<i>If the work would have mattered to you, you would have found a solution.</i><p>This is an easy thing to say, and perhaps for many people in many circumstances, it's true enough.<p>But I have no doubts about my work ethic—I've spent 50+ hours per week <i>in the zone</i> at a startup, until I hit my physical limits—and I can estimate project scope reliably enough to offer my consulting clients fixed bids.<p>But even so, I do occasionally have to e-mail a client and tell them that something will be delayed by a few days, or even a week. It's not that the work isn't important, but rather that when I push hard enough, there's no padding left, and a few days of illness (or caring for a sick kid) come directly out of work time. Similarly, sometimes there's a hard technical issue that nobody expected, and it takes some time to engineer around.<p>So for people already working near the top of their game, this manager's notebook and attitude comes over as so much motivational B.S. Professionals work hard. But if 90% of challenging projects come in on time, and the other 10% slip by a few days or a week, that's not necessarily evidence of moral failure.