I recently went for a meal with someone who got laid off from their job. It was a total surprise to me because I knew she was very good at what she did and she was a very hard worker. The truth was much the problems I sometimes have--people don't value your work unless they see instant results. However, it's incredibly unfair to people like me or my friend to ask for those results. Instant results cost money, and most of the time when people want something, and in my mom's words, 'They want it yesterday' they are asking for something you can't give them. In other words, no matter how good you do, they'll never be satisfied no matter how hard you try. Why? Because they've decided that you don't value your work. True or not, that's what they're thinking.
It's funny that people who are often angry at us, and are expecting impossible results, would never expect the same things of themselves. In fact, it's almost as if they're angry that they can't manage to fit 12 hours of work into a two hour session, and you, as a lower level employee or as a consultant or as whatever get the blame. No one likes being blamed. There you are, working away like the train is on fire, and there's still someone ridinng your back like you haven't lifted a finger.
Aren't you just feeling dandy about that?
No matter how good I am, I cannot give impossible results. I might learn quicker, and I adapt quicker. I also think that I work more efficiently than about half of the people in my field. But still, I can't be better than everyone else, unless I cheat. And I've basically decided that people who say that they can do more than others are either lying or cheating, and so far that maxim has held true.
No matter what we do, we're still going to have to answer for the work we do, and as long as we try our best, it doesn't matter what other people say. We all have a lot that we care about, and hopefully in the future we learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of the people we work with so we're prepared in the future.
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