I have a job to do, but why?

In my business I do jobs for people who are either unfit, too busy or otherwise unable to do the jobs themselves. This job could entail something like building a system, or shaping a business process, or organizing a group of people. Of course it’s not just enough to do the job, you have to be successful in it. Thankfully there are a lot of ways to go around doing this.

The customers I’m working for obviously has to be comfortable how I do my job for them. They would have procedures to do so, or a have a particular organization in place that I would have to adhere to. Some even follow a methodology, or a framework, or guidelines. It can be enforced with tools, bylaws, legal proceedings and so on.

Some customers have got nothing of the sort, and are only interested in getting things done. In fact, I would then have total and complete freedom how to handle the job at hand. Given enough experience I could even impose my own way of working on the customer.

The perception of a job well done and the actual outcome can be very different from each other. Even more so in my line of work, where few, if any standards are universally applied, and where the industry is far from reaching maturity. Everyone and his uncle has a different path to success and it mostly depends on how well you fit the job, the environment and the situation how well the result is received. There's the habits, the unified process, rapid development, feng shui, tao management, waterfall project management, prince, and about a dozen others.

What I’ve seen so far, it apparently is not natural for people to work effectively. Working effectively takes up energy and attention, which people would rather spend on things they value more than work, crazily enough. Every theory we’ve come up with, every framework or proceeding gives people incentives to complete a task effectively, or directs them into an effective, or more productive mindset. These are only slightly less demanding than religions.

So why aren't we effective people from the outset? Why do we need to be told, enlightened (sometimes reminded) how we should be doing our work? Why is it against our nature to be successful, productive and dedicated?