I think most people will agree a traditionally good value of a person is their work ethic. For a long time, we have agreed that working hard is a virtuous trait and is something to be admired.
Why is this the case? I believe there are two reasons. The first is that it is earnest in its purest form. To observe someone demonstrate sincerity and commitment to something, knowing how finite the game of life is, is beautiful. To look at the sacrifice, the struggles and perseverance through adversity, is inspiring to see. It’s something we can derive strength from ourselves. The second is because it’s something that is controllable. It’s something that is able to be replicated. For a lot of our lives, we’re chasing the next big thing or goal and in the pursuit of excellence, there’s a lot of uncontrollable variables in the equation and within human nature, we have this innate desire and belief that we can control circumstances and inevitably outcomes.
The reality is far from that. Now, I’m not advocating that it’s a good idea to abscond all sense of responsibility, but it’s worth acknowledging that there are circumstances that cannot be accounted for and in spite of that, we should do the most with what we can, our controllable variables.
Whilst acknowledging the controllable, then we can journey the road to hard work. There is, however a lot of disdain towards this belief and of course, this disdain only happens in the west (or at least it happens publicly).
There’s been a movement online as of late called the ‘anti-hustle culture movement’. The initial intention of this (to my best knowledge) was to encourage more people to work smarter not harder and take care of one’s physical and mental health.
On the surface, this sounds like a great thing. The unfortunate reality now however, is that this idea has transitioned from taking care of the individual to attacking people who work hard and advocate hard work. This was probably predictable, when two groups of people on opposite sides of the spectrum collide, there’s bound to be conflict.
Is there a right answer to this? Honestly, no. The level of one’s work ethic will depend on their ambitions and their dedication to their craft. Their dedication will be shown by the level of obsession towards their craft. Obsession gets a bad rep, but obsession is a beautiful thing, something to be admired and not to be scorned upon.
Obsession shows purpose, obsession gives meaning. Being obsessed with a craft will of course mean progress in said craft and over a long enough time horizon can even lead to mastering this artistry. Obsession and hard work go hand in hand. Obsession is when you cannot stop thinking about your work in a way that inspires you, hard work is the vehicle to progress.
Hard work doesn’t always have to feel like work. In fact, a lot of times, it can feel like play. There’s not a dichotomy between work and play, they can be inclusive of each other. This is the idea that the anti-hustle culture movement fails to acknowledge. To strike that balance between work and play in a way they are in alignment is special and should be strived for when possible.
This isn’t to say that every piece of work will feel like play. In fact quite the opposite, a lot of work will feel mundane, but it’s the ability to find enjoyment within the mundanity that brings happiness. The ability to find the needle in the haystack, the rose in the muddy field and the beacon of light in the tunnel of darkness is not only beautiful in it’s own way, but necessary to maintain continual effort, we are motivated by progress, potential and enjoyment after all.
Inevitably, where we are in life is a summation of events that occurred to us and the decisions we’ve made along the way. The decision to work every waking hour is one we can all choose to do. Whether or not you choose to actually do this is a different question, but there is one thing to keep in mind whilst you decide the answer; whatever the outcome is, would you prefer knowing that you gave your entire concerted effort dedicated to this goal or not?