"The secret of joy in work is contained in one word - excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it." -Pearl S. Buck, 20th Century American Writer, Pearl S. Buck books//

People enjoy things that they are good at doing. Everyone has natural skills or talents waiting to be discovered, but it's difficult to find a way to employ those God-given abilities in the workplace. As a result, most people end up choosing hobbies that they love and jobs that they hate. "Joy in work," as Buck says, is found through the ability to achieve excellence, but how can you achieve that if your job isn't satisfying or compatible with your strengths? The fact is you can't. Bob Moawad said, "Fake it till you make it," but you can't fake it forever. If mediocre is the best you can do at your job, assuming there is not a lack of effort, it is imperative that you look for another line of work. It has also been said that "anything worth doing is worth doing well." If you can't do your job well, then you're not doing yourself or anyone else any favors by staying there - your actually hurting yourself, your employer and the economy by decreasing productivity. Everyone, including you, have strengths that enable you to achieve excellence - the trick is learning to specifically identify your strengths and, then, match them up with work that utilizes them. It is a 'win-win' situation when an employee is able to achieve excellence at work - he feels satisfaction, joy and significance, and the employer reaps the rewards of increased productivity, efficiency, creativity and profitability. If you are unable to achieve "excellence" at work, then you need to understand why. It may be that there is a different job at your current company that you can apply for, or you might discover that there are alternative ways to apply your strengths at your existing job that produce better results. First, look within, then be willing to look outside your current circumstances. You deserve to be happy and achieve excellence, and in fact, everyone will be better off when you do.