Who do you work for?

Who do you work for?

I'm not talking about the company you work for, or the guy or gal to whom you report.

I'm talking about who the people are that inspire you to work harder and get better.

Everyone works for themselves to a certain extent. Maybe you work to live, and have that job simply to allow you to eat good food, go on vacation, and enjoy your life outside of the office. That's a good thing.

Or maybe you live to work, and work for yourself in the sense that you want to enjoy the 8-12 hours a day you spend at your job, so you pursue a career in an industry that you love, or run your own business. Pretty good, too.

But when you truly work for someone else besides yourself, that can lead to real inspiration.

Maybe it's your family who you work for. You work to put food on the table, buy a home, save for your kids' education, and more. That's plenty of motivation to work hard and make more money.

Maybe it's your employees who you work for. If you're an entrepreneur, your employees need to be the best they can be in order for your company to be successful, so you're really working for them. If you're in the corporate world, many times your success hinges on the success of your teammates, so you're all in it together.

Or maybe it's your customers who you work for. Customers are the lifeblood of a company, so if you work for them, you'll super-serve them to the best of your ability, and everyone wins.

Who you work for can certainly be and many times is a combination of the above, as well as others I haven't mentioned.

Think about who you work for. Are these the right people to work for and do you enjoy working for them? Are you serving them to the best of your abilities?

I’d love to hear from you. Write your thoughts in the comments, tweet at me @mikewchan, or email me at mike@mikewchan.com.

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Photo courtesy of Link Humans on Flickr