The reward of a thing well done is having done it. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I spent all day yesterday working outside. I cleaned out my flower beds, as well as my bird feeders and bird baths, and did some general tidying up around the yard. By the time I quit for the day (only for the day because my flower beds still need more work), it was nearly 6:00 p.m…and I was exhausted. I stood on my back porch admiring the work I’d done and thought, “I could have hired someone to do all of this, but then I would have deprived myself of the pleasure of having done it myself.”

We often equate work with punishment because it often is, especially if you have a job you don’t like (believe me, I know the feeling) and even more so if you’re underpaid for it (I know that feeling, too). But, in generalizing the belief that “work is punishment” to include all forms of work, we lose sight of the fact that some work is worth doing. As the Emerson quote above suggests, the feelings of a job well done and of skills put to good use are their own intrinsic reward. They add a value to our work that doesn’t have a price tag. In a more perfect world, perhaps, the internal satisfaction of a job well done would be sufficient to motivate us to pursue excellence in all that we do.

A job well done inspires confidence. It makes us feel competent and capable. I know that once my garden is finally planted, I will look on it with pride because it was my hard work that brought it into being. The same is true for developing our skills and talents—even basic life skills. Maslow says, “What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.” Every time we develop a new skill, we change our awareness of ourselves. That is, we become someone different. There is a tremendous sense of internal satisfaction that comes from learning how to do something new. And it’s my experience that the more of our skills we develop, the more we want to develop. Our skills open us up to realms of undiscovered possibility within ourselves.

Of course, I’m not suggesting we do everything ourselves. I certainly don’t. I know my limits, and I know when to consult a professional or to engage with someone who is more talented in a certain area than I am. But I am suggesting we have some sort of meaningful work in our lives, even if it isn’t our 9-to-5, and that we know what it feels like to experience the internal reward of a job well done and skills well used. And I am—as I’ve done on this blog so many times before—suggesting that we take responsibility for developing our talents and skills. It’s one thing to make time for relaxation when we need it, and it is quite another to give in to passivity and laziness. 

Why bother learning how to do what AI can do for me? Why bother learning how to cook when I can use a meal delivery service or have a subscription box delivered to my home every week? Because, if you don’t, you are cheapening yourself. That is what an over-reliance on conveniences does to us. It dehumanizes us. And it encourages us to shirk the responsibility we have to ourselves, first and foremost, to realize the potentialities we were born with. It also robs us of the intrinsic reward that comes from demonstrating our own competence.

The simple joy of doing things is the satisfaction derived from a job well done, whatever that job is, whether it’s digging in the dirt or doing spring cleaning around your home. It’s also the joy that comes from creating your first painting or poem or learning how to play an instrument. It’s nice to admire someone else’s talents. Sometimes it feels good to look at someone else’s work and think, “Am I glad I didn’t have to do that!” But those feelings don’t compare to the much deeper satisfaction of acknowledging our own efforts and accomplishments. There is wisdom in knowing the difference. 

Often, it is the work we put into a project or pastime that makes it so enjoyable. I, for one, almost never want to clean my bird feeders. It’s a dirty job. But, like any chore, I am glad once I’ve done it. The yard looks nicer, and I have the satisfaction of knowing I have done something good for creatures I care about. If I allowed someone else to do all the chores and little dirty jobs that come along with feeding wild birds, I know I wouldn’t enjoy it as much. A big part of the satisfaction of bird feeding, for me, comes from putting in the work. This is the simple joy of doing something–and doing it well–for its own sake. Because it matters. It’s too easy to forget that’s what work should be about.