Next month I will be flying to Ohio to work again with the excellent young men and women of SkillsUSA. This organization is one that values the effort involved in a job well done. Long ago, our country once was known for its work ethic. Now, its questionable what we really believe about “hard work.” For some, like the young men and women of SkillsUSA, they get it. When you watch some athletes or the people in Mike Rowe’s Dirty Jobs, you can tell that they get it.
Yet, as I work around the country and observe my students in the classroom, it feels like many think that hard work is something that should be avoided. Or, perhaps better stated, they think that success happens when you can navigate AROUND hard work; only “suckers” work hard. Well, the value of a job well done, of effort happily put into a task that you have willingly chosen has never been better demonstrated than in this video.
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Once, our country was full of craftsmen like the guys in this video. I think we still have a country of these kind of men and women, but nationally, we find once again a philosophical war where many voices, including those in the government, seem to teach that a different philosophy, say the Philosophy of Avoiding Work, is the best. If you aren’t so sure about this, come with me when I speak to students. Whether I am teaching about Academic Success or Leadership or Values for Success, I usually work the concept of “diligent effort being required” into the talk. I should see heads nodding up and down all over the room; instead there is a clear sense of disgust or at least disagreement.
If we hope to find Success for Life, we must reclaim the same love for hard work, effort in the details, as the makers of this chair.