I finally figured out that by showing up unshaven and half asleep on my first day, I set the bar nice and low, and kept expectations to a minimum. Just being punctual, reliable, and civil made me Employee of the Month material.
IMPORTANT NOTE: this advice is only intended for a job that you don’t take very seriously. It is most emphatically not recommended behavior for your dream career.
I had the opposite experience. I worked for a guy who easily could have retired years before, but kept working because he liked the continuous puzzles he had to deal with.
His books were an absolute mess. His daughter tried her damndest to handle the accounting, but it was a losing battle (the staff wasn’t affected, because there were never any payroll problems). He often forgot to charge customers, and when he did eventually send a bill, the rate was significantly less than what a competitor would charge. He just didn’t care about that part of the business because he didn’t need the money.