You are there to do the difficult work.

My trainees surprised me the other day. A giant, delicious-looking, mouthwatering, chocolate cake was waiting for me on my desk. I was stumped. Sometimes, you get good surprises like this. Your students are happy with your teaching they are surprising you with a chocolate cake. That you can’t wait to taste.

Life is good.

But that is not why we get the job done.

That is not why we write. That is not why we stay late at night preparing for the next day’s training. That is not why we arrive at our office early preparing for the day ahead. That is not why we do our work even though we don’t always feel like doing it. That is not why we leave our beckoning bed to write — even though we want to stay on it a little bit longer.

It is not for the chocolate cake or the gift or the bonus your company surprises you that you do your job.

Of course, these things are great. Are you kidding? The cake tasted so good that I was silently praying my students would leave my office. So that I could eat it alone. So that I could close my eyes and enjoy it. Enjoying its flavor and the gesture that made it happen.

Oh yes, these things are beautiful. Especially when you did not expect them. You were just doing your job. You were not doing it for the parking space they gave you. Or the surprising bonus before the New Year. Or the beautiful name tag your office door has.

You were just doing your job.

You do the work — even if you don’t always feel like doing.

You do the work even though you are tired. Even though you are angry with a colleague who seems to spend all his days chatting on Facebook and not doing a damn thing. You want to rant to the HR people to do their job. Hire people who put in the work.

But you don’t want to waste your time and energy — when you could use it on the task that is right in front of you. Which is teaching others. You love it.

So, you do the job.

You stay at night to do the work. Because you want to be good at your job. And for that, you need to put in the work every single day.

And you engage with others. Even though you don’t always feel like it. Sometimes you want to go home and get immersed in your writings. But you know you have to communicate with colleagues and bosses who you sometimes want to poke your pen at.

They seat at their thrones and they dare to criticize your work. They don’t realize you are doing two jobs. One being a trainer and the other being a writer. They think writing is not a job. That it is not a skill. That it is a passing hobby.

Oh, you want to yell at them for how important your writing is to you. But some people don’t just get it.

So, you rise early in the morning and write every day. Even though you might be late to arrive at your work because you were immersed in your stories you forgot the time. Even though you might look tired because you have been up since 5.00 am.

Let them ask you a ridiculous question on how on earth writing can make you tired.

Ask them to walk in your shoes for just one day. Let them see how writing is mental labor. Dare them to tell you after they have walked in your shoes. Not before. After. Tell them you write not because of the money you get. Even though that is great and it is delicious just like the chocolate cake. But that is not your main reason.

You write because you love it — not because it is easy.

You do the work. Even though there is someone you can’t even stand. A colleague. A boss. An editor. The receptionist at the front desk you work at. You don’t stop doing the work just because you are having difficulty communicating with that someone you can’t get along. You learn to live with it. You learn to let some things that do not matter in the long run go.

You know in the best long-term outcome, what matters is the work you do — in spite of your ideal circumstances or not.

You do the work. Because you want to develop your talents. Your experiences.

And you ask your students why they have left you a chocolate cake on your desk.They tell you they are happy with your teaching.

And you tell them,

“But I am just doing my job.”

The long, slow, deliberate, all hands on deck method to doing your job is what gets the job done. And the chocolate is a wonderful surprise.

“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” — Vince Lombardi

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To your inspirations,

Banchi