Pride in life equals pride in work 

Pride, honour, ambition, and integrity are standardised, significant qualities that make us as humans unique. The combination of these characteristics makes the perfect candidate for most occupations that also assures respect and admiration that is sought of in society.

Consider this, why do we respect and want people who provide quality services and promises well delivered satisfaction, rather than those who are the opposite? The answer to this is simple, Pride and Honour in one’s work and self.

Some cultures regard having and implementing honour in their work, as a primary importance and source to their lifestyle – it is their way of being, such as the Japanese culture. In this culture it is regarded a disgrace not only to oneself but also to their whole family if they do not deliver 100% work satisfaction. They take pride in their work, as it is part of their self, their life existence. Unfortunately, the downside of this is that pride can also be destructive of the self and the image you try to create. Therefore, it is important to have a balance between the light and dark sides of this quality. Know where to draw the line in order to save your ego/image from self-destruction, through implementing self-exploration, self-evaluation and self-knowledge.

During the past five decades the honour and pride we express in our work have unfortunately deteriorated. The reasons for this vary and can stretch from a person having no work-satisfaction, to a person losing their drive and ambition in the work itself. Other factors contributing to this are:

• A person placed in the wrong position – not knowing how to fulfil the job descriptions and expectations.
• A person not being appreciated – these people are pulled down instead of encouraged to thrive and reach their ultimate potential.
• Following another occupation that is not your passion – these people are only doing their jobs simply because they were discouraged by others not to follow their passion and potential. (These are the situations where known phrases such as “you will never make it” or “you will never make enough money and be successful” are used).
• In more cases than others, people do it for the satisfaction of financial gain.

The mentioned reasons for pride decreasing in work is but a minor factor. Most of the pride that decreases can be contributed to how we see ourselves – our self-image. Various psychological studies and research have shown that our self-image and self-preservation is more important to how others perceive oneself. The world and others may have a contribution to the creation of a person’s self-image such as values, norms, likes, dislikes, rules, but a person can only be acquiescent to these once the self opens up to this external information. That is known as ingenuity and self-choice – one aspect that makes humanity more superior to any other existing organism.

According to the previous stated fact, we as people have a choice to give it our all to assure we live a quality life, instead of a quantity life. That in all, is what we strive for as human beings – when one’s life comes to an end, you can look back and have no regrets but only pride and honour of the footprint you left behind and offered the world/life.

Bringing back the pride we have in ourselves, will thus definitely bring back pride, honour, ambition, and integrity in one’s work. Take the bull by the horns and give your quality self to the world that needs it so much more.