10/12/26: HARD WORK WINS
This week our daughter called from college to tell us about the day she had at work. This year on her own volition she decided to get a job at a restaurant bussing tables and working as a host while at college. One of the things we have always tried to instill in our kids that no matter what you do, working hard will put you above 95% of most people, regardless of skill. We are very fortunate that both of our kids have taken that to heart and put their best foot forward while at work.
Our daughter told us that most everyone at her job tells her that she is one of the hardest working people there. She would rather stay busy than just sit around doing nothing, and often does some of the work assigned to the waiters because she would rather be productive than just sit around. Not only has the staff noticed, but many of the customers have noticed as well. This week one of the tables directly tipped her because of the effort she was putting in. In addition to that, I’m proud to say that she also displays an incredible amount of integrity. After clearing a table, she noticed that there was a $20 bill on the ground under the table. She did not know where it came from but handed it to the server of the table, assuming that it was either a tip that fell on the ground, or possibly just a dropped bit of cash from the customers. Either way, she handled the situation in the most upright manner. For that, we are even more proud of her than just her work ethic.
We have also been extremely impressed with the work effort of our son. He has had 3 different jobs, starting in auto detailing when he was 15. I can honestly say he has NEVER missed a day of work unless he was sick, and has NEVER been late to work. It’s an amazing work ethic, especially given the stories I hear all the time from small business owners needing teenagers for entry level positions. As a breakfast and lunch server at Mission Point on Mackinac Island, he had to transition from a night owl working at Emagine Movie theater into an early riser as well. We are extremely proud of both of our children in this regard and I’m not going to be shy about spending some time praising them here.
In this day and age, it seems that the work ethic is not as strong as it was in the 80’s and 90’s. In my opinion, we have had a generation of kids that are now young adults that were coddled by their parents and not forced to get a job, a generation not forced to buy a beater car and learn how to fix it, a generation that would rather live at home for free than get out into the world and carve their own path. Especially in today’s climate, simply working hard will have you standing out among your peers that it will be impossible to ignore.
When you come into the gym, you have a couple choices. You can focus and work hard for the 60-90 minutes you are there and make the most of your membership dollars, or you can screw around and treat class as just a little get-away. I’ll be the first to admit, sometimes choice 2 is the right answer, but if choice 1 is not the answer 95% of the time you need to change your focus. When you come into class, you are going to be provided instruction on how to move your body in the most efficient, dominant way that the coaches know. There are an infinite number of ways to do techniques poorly, and only a couple of ways to the efficiently. If you are going to have to move your body in class, why would you not want to move it in the most efficient manner possible? It literally takes no more physical effort to do techniques poorly than to do them efficiently. It simply takes a little more focus to see what the coaches are showing.
This week, really focus on the coaches when they are demonstrating techniques. Pick up as many of the details as you can. Get in as many repetitions when drilling as possible. If you are in class for 60 minutes and get 100 repetitions of a technique and someone next to you gets 200, they are literally getting twice the benefit that you are in the same amount of time. They will literally be twice as proficient as you at the end of the year. Talent is good, but hard work will beat it in the long run. Put both together and you will have a can’t miss formula. Make working hard a standard in your life in everything that you do.
