Do your job.

Three simple words and one of my favorite quotes, via Bill Belichick. The quote is perfect in itself but also perfectly Belichickian in that it defines the culture that the Patriots coach has created. In the era of NFL free agency and the salary cap the Patriots dominance is remarkable. With the exception of QB Tom Brady the Patriots roster has turned over again and again yet they’re still making Super Bowl runs more than fifteen-years later.

Do your job.

I’m not a fan of the Pats but have a begrudging respect based on the success of the team. Any organization that achieves what the Patriots have during the Brady/Belichick era should command respect. My biggest takeaway from Belichick isn’t his remarkable ability to out scheme his opponents with unseen wrinkles, but his simple motto.

Do your job.

It’s not about the title you carry or your occupation. The idea of “doing your job” extends beyond what you do at work. It’s as simple as taking care of the tasks that need to be completed at home, being a good parent, or getting the oil changed in your car when it’s due. We all have “jobs” that we need to get done on a daily basis, many basic, others complex.

Doing your job is about taking pride in the simplicity of the completed task.

Like all humans I struggle at times when it comes to simply “doing my job”. I can procrastinate with the best of them, especially when there are things that need to get done around the house. Belichick’s quote is very stoic in nature, and there’s a philosophical side to taking pride and a sense of urgency in the task. According to Ryan Holiday the Stoics believed that every person, animal and thing has a place in nature. They looked at the world as an interconnected cosmos— that every person and action was part of a larger system with everyone having a job or a specific duty. In that they believed that each individual person had a duty to do their job while being good and being wise in the process.

The idea that your actions are part of a bigger and interconnected system is an interesting way to look at things. Of course on the football field this makes sense, but it’s not hard to see in other places. Yesterday was the year-end push at my day job to close out our business and fiscal year. As a sales professional I have a job to directly interface with customers and close the business that both helps me achieve my personal goals and drives revenue and value for the company while providing a quality service for the customer. Software sales can be very complex and I work in one of the most complicated areas. “Doing my job” is impossible without the help of a wide variety of people from my management, to the technical people I rely on, to the legal people that review and draft contracts, and many many more individuals beyond that. If someone along that chain isn’t doing their job, or neglecting certain aspects of their job, the entire system can be disrupted.

“Doing your job” is about having a sense of duty, knowing that others rely on you, loved ones, co-workers, etc. When I think of the concept of duty I think of the steadiness and stability of it. Isn’t that what we really want in life, to be steady and stable? Taking pride in the task at hand helps you control what you can control. It’s about finding meaning and clarity in the your daily life by completing the important tasks and to-do items that we all have daily.

There is a popular video going around of Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay and the particular job of one of his assistant coaches. While McVay stands on the sidelines completely engrossed in the action on the field, he has an assistant coach that makes sure he’s not drifting into the solid white area on the edge of the field and into the path of an official. Bumping into the official can mean a penalty. Every team has a coach, typically the strength coach, who they call the “get back” coach because it’s their job to make sure the players and coaches don’t get penalized by getting too close to the sidelines. McVay takes it a step further, having Ted Rath follow behind him and grab him if he strays too close to the field. What struck me about the video is not the fact that McVay has so much attention to detail that he has Rath doing this job— that is really a classic “football coach” move. What stood out for me in the video is the focus that Rath puts into his job. He has a job to do and he completes it with precision.

On the outside people may scoff at someone doing such a mundane task, but for McVay it’s important. NFL games are close and little things can have a big impact if they happen at bad times in the game. A penalty could stop a key drive. Naturally this job isn’t as critical as McVay calling the plays or Jared Goff running the offense, but it’s Rath’s game day job and he completes it with concentration and focus, all toward the bigger picture of the Rams running a successful game day operation.

So whether it’s something as simple as changing the windshield wipers in your car because they need replacing and it’s supposed to rain this coming weekend, or a bigger and difficult task you need to complete at work, focus on the simplicity and beauty of the satisfaction of completing the task, no matter how basic it is.

In the end it’s all about doing your job.

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