Hard Work?

[The White Belt]

Hey guys.

Looking at my past project failures I identify several issues that go with the failures, such as limiting beliefs, improper planning

lack of clear vision etc. but the one I want to focus on here is an unwillingness to work hard.

 

Currently I'm reading Arnold Schwarzenegger's biography, 'Total Recall', and something really jumped out at me, around the beginning, 

and that is Arnold's incredible work ethic.

See, it wasn't when he started his Life Purpose that he began to work his ass off. 

He Dad seemed to have made him jump through rings of fire day in and day out, He started his first business at about age 15.

Also his best friend Franco Columbu was forced to live alone in the wilderness several times as a kid, he had to gather his own food and look after himself just as a KID. 

 

Now in my life, I have a pretty poor job by my own standards. I work in a coffee shop/canteen and I don't really like it much so I don't put that much 

effort into it. I'm not too enthusiastic with my customers, I always go home on time, if not a little early, and generally I know that I can do a lot better and 

step up my game.

I justify my poor work by saying, 'Yeah it's all good these guys (certain co-workers) are working harder than me, but when they get home,

they'll be parked in front of the TV all night. I'll be meditating and self-actualizing, I need to reserve energy!).

It's true to a certain degree, I do mediate and I do my reading and stuff, but it ain't like i'm grinding it out all through the night. I mean, my 

self-actualization is a bit murky and passive, like I don't work hard to master a certain area, I just get interested in certain parts, buy a few books,

watch a few videos and move on. So yeah, I wouldn't call myself lazy, I work kinda hard at it, but I can grind it out so much more and get sick results, so this

work on the evenings doesn't justify laziness elsewhere.

 

So here my question;

Does hard work sort of work as a kind of 'use it or lose it' phenomenon?

Should I work hard in work, my hobbies, with my relationships as well, in order to have my work ethic spill over to use where I am really motivated to use it? 

Is work ethic something you can switch on and off ,or, do you have it or you don't have it?  

If I find my Life Purpose, will I suddenly be a hard worker, or should I start now, working hard even on small stuff?

 

I hope you see what i'm getting at here.

Thanks. 

 

[Dantas]

@The White Belt

Not at all, I think. To have a good work ethic is to do good work wherever you're at. To build it means you do spend some time honing your skills and ressources, which can be fairly hard depending from where you're starting.

When you find a purpose, you'll know that working at it might be effortful, but it won't be a problem. Just try and get your priorities straight and mesure your ressources. It could be a phenomenon, if it's not a purpose, but if it is, you'll keep coming back to it.

And if it's Art related, you will need a lot of free time and energy. Which means reducing other stuff strategically. Cause Art might not pay in the beginning process.

Edited June 1, 2017 by Dantas

[The White Belt]

Bump

[Loreena]

@The White Belt hmmmm.  Tough question. I've some reservations here.  This is where I was talking about how to be a strategic motherfucker.  I never use the all or none principle.  I want to be a strategic motherfucker.  So I want to be in the grey part of everything.  Neither black nor white.  To me maximum productivity goes with optimization.  So saving energy is just as important as spending energy.  So you can't give yourself to everything all at once.  You need to prioritize,  have a strategy in place,  manage a bit,  learn management skills,  skip stuff that's unimportant.  This is like playing a chess game.  For me the term hard worker doesn't make much sense.  I would replace it with smart worker.  

If you're really not interested in your coffee job,  there's no point in working hard because there is no real payoff doing something that is not worth the hard work you put in.  But I wouldn't suggest you should deliberately suck at it because you can't justify not following work ethic at your job.  So You need to find a balance.  Check the payoff.  You may be  putting in substantial effort in your self-actualization but that appears a lot in your eyes and not in someone else's.  I mean for another person it may appear very little.  So It's a matter of perspectives.  

Coming to the final part of the question,  finding your life purpose will help you know what you're really passionate about.  Becoming a better version of yourself is actually a part of self improvement,  self development and not necessarily  life purpose.  

First work on  yourself.  You're the biggest baddest hardest project.  Once you cross that level,  other things fall into place.  

 

[Prabhaker]

@The White Belt

Drop ambitions , but work as hard like those people who are ambitious. Call it "work meditation". 

 The more you put yourself into work the deeper you can go into relaxation. So both are important. The harder you work the deeper you can relax. Work is valuable. It will bring humbleness and silence. People should feel that their work is something very special, and that whatever work they do is respectable.

 When you work, you should forget everything else – forget the whole world, forget your problems – whatever work it is, be total in it.

[Leo Gura]

@The White Belt Modern generations of kids have definitely been spoiled rotten with video games, porn, food, internet, TV, and mobile phones.

It's getting harder every year for people to get enlightened. The atmosphere is so toxic and seductive.

What can you do but just try to bust through it? Expect it to be painful at first.

[The White Belt]

@Leo Gura Should I step my game up in all of my pursuits as a means to cultivate a real solid work ethic in my main pursuits?  Sort of to make it spill over to all areas of my life?

[Leo Gura]

@The White Belt You tell me. Should you?

[The White Belt]

@Leo Gura Yes.