Working Hard, or Hardly Working?

For longer than I can remember, I have been taught that we succeed through working hard.

Hard work is in the basic fabric of our culture. We live in the land of opportunity, where everyone can work hard and succeed. Thomas Edison said that genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.

We believe that life is essentially fair. We receive what we earn. If we work hard enough, we will earn a living.

We understand working as an individual activity. My work is what I do. If I work harder than someone else, I pay the price and earn the benefits.

Work is a series of economic choices. I decide what I want to do, put in the time getting qualified and experienced, then I exchange my time and effort for financial rewards.

Most of us make our work a very serious priority. We spend a great deal of time and attention balancing work and the rest of our lives. We depend on the work we do for a lot of reinforcement. Some of us take pride in our work; some of us take pride in not taking pride in our work.

Many of us spend a great deal of our waking hours working. We may go to a particular place or wear particular clothes when we go to work. We meet people through our work. We look for people with whom we can work well together.

Some of us allow work to cause difficulties in our families.

I like to work hard, to do my best work. It feels good to do something well.

I doubt that I earn the life I want through hard work.

How much of your time and energy do you spend thinking about work?

When have you done your best work?

[Image by photosteve101]