It's been said by the best of them that all the appreciation you ever need is appreciating that you have done your best. Supposedly, Lee Iacocca said that in the 1970s. You probably heard it from your little league coach or favorite aunt growing up. A far more ancient version comes from the Bhagavad Gita. In that great guide for yogis, revered from everyone from Gandhi to Einstein, Krishna is urging Arjuna to fight this big battle that he doesn't want to fight. And he is to do so only for the satisfaction of doing a job well--action without attachment to result. Well, that was my take on it anyway. There are far better and more complete commentaries on the subject available and you'd probably find it rather interesting if you checked them out.

Action without attachment to result is a great way to approach life. Especially the practice of law and medicine because you often find your self on the losing side of a popularity contest even when your actions benefit the client or the patient, as the case may be. So it's a real treat when those actions are appreciated by some one else and your first email of the day is one like this:

On Jan 27, 2012, at 5:41 AM, [name deleted] wrote:

> Good morning Trisha!
>
> Thank you for your letter to the selling parties. I'm again confident that we are going to close this deal very soon, and so I have returned my focus to being ready for the day I can get back to practicing my profession.
>
> I sincerely appreciate you, and your efforts on my behalf.
>
> Have a great day and a super weekend!

Have a super weekend every one, too. And thank you for doing all that you do.