Your Work Ethic and Pride in Your Work | Online Executive and Admin Assistant Training

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What We Can’t Teach You - Blog Series Part 1

Submitted by Ethan on August 04, 2009 at 03:13 PM

Your Work Ethic and Pride in Your Work.

strong work ethic

As the introduction to our blog series “What We Can’t Teach You” explained, there are a number of traits, characteristics and attributes that will affect your job performance that we can’t, nor anyone else for that matter, teach you.

The trait we’re going to take a look at today is your work ethic and having pride in the work you perform.

Unless you’re training and competing to be a Navy Seal (like the man in the picture to the right) or some other similar strict hierarchy program, we believe that you develop your work ethic through the observation of and example set by your parents. Having a sense of pride in your work then reinforces your work ethic by always wanting to strive for your best performance.

I developed my strong work ethic via all four of my parents as each was highly committed to and striving for the highest level of success in each of their chosen careers. Stephanie developed hers from watching her parents follow their own entrepreneurial spirit and the hard work it took them to fully succeed on those pursuits.

“Whoop dee freakin’ do” you might be thinking… especially if your parents didn’t exactly set the highest of bars when it came to their own work ethic. So the question then becomes, “If I’m not in the military and my parents weren’t good role models in the work ethic department, where does that leave me?”

Here’s the thing: As with all of the traits and characteristics that are going to be discussed in this blog series, all of them require a shift in your own mind in terms of how you view and value each. Once that shift is made and committed to, you, along with your co-workers and superiors, will take notice.

In terms of your work ethic and having pride in your work as an assistant, examples of such are: being on time to work (we know; obvious but you’d be surprised…), knowing where you are with each item on your “to-do list”, not letting little things (like a fax coversheet or confirmation #‘s) fall through the cracks, having a positive/can-do attitude even when things fall apart, accounting for every penny on that expense report… you get the idea.

The problem with assisting work is that many of your responsibilities go unnoticed UNLESS & UNTIL there is a screw up. But by having the right work ethic and pride in your work from the get-go, your boss will cut you some slack when, inevitably, you screw up. Keeping your ego in check and having pride in your work, even if it’s just getting your boss’ coffee the way they like it every time, your strong performance will be noticed and propel you down your chosen career path.

Take a look at the guy below and ask yourself, “Is that the guy I want to be known as?”

poor work ethic