Striking Gold: The Habit of Doing More Than You’re Paid For

How many times have you heard someone say “It’s not my job!” in a grating tone? I have heard this a lot. Too many times. As I was reading Napoleon Hill’s super-huge book, Law of Success, I embarked on a lesson titled: “The Habit of Doing More Than Paid For,” and in thinking back, it occurred to me there have been very few instances when I recognized someone going above and beyond in spite of no apparent reason.

What does it mean to do more than you are paid for? Besides the obvious, consistently doing more than you are paid for singles you out of the crowd of people who are content with doing just enough to get by. You stand by being a person who takes pride in their work, a person who cares. This person is magnetic, respected, attractive to others.

This, sadly, is a rare person.

Once upon a time in Japan, men and women took their tea with so much care and detail that it was said they invested their very soul in this otherwise menial act. Why would a person invest so much of themselves into attaining such perfection? Was the tea so important that a person’s every move—their posture—should be scrutinized with such precision? No. I have to imagine the act of taking pride in one’s ways and behavior was the chief reason behind performing this ceremony in this manner.

Nowadays it is easy to look around and find too many examples of people trying to do less than they are paid for. These people even act inconvenienced when they are told to do what they’re supposed to do. What they don’t realize is that by behaving this way, by continuing the habit of doing less than they are paid for, they are actually ensuring a life of hardship and lack of monetary success. Even if they have money now, they will eventually be found out and demoted or fired, and their bosses will not give them a good recommendation when they seek employment elsewhere. Another, more important thing these people don’t realize, is that by doing more than they are paid for, they would practically guarantee their success in life.

Aristotle said it best when he said: "In the arena of human life, the honors and rewards fall to those who show their good qualities in action."

On the financial side of things, doing more than you are paid for gets you noticed by those who are in charge of your wages and promotions. By standing out in this capacity, you will naturally garner praise and recognition. Forming the habit of doing more than you are paid for positions you for success, and not just at work, but in life. I can’t tell you how many people I hired simply because I saw something in them I didn’t see in others. And I did this on my time off, away from work! As far as raises are concerned, being in the forefront of your boss’s attention is exactly where you need to be. This brings to mind the perfect illustration of what I am talking about. This story comes from Napoleon Hill’s book Law of Success:

Carol Downes went to work for W.C. Durant, the head of General Motors, in a minor position yet quickly became Mr. Durant’s right-hand man and the president of one of his automobile distributing companies. He promoted himself into this profitable position solely through the aid of the law of increasing returns, which he put into operation by rendering more service and better service than that for which he was paid.
In a visit with Mr. Downes I asked him to tell me how he had managed to gain promotion so rapidly. In a few brief sentences he told the whole story.

“When I first went to work for Mr. Durant,” he said, “I noticed that he always remained at the office long after all the others had gone home for the day, and I made it my business to stay there also. No one asked me to stay, but I thought someone should be there to give Mr. Durant any assistance he might need. Often he would look around for someone to bring him a file, or render some other trivial service, and always he found me there ready to serve him. He got into the habit of calling on me. That is about all there is to the story.”

And why did Mr. Durant get into the habit of calling on Mr. Downes? Because Mr. Downes made it his business to be on hand where he would be seen. He deliberately placed himself in a position to render service that would make the law of increasing returns work for him.

Was he told to do this? No.

Was he paid to do this? Yes! He was paid by the opportunity it offered for him to bring himself to the attention of the man who had it within his power to promote him.


Getting into this habit not only gets you noticed, it secures your financial future! Before long you will be considered invaluable by your peers, your boss, the owner of your company. Not only this, you will eventually catch the eye of those working in your field at other companies. Maybe upper management takes another position at another company and calls you with a job offer and a promotion—this has happened to me on several occasions and is not that unusual. Once your employer realizes your services are being sought elsewhere, he/she will do what they can to keep you, including giving you a promotion or a substantial raise. Too often an employee is made to feel expendable, but let me be the first to tell you that great employees will seldom be made to feel disposable. A great employee can command almost anything they want! These people that do more than they are paid for and are is such short supply and such high demand that becoming this type of person allows you to write your own ticket in life!

"Any man may become great by doing the commonplace things in life in a great spirit, with a genuine desire to be of helpful service to others, regardless of his calling." —Napoleon Hill

Beyond financial success, happiness is realized in doing more than one is paid for. Why? Because we can only truly be happy when we are doing something we love or doing something well while serving others. Taking pride in your tasks whether they are work related or related to your personal life—simply for the joy of doing something well—will put you on the path to both happiness and success.

In the Law of Success, one can form the Habit of Doing More Than Paid For by doing the following:

During the next six months make it your business to render useful service to at least one person every day, for which you neither expect nor accept monetary pay.

Do this experiment with faith that it will reveal one of the most powerful laws of achieving success, and you will not be disappointed.

The rendering of this service may take any form you choose. For example, it may be rendered personally to one or more specific persons. Or it may be rendered to your employer as work that you perform after hours. Or it may be rendered to entire strangers whom you never expect to see again. It doesn’t matter to whom you render this service so long as you render it with willingness, and solely for the purpose of benefiting others.


Good luck, have fun, and let me know how this works out for you. Please tell me about your success with this in the comments section of this blog, or by email at the SHARE YOUR TESTIMONIAL section at www.betterwaysinlife.com.