As defined, work ethic is the intrinsic belief in the moral benefit and importance of work and it’s inherent ability to strengthen character. Ultimately, you are in complete control of how you view work, and how others view your work ethic. This month in our Tips to Thrive series, we are looking at ways you can thrive at work through demonstrating a strong work ethic.

	Make Work A Priority When we make something a priority, it means that we recognize the significance that it has in our life and make every effort to treat it with a high-level of importance and follow-through. Since work has direct ties to both your financial and emotional security, it is critical to ensure that work stability is one of the items you move to the top of your priorities list. Balancing multiple priorities is something that we all have to do, and the best thing you can do is take the time to make a physical list of your priorities and honestly evaluate where they fall.
	Consistency is Key to Success How do you demonstrate that work is a priority? You are consistent and mindful in your actions, approach, and the quality of your work. You take the work you do seriously every day, no just when it is convenient or when someone is watching. If consistency is something you struggle with, you may find that setting clear goals and asking a trusted ally to help hold you accountable could help give you the momentum to make the necessary changes.
	Keep Yourself Busy During Downtimes In order to thrive at work, it is important to be seens as a good steward of company resources. This means that even if times are slow or systems are down, you find productive tasks to keep you busy. Work with your leadership team to identify things that can be worked on – perhaps there are interesting projects that fell off the radar that you can jump in and help with. Downtimes are also good opportunities to catch up on some organizing or file management.
	Look For Opportunities Not Excuses No matter how amazing you are at your job, there will comes a time when your results fall below the expectations; it happens to the best of us. When you times comes, if you really want to thrive you will search for opportunities not excuses. Even if there could be valid reasons (that were out of your control) as to why your performance fell short, evaluate what you could do differently next time. Looking at your process is an opportunity in itself, so start there and see where you end up.