Effort = Reward

For the past week, I was in a turbo mode cranking out work in my office from early morning till late night. I felt I was once again back in architectural school, counting the days down with the amount of work left to do and trying to manage it to get everything done at the deadline. Then I realize doing it in the office is a different story.

Before, there is strong motivation behind all these hard work, because there is a competition among the classmates and you have to achieve more than others to get a good grade. Even late nights, you will have students all around you in studio to go through the same race for time. That momentum is totally evident.

Now, when I worked overtime, I do it only because my "student" mind tells me to be agressive and do 105% of whatever I do. But when I get my paycheck, I forgot why I need to work so hard again, because there are people out there who work in slow motion that still get paid more than I do. If I choose to be a "work vaccum", it's really my own choice.

After being pessimistic and feeling stupid for the whole week, I finally see the bright side this morning. I realize my theory was wrong. There is always someone who notices it when you work hard. I am so glad that my effort finally mean something.