Work hard.

Aviation & Pilots Forums, discuss topics that interest Pilots and Aviation Enthusiasts. Looking for information on how to become a pilot? Check out our Free online pilot exams and flight training resources section.
User avatar
Colonel
Posts: 2517
Joined: Wed Jan 15, 2020 10:02 pm
Location: Over The Runway

I've had a hundred people tell me I can't do it
Imagine how good it's going to feel to prove they're all wrong.

Besides, they're kind of right - THEY couldn't do it. But, you're not them!

Image

He was 40 years old. We did his CPL and class 4 instructor rating, and I worked him
very hard. He didn't mind hard work, and he's flying up north for a living now, with his
ATP and type ratings.

Every time we went flying and did airwork, I tried to do it in a different place. It would
end with a PFL, and a map-reading diversion back to the airport. We started at 1000
then 500 feet. I made him divert at 500 feet everywhere. At first, I would let him climb
back up to circuit altitude before I pulled power on him and he did another forced approach
to a landing on the runway, but after he got the hang of that I would fail the engine at
500 feet from a different angle approaching the airport, and he would have to figure out
how he was going to make the pavement.

This is how I fly a circuit. Power comes to idle on downwind abeam the numbers and
the throttle is not touched again before landing.



Learn to do that.

Not a PhD though
Well, Dr Jill Biden has one up on you. Try not to lose too much sleep over that.


Squaretail
Posts: 445
Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2021 7:21 pm
Location: Group W Bench

because he works harder than anyone
you know.
What does that even mean? Can we measure it? I mean does he move more mass around farther than anyone else? Somehow I don't think we're talking physics. Does it mean he produces more? Is there a measurable value to his work product that outstrips all competition? Does anyone include you?

OR is the level of his work measured by his success? How is his success greater than others? I'm confused.

But maybe you get my point. Work is not defined, or at least does not have a common context, therefore to "work hard" is meaningless. Every resume I get is a self declared "hard worker". Surely this can't be statistically true, unless everyone's definitions are different, so the result is still the same.

Now before yo get defensive, this ain't to say anything bad about the boy. He seems to be doing well. Its about the nature of defining work.
Dumb question: is this "work"?
Dumb answer: depends.

On what? Context. After all, we don't know that fellow's circumstances. Anything can become work after all. Personally for me I tend towards a Red Foreman view of work.



So I'm prone to thinking when someone is declared a "hard worker", "how many boards can that guy stack per hour?" or "how long of a shift can he put in?" Not everyone thinks that way. Its hard to disentangle brute labour from hard work, especially since much of my life has been spent in it. So forgive me if I'm skeptical when it comes to other people's definitions of working hard. Its something you extoll out of people you want to make money for you by the sacrifice of their time and physical well being. Neither of which can be recovered, and in the end is never remunerated appropriately.

It should be said that anything can become work, depending on the aggravation or stress it causes you. If our youtube musician is not merely making a display of skill for pure pleasure, but maybe desperately hoping to monetize the video, and perhaps is making a series that he has to do to get by, his playing may take on a different aspect for him. Just like your .2 of acro could become work if we put it on a schedule, and made yo report to a boss about it, then told you we were going to increase that schedule, and increase the level of reporting (maybe make a hideous form to fill out for it) and have more supervisors for it, until we found the level where you started hating it.

Its also a point that in hiring, I look for people who are efficient workers. Everyone can work like a dog when it suits them, or create the illusion they are. Few people can learn quickly and get stuff done. Fewer can act independently and take initiative. Even less can extrapolate and creatively problem solve.

For the kids out there, if you want to get ahead, don't be a hard worker - that will just break your mind or body - be a useful worker.
The details of my life are quite inconsequential...
User avatar
Colonel
Posts: 2517
Joined: Wed Jan 15, 2020 10:02 pm
Location: Over The Runway

I'm sorry that you live someplace, where working hard at something worthwhile and achieving
something spectacular on a global scale is not a valuable goal.

I might suggest that at some point, for your own mental health and happiness, that you consider
departing that particular cult. The problem with being a cult member is that your perspective is
really warped. See "normalization of deviance".
David MacRay
Posts: 817
Joined: Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:16 am

TwinOtterFan wrote:
Tue Sep 14, 2021 11:39 pm
I know I've missed a bunch of this thread lately, if you want to fly Dave then go for it. I'm 40, just left the military don't even have my PPL yet, but I'm going to, and my CPL and my instructor. Not a PhD though, sorry Colonel.

