That just shows that you don’t read anything that I write, or if you do you seek to twist it for the sake of being difficult or your own political agenda.
I have never known anyone to achieve anything worthwhile, that didn't take an awful lot of
hard work over a lot of years.
Very true. Though what is worthwhile is different depending on your perspective. What I get from your messaging is that there are few things that you approve of that are “worthwhile”. Usually tied to a monetary value. Thank God the whole world doesn’t think this way, what a dog eat dog hellhole it would be.
But by the same token you would have us believe that there are some who have an inborn or genetic ability to work harder than their fellow humans. They are just naturals at working hard. Special as it were. The rest should just keep their heads down and stand in awe. Sorry but I’m not bowing.I know Hollywood pitches the entitled narrative that everyone is a one-in-a-billion unicorn
that everything will come to without any effort ("naturals", "phenomenons") but that simply
isn't true in the real world. As the dude said in the convocation video, "You are not special".
If that makes you feel better keep telling yourself that. But it’s not useful advice to anyone else. It omits a lot.The harder I work, the luckier I get.
Let me tell you a story. My father is one of the hardest working people I know. Or at least was. His output in retirement is somewhat less than his youth, and my god I’m thankful that at least he made it there. During his life he worked all the time. He worked as a mechanic for highways during the day (one of those public sector jobs that you disdain), he worked at the family trucking business doing the same at night, and also manage to raise cows on the side. Additionally he managed to raise five kids. By himself for a chunk of it. Would in your books would you qualify this man as a “hard worker”? Probably not, he certainly never got rich, at best made a living at his endeavours. At least not a hard worker by the standards that we are continually bombarded with in today’s world, especially by those with right of center leanings.
Now I should say that I learned from him to keep my head down and work like a dog. I’ve done that for a lot of years. That’s good advice when picking rocks for Grampa, since back talk might get a swift kick across the field, but it’s not great when you enter the rest of the workforce. I remember my family was aghast when I quit my first job. Spoke up when it was time to, used my refusal to work for the first, and unfortunately not the last time. Dad ended up agreeing with me, but I could tell it was against his nature.
So speak up when you need to. I know if you’re trying to keep people down, you really don’t want them to learn that, but learning when to say NO will probably be one of the most important things you learn in this world. Sometimes it’s more effective to tell people to fuck off, but use discretion. It may not lead to spectacular success, but it may be crucial to your survival. Literally. If you’re dead, you don’t get to keep working like a dog after all.
Small injustice side point: it’s cheaper for a big company for you to die on the job than you to be permanently injured. Keep that in mind when you review your work safety policy.
Also, if you want to do something more interesting and maybe more satisfying and worthwhile to you, you have to speak up. Otherwise the world will assume you are happy to sweep floors. You would rather drive the forklift than sweep? No one is going to let you try unless you ask. Someday you will have to make a decision on how much work you want to do to get money, and how much effort you want to spend getting somewhere you want. The paradox being that to get farther you will need money, so you will have to figure out a balance. You only have so much time on this earth after all. Remember, when you are at work, you aren’t being paid to believe in the power of your dreams, so if you want to do the latter, you will probably have to say no to someone. Whomever that is, there will be a price, nothing is free in this life.
That’s enough for now. I know some have a closed mind that can’t consider the point of view that may have evolved in a drastically different environment than theirs. Fair enough. I get where “work harder, get luckier” comes from, but it’s glib and doesn’t really understand the role of luck.
If I was to give my own advice, maybe to younger me, here is what it would be.
1) Saying no will get easier the more you do it, and it’s going to turn out ok.
2) Go fishing more often. The work will be there later, Grampa won’t.
3) Always say yes to flying new airplanes, it is never as hard as you were told, except for
4) Don’t fly junk. You won’t always be fast and clever as you think.
5) Don’t trust anyone who is in real estate.
