The Job

The job will not make you, my boy;
    The job will not bring you to fame
Or riches or honor or joy
    Or add any weight to your name.
You may fail or succeed where you are,
    May honestly serve or may rob;
         From the start to the end
         Your success will depend
    On just what you make of your job.

Don't look on the job as the thing
    That shall prove what you're able to do;
The job does no more than to bring
    A chance for promotion to you.
Men have shirked in high places and won
    Very justly the jeers of the mob;
         And you'll find it is true
         That it's all up to you
    To say what shall come from the job.

The job is an incident small;
    The thing that's important is man.
The job will not help you at all
    If you won't do the best that you can.
It is you that determines your fate,
    You stand with your hand on the knob
         Of fame's doorway to-day,
         And life asks you to say
    Just what you will make of your job.