I hired my current lawn guy three years ago. After he took a cursory walk around the property, he asked me what all I wanted done. I hesitated before I answered, wanting to be specific, without being picky. “I’d really appreciate it if you’d just treat this yard as if it were your own and you were very proud of it.” My lawn guy grinned.

The temperature hit 60 degrees last weekend and my lawn guy appeared for the first cutting of the season. He meticulously picked up winter’s branch fall, weedeated around the peripheral, the shrubs and flowerbeds, and then mowed a beautifully artistic pattern in each grassy area.

“Same price as last year,” he told me when I went out to praise his work. I happily wrote out the check as he put his equipment away. He drove off and I stood “surveying the kingdom.” There’s nothing like the way a yard’s transformed after the shaggy, stubbly days of winter. I am grateful my lawn guy takes pride in his work.

Work ethic is an important component in job satisfaction, both for the worker and the client. Whether you’re doing brain surgery, sending rockets into space, cutting hair or mowing lawns, the world’s a better place when there’s pride in a job well done.