Work Ethic: How to Move Beyond Doing Just Enough

As a child, I was smart. I breezed through school, effortlessly passing each grade. While my accomplishments weren’t extraordinary, they were consistently above average, and my teachers saw great potential in me. I rarely needed to spend much time studying or preparing for classes.

This led to a passive mindset. I believed that experience would accumulate automatically over time and that progressing from a junior to a senior developer was simply a matter of putting in enough years. My focus was on receiving instructions and translating JIRA tasks into Java code. I assumed that one day, I would naturally become a trusted professional. But instead of earning that trust, I was just gaining more technical knowledge. No one told me that my efforts were insufficient because, at the time, they were “just enough.”

Working effectively is not always easy and intuitive

A Turning Point

After a few years of going through the motions, I started a new job. This time, however, I found myself surrounded by high-performing professionals—many of whom had twice as much experience as I did. At first, I attributed the gap between us to their longer tenure. “There’s nothing wrong with me,” I thought. “They’ve been here for ages. If I stay for five or ten years, I’ll catch up.” But time passed, and I wasn’t catching up.

For the first time in my career, I didn’t have a buffer of business analysts, project managers, or product owners to shield me. I was expected to take full ownership of my work and be responsible for the project. The only problem? No one explicitly communicated that expectation to me. The disconnect between my idea of what it meant to be a developer and what they expected led to misunderstandings and frustration. Initially, I thought it was a communication issue, but I soon realized it was much deeper than that.

Becoming a Senior Developer

Yes, failing to communicate company culture to new hires is a mistake. As a leader, it's your responsibility to set clear expectations, especially with a diverse, international team. But on the flip side, being a senior developer is about more than just writing code.

A senior developer takes responsibility for their work. They don’t shy away from accountability. They don’t wait for managers or analysts to hand them detailed instructions for everything. As a senior, you should understand the business cases behind your applications and be able to discuss them with business stakeholders.

When you’re a senior, excuses aren’t acceptable. You must always give your best effort, regardless of the task. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn, grow, and refine your skills.

Does your boss ask you to review code for a project you’re unfamiliar with? Great! As a professional, even if you lack deep knowledge of the business logic, you can still identify bugs, spot inefficient patterns, and offer valuable feedback. Asked to fix a minor UI bug in an application you've never worked on? Even better! It’s a chance to familiarize yourself with another piece of the company's puzzle.

Energy and Motivation

You might be thinking, “I just don’t have the energy for that. I wake up tired, feel sluggish by noon, and lose all motivation.” I’ve been there. Constant fatigue, lack of focus, and low motivation can drain anyone. But the good news is these symptoms are often tied to lifestyle choices and can be addressed.

If you want to be a high-performing individual—whether as a senior developer, entrepreneur, or simply the best version of yourself—you need to tackle the root causes of your energy drain.

For me, it started with small but impactful lifestyle changes: incorporating 10 minutes of yoga and 5 minutes of meditation into my daily routine, following a consistent sleep schedule, and adopting a diet low in refined carbohydrates (sugar, white flour, starches, fruit juices) and processed foods, alongside intermittent fasting. Don’t be afraid to experiment and find what works best for you. Everyone is different, so your formula for increased focus and energy might vary from mine.

Conclusion

Professionalism is about commitment. If your goal is to become exceptional, you won’t get there without taking full responsibility for your growth. You need to address whatever is holding you back from becoming the best version of yourself. And remember, there’s only one person responsible for the direction of your growth—that’s you.

Further Reading

Two books that helped me understand these concepts and shift my mindset:

• Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results by Shane Parrish

• High Performance: Lessons from the Best on Becoming Your Best by Damian Hughes and Jake Humphrey