Earlier quoted context omitted.
I might have a solution for you: Look at yourself as an independent contractor, even if you are an employee. This way you can put out your best work & work on things that excite you, but are still protected from manipulation and underpay. Your customer is your employer. He's also the main person that needs to be pleased with your work. Companies try to push the "This company is all of us" mentality, but in some situa…
It's tough because I think the group mentality is part of what can really make a company able to produce the value it can (more than just the sum of its parts and all that), so I feel that mentality can come from a genuine place, but it is also used manipulatively. How we tell the difference is a problem I'm currently incapable of solving.
But the main thing is that you guard yourself from feeling disappointed afterwards. This disappointment comes from a wrong view on the whole situation.
So basically anything that you do extra for the company, you do because it gives you gratification at the moment. Don't expect to be compensated afterwards, because you won't.
But of course compensation for your work is more than money alone, and it's perfectly fine to get gratification from seeing what you created, working on something that excites you, etc.