going through high school, I would fall weeks upon weeks behind in assignments before I eventually had to do a final sprint to get them all done. As a result, the quality of my work often suffered.
It irritated me because growing up I had always been “the smart kid.” I never had to particularly try that hard in school because the understanding part always came naturally to me. So when I would do the work, my grade wouldn’t be bad, in fact, it would land me a B to an A most of the time. But I was never satisfied with it. I knew I could be doing better and yet it felt like this elusive task outside of my control.
Getting out of high school I kept this thought process with me of “I need to do better about handing in things I feel proud of.” Because even if my grade was good, I couldn’t help feeling embarrassed or ashamed for some reason. Moreover, I realized I needed to have more patience and grace with myself, because that was what was going to allow me to make things I was proud of and therefore of great quality.
Now, it’s an active effort. My work ethic now is drastically different from what it was when I was 15, 16, etc. It’s a personal standard I hold myself to because of previous experiences. I never “suffered” academically from handing in work I was less than satisfied with, but it definitely made me feel bad and therefore pushed me to always produce things of the quality I want them to be.
