Motivation During Down Economy

Recession, Poor Economy, Lay-offs, Bankruptcy ... All words you will see 10 times each day in the local newspaper... And in this economy, people clearly are nervous about job security - "White collar," "blue collar," or otherwise. I would take this to mean that people would want to do anything and everything to keep their jobs - right?

BUT ... over the last few weeks I've encountered handfuls of working class people who I am convinced either don't understand what's going on (and what it means to them) or ... Just don't care...

Here's a CRAZY idea ... In a down economy, focus on being THE BEST at what you do. If you are a media buyer, an accountant, an airline representative, or even if you work at Duane Reade. There is a lot that is out of individual contributors hands' when it comes to particular jobs, but what we can control is how good we are at our job. If you don't like your job - that's on you - but in an economy like we are in - you BETTER appreciate it. And appreciating your job means being good at it. Being good at your job often means that you are overly nice to customers, you ask your boss what more you can do, you have a smile on your face while working...