I've had a hundred people tell me I can't do it. But I'm going to.
Thanks.

Are you up near Capital city yet and have you dropped by any FTUs?
TwinOtterFan
Posts: 419
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2020 5:11 pm
Location: Onoway, AB

David MacRay wrote:
Wed Sep 15, 2021 3:31 pm
TwinOtterFan wrote:
Tue Sep 14, 2021 11:39 pm
I know I've missed a bunch of this thread lately, if you want to fly Dave then go for it. I'm 40, just left the military don't even have my PPL yet, but I'm going to, and my CPL and my instructor. Not a PhD though, sorry Colonel.

I've had a hundred people tell me I can't do it. But I'm going to.
Thanks.

Are you up near Capital city yet and have you dropped by any FTUs?
Anytime,

We were in Edmonton for a week. Home now to pack we leave this Saturday to drive out west.

I checked out Centennial out of ZVL, they seem alright and well within traveling distance for me.
David MacRay
Posts: 817
Joined: Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:16 am

I don’t know what school in the area this is, but I was a bit surprised to see it on the AvCanada.
Our School is at 195 hr for a 172m and 70 hr for VFR instruction. Were out in Alberta.
Last I checked Calgary flying club was still around $175/hour for a 172.
Squaretail
Posts: 445
Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2021 7:21 pm
Location: Group W Bench

Colonel wrote:
Wed Sep 15, 2021 2:25 pm
where working hard
Define "working hard". I don't know what it means anymore. I'm told that people like you have more capacity for it than others. By you of course, so that's just an opinion. Everyone works hard, you're not unique. You telling us you do it harder is just you patting yourself on the back. I don't feel the need to do that. I also don't feel the need to tell others that they need to work hard by a metric I define to raise themselves in my eyes. You do you. At the end, all that matters is that you're happy with the level of success you achieve by the level of work you do. There is no other value of work. It matters not how others feel how you work, you will either work hard in their eyes, or be a bum in their eyes. Which of those you are depends on their definition of work.

Sure there are people who are defineably lazy. That's easy - they do nothing, or they do little. They maybe actually spend more time on the couch or watching tv, some defineably lazy activities (unless somehow that earns them a wage, then it might be work, depending on your definition of work) But people who do lots, may also do lots of nothing. I know lots of people who work hard at getting nothing done. To hear them talk about it, one might assume that they are engines of production, but lots of it is just bullshit.
achieving
something spectacular
Again, an undefinable thing. Give me an example of something you feel was spectacular. Are we talking invention of the question mark spectacular? I shoed a horse the other day. I'm pretty pleased with my level of skill there, it was a lot of work (the brute kind, horses never cooperate with the enterprise) that's a certain level of success and happiness for me, though its not getting me wealthier or more successful so is it not worthwhile by your definition? If not, well fuck your definition. If it doesn't meet your definition of success, did it meet your definition of work? Maybe not, then fuck whatever you call "hard work", I know what it is to me and that's all that counts.
The details of my life are quite inconsequential...
David MacRay
Posts: 817
Joined: Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:16 am

Work makes free.
where working hard
Define "working hard".
Kneading the dough by hand.
achieving
something spectacular
Again, an undefinable thing. Give me an example of something you feel was spectacular.
PIZZA!
User avatar
Colonel
Posts: 2517
Joined: Wed Jan 15, 2020 10:02 pm
Location: Over The Runway

Give me an example of something you feel was spectacular
I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, so let's just say he had his ICAS card
at age 18 (solo and form) and before he was 30, earning more than any pilot
in Canada.

Both of those were a lot of hard work. What you think is bullshit, I guess,
from your collectivist cultural viewpoint.
CpnCrunch
Posts: 53
Joined: Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:59 am

Colonel wrote:
Wed Sep 15, 2021 8:14 pm
I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, so let's just say he had his ICAS card
at age 18 (solo and form) and before he was 30, earning more than any pilot
in Canada.

Both of those were a lot of hard work. What you think is bullshit, I guess,
from your collectivist cultural viewpoint.
I'm now doing less work than ever and earning more money than ever.

A lot of it is down to being efficient, as Shiny points out. There's no point working hard if you can work more efficiently and achieve the goal with less effort.
Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post