One of the worst jobs in America is 'Sign Holder'.

You see them on the streets, holding up a sign pointing to a shop or car park.

For hours a day they stand there in the wind, rain or burning sunshine, holding up their trivial sign, bored out of their minds.

For anyone with a speck of self worth, it's the ultimate demeaning job.

Which is why I was stunned recently when I was driving along Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

There was a sign holder performing a highly skilled, electrifying dance routine, balancing the sign at all angles, twisting it around his body at high speed.

Motorists at the traffic lights were transfixed, and so was I.

This guy had taken a terrible job and turned it into something magical, delighting thousands of people every hour.

So many of us are stuck in jobs we don't like, and make the mistake of doing them halfheartedly, drudging through them miserably. But acting that way doesn't make our work easier, it does the opposite. Time marches more slowly, our mood stays dark and we never get a promotion out of that job because we're not doing it well enough.

If only we performed our job brilliantly, in a way far above what anyone could expect, we would feel so much better about ourselves, make greater progress and enjoy life far more.

As the great football coach, Vince Lombardi said, "The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor".

Whatever job we have, the secret is to do it superbly. Not just for a chance of promotion, but far more importantly, for our own self worth.

Choosing to be excellent is a better way to live.

This article is written by Siimon Reynolds, teacher at The Fortune Institute

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