By Todd Duncan

The truth is all jobs require tasks we don’t love. Even dream jobs require mundane to-dos. Once you determine which job best suits you right now, the question you should ask at least twice a year is: Are my work requirements achieving the reward (or highest need) I seek?

If your highest need is currently stability via a comfortable job, then regularly ask the question this way: Are my work requirements achieving stability?

If your highest need is currently gratifying achievement via an inspirational job, then regularly ask the question this way: Are my work requirements achieving emotional gratification?

Your requirement/reward tension will begin turning toward harmony when you move toward work requirements that allowed you to consistently achieve your higher need. To do this, you must make two activities the core of your work ethic. The combination will arm you with the resources for harmonizing any requirement/reward tension that arises.

Habitual Excellence

The person committed to doing every task with excellence achieves more than a personal pat on the back. Habitual excellence opens doors whether or not it is recognized in the context of your particular organization.

Habitual excellence increases self-knowledge. If you carry out only rewarding tasks with excellence, you will learn nothing new about yourself. And who’s to say you have already discovered your greatest strength or highest joy? The process of finding your requirement/reward harmony will always coincide with an earnest process of self-discovery. That requires studying what you do and do not prefer, and your level of confidence with the former has much to do with your experience with the latter.

Habitual excellence builds momentum. Landing the perfect job does not mean you will always have perfectly scripted days full of perfectly suited tasks. Work will still feel like work at times, but it’s in those moments that your character is forged. If your character withstands the test of mundane tasks, you will be equipped to exploit great opportunities.

Full Engagement

The best way to earn equity in an experience is full engagement. A missionary named Jim Elliot said it this way: “Wherever you are, be all there.” By being all there at your job, whether or not it’s a perfect fit, you are placing deposits into your bank of experience that can be withdrawn now or down the road.

Maintaining Requirements/Rewards Harmony

Is there a perfect formula for maintaining a work/life harmony where requirements consistently promote rewards? Yes. It’s called keeping your circumstances in check so the effect of your job requirements remains rewarding. In other words, it meets your higher need. This is nothing groundbreaking, but it’s something the vast majority doesn’t do.

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