I want to talk about good old fashioned hard work today. At the risk of sounding cynical, sometimes I wonder if it is’t becoming a lost art; the ability, willingness, and know how to actually work hard, like a man.
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OK, we are talking about the concept of hard work. “Hard work” is kind of a nebulous term…I think it means different things to different people. To me it doesn’t just mean physically working hard. When I say hard work, what it means to me is doing your absolute best, in everything you do. Not taking short cuts, not skipping any steps just because no one is watching. It means paying attention to the fine details as well as the bigs ones. Listening closely to instructions and following through.
Everyone listening to me right now probably agrees that these are all good things, right? Of course you do…that’s what kills me about this; it’s not a secret, this is stuff everybody knows intellectually and yet, there is a serious shortage of people who apply these ideas everyday in our work force.
At least…thats my experience. I’ll explain what I mean. I’ve had three different construction companies in my life and in each case my number one biggest challenge was finding men who really knew how to work hard, in the way I described a moment ago.
I’ve had guys tell me they ran out of energy and walk off the job in the middle of the day. I’ve had guys do a simple task wrong, over and over again, even though I gave them repeated instructions in between.
I’ve had guys not come to work because they decided to have a party instead…and then invite me to the party. I’m not joking.
I have seen it all, and I have gone through so many guys before I would come to a genuine, bonafide, hard working guy. And when I did…I would treat him like gold and try to keep him as long as I could.
I have also been an employee at several jobs, working alongside other guys. The same thing always happens…maybe some of you can relate to this, over time I wind up doing extra work, taking up the slack for my fellow employees who are doing everything half-assed.
It’s really frustrating, and it’s a problem. The reason I’m...
