THE THING
Here’s the Thing! If for some reason you haven’t seen, heard of, or watched Mike Rowe and his Dirty Jobs television programme, you have really missed out. Your homework is to watch as many of the programmes as you can, because it is required studying in order to be a Real Man. Basically, he’s an educated, well spoken, funny man who shows the world that hard work is an honourable and necessary thing, in order to make the civilized world possible. If you visit his Facebook page or his website, you will see and hear a man who has brought back the concept that hard work is noble.
For too long we have been sold on the concept that physical, hard work is somehow bad and inferior. We have designed our world to look down on people who work hard and we mock them by saying “work smart not hard!” And heaven help you if you don’t work in an air-conditioned office. Average men shun people who work hard, especially those who work hard with their hands, doing manual labour. Average men spend their days thinking of ways not only to get out of working hard, but of ways to get rich quick, with the least effort. Basically, average men are lazy. Real Men work hard.
Nothing truly remarkable has ever been achieved without hard work. Even intellectuals will tell you that most breakthroughs: scientific, mathematical, architectural or any other … al, have only been achieved through hard work. Einstein worked for years to prove his theory of relativity. Archimedes worked tirelessly to prove and perfect his theory that different objects displace liquid differently. Okay, so his major breakthrough did happen when he was in the bath, but even in the bath he was thinking and working on the problem.
Most scientific breakthroughs take years of effort, trial and error and simple hard work.
In a modern day society it really doesn’t matter what you do for a living. One fundamental truth will always remain: the harder you work, the bigger and better the results.
Just look around at your world and notice the amount of hard work and effort that was put into the building that you might be sitting in at the moment. Someone carried the bricks, mixed the concrete, drew the plans, dug the foundations, built the walls – brick by brick, plastered them, painted them, plumbed them, electrified them and on and on. Can you imagine the amount of hard work that went into this simple computer that I am writing this on?
Real Men understand hard work. Real Men don’t shirk from hard work, they embrace it, they look forward to it and see it as an everyday challenge. Whether the work is mental, physical or both; Real Men understand that working hard and achieving something, because of toiling and giving everything that you’ve got, is what life is about.
I swear I could write a book just on this subject, but for brevity sake let me just make a few points:
- Without work we have no way to provide for our families.
- Without work we have no way to test and stretch our abilities.
- Without work we are not able to perform and achieve and have something to be proud of.
THE REWARD
The ability to provide for your family.
Hard-work gives you purpose and pride in a job well done.
Hard work makes you a better person, who appreciates what you have, and grateful for the opportunity to showcase your skills.
Hard work and effort stretches you mentally and physically.
Hard work builds character and keeps you healthy.
Hard work and effort is the foundation for success and achievement.
THE HOW TO
- Change your mind immediately about the concept of hard work.
- If you live your life avoiding effort and hard work you cannot call yourself a Real Man and you will probably achieve nothing worthwhile.
- Raising children is hard work. It is a 21-year commitment and contract to behaving like an adult; to being accountable and responsible, to providing, to feeding, to fetching, to carrying, to dropping, to helping, to supporting, to caring, to sharing, to being on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks of the year – for a minimum of 21 years. And it’s doing most of this when you don’t feel up to it, and when you could just as easily sit on your backside and watch TV, while drinking beer.
- Staying married is hard work. It’s all of the above plus mood swings, guilt trips, always being wrong, always having to say you’re sorry, cuddling and watching Grey’s Anatomy.
- Getting and staying employed is hard work. It’s getting and keeping the skills, applying for the job, being told what to do, working with unreasonable people, working with backstabbing, lazy people who take credit for your work, shoddy suppliers, ungrateful bosses, unhappy customers and waiting for someone to die before you get a promotion.
- Being an entrepreneur is hard work. It’s all of the above and having to kick your own arse every day.
- Dieting and staying healthy is hard work.
- Studying and learning new skills takes effort, patience and hard work. I hope you get the point, because it’s hard work typing the words hard work.
TROUBLE SHOOTING
- Yes, but shouldn’t you work smarter and not harder?
I am so glad that you are not standing in front of me right now; and that you emailed this question to me. In a modern day society, in a modern-day economy you have to work smart as well as hard in order for you to have any chance of success. People who tell you to work smarter, not harder, want you to buy their books or courses. They want to get rich while you sit and try to find a shortcut. That’s why they sell you books and courses on shortcuts.
WISDOM
“I believe that there is no such thing as a bad job. I believe that all jobs are opportunities and it’s up to me to make the best of them.” – Mike Rowe