Sometimes I get a feeling - I'm not sure if it comes from society or our culture - that we shouldn't like our work and maybe we shouldn't really give 100%. That doing good work is enough and there's no reason to push - and if you do you're selling out to "the man" or you're a workaholic or whatever.
I find I have to remind myself that I am an artist. That the work I'm producing is my art. And just as if I were painting a picture, I should really strive to not just do good work, but to do great work - to create a piece of art that can be admired by others.
We're all an artist - that's something that I've heard and read from Seth Godin quite a bit. I guess it never really sunk in good until I was watching Waiting For Superman for the second time. They were talking about how a good teacher is an artist. And seeing a good teacher in action is the same as seeing a good musician in concert or a great athelete play his sport.
Somewhat along those same lines is a theory that we all work for ourselves. We all work for ourselves and the company we work for is our customer. They pay us to do a specific job for them. I think that's also a good way to think about things.
Every once in a while I have to remind myself to really give 100% of my effort in whatever it is I'm doing - otherwise, why do it?