While not quite a Bushido posting, this is a post about the value and cultivation of work ethic. As my long time readers know, I have struggled with work ethic ever since leaving NYC. Something about the suburbs of Phoenix (and even the state of Iowa) drains the work ethic right out of me. Still, work ethic is a large part of what divides successful people from the ones who barely scrape by.
I’ve come back around to wanting things. I want to take this 4000 sq ft home of ours and turn it into a palace. I want to upgrade everything to the point where the home is a work of art and I can feel like I live in a place where I am impossibly happy to walk around in at any point in time replete with a full electronics suite and an office area that would make ABC’s Castle go, “wow.”
Work ethic requires a motivation such as this. Some are motivated by stuff. Some are motivated to be the best, to prove something to someone, or even to create a new life. This creates the foundation for the work ethic. The rest is built with bricks of fortitude, responsibility, and stickwithitness. In other words, work ethic depends on how you were brought up to respect work and how badly you want to see yourself be seen as a successful person. Consuelo Kickbush said in her presentation that she knew her mother was only a maid, but her mother viewed herself as a world class maid. She put in the work to be at the top of her field–no matter what the external perceptions of that field may be.
Work ethic is what remains after all the motivational speeches and the glamour of the role is put aside. Work ethic in what sustains you during the hardest part of anything you do. I’ve struggled with this for so long that I feel I have a deep understanding of what doesn’t work–at least for me. Reward structures don’t work. Simple gamesmanship where you compete against yourself to do the work faster and better has not worked. I think what is going to work for me is accepting the fact that true success takes time. I need to have the patience for Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hours to becoming an expert, and I need to make the daily time to pursue it.
Some Thoughts:
1. Madden Wall pt. 2: I hit that wall again where I am not really interested in playing Madden. Good. This time I was on for about a month and a half, but no I seem to have faded. It was the Superbowl (in game) that did it. I won, then went on to have a wonderful post season right up till the draft where I discovered I only had 5th round and later picks. I discovered this long after the picks I wanted were already gone. So, I restarted pre-Superbowl. I don’t want to play out that match again.