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Some people define 'hard work' as how physically demanding a job is.
Others say it's how many hours you put it.
Others might say it's going above and beyond what's expected of you.
Just curious as to how many people here think they 'work hard' and how they would describe that.
For me, I go in spurts. I'm in sales and well compensated. I can always be doing 'more' and feel like I can usually be working harder (whatever that means).
Early in life, I worked doing roofing for a company that was building all the pink stucco ticky tack boxes in Phoenix during the summers - at a smoking $6.25/hr. As long as you could go, all the OT you could handle. We'd drink 2-3 gallons of water a day and never have to stop to take a leak. Lugging bundles of tile up a ladder, sliding around on 120 degree roofs, that was HARD. Really HARD. But really, really easy - it was show up, man up, take a break, man up, go get a beer (or 7), rinse and repeat.
I saved up about $500/week for 10 weeks, then dumped that into my tuition payments while I worked a cakewalk retail job that was really simply physically and mentally (Nordstrom) - until you had the SAHM roll in at opening to do their "Ladies day" shopping trip and validate their meaningless existences by belittling everyone around them and get off on their husband's money and power trip. That was really, really, hard emotionally - I just wanted to slap one of those cackling idiots and walk out. But, I saved up money and dumped it toward Ramen, books and tuition - and a beer or 7.
After about 6 years of this (although I progressed up the retail chain side of things to Dept Manager, and ran a team of undocumented roofers in the summer and hung Xmas lights during winter break for $50/house at 2-4 houses a day), I finally had a worthless Political Science degree.
At least I didn't have much debt - maybe $3,500 or so when I graduated (beer had to come from somewhere).
What I did have was some work experience, some work ethic and a desire to never deal with manual labor or retail/service front line work again - and a healthy appreciation for those that are there. I was able to polish a turd of a resume and sneak into a mid-management job with a wireless company and took it upward from there. Now, I manage the people that manage the managers, that manage the people that supervise the people and it gets really stressful - then really easy - then back. It 's a different kind of "hard", but ultimately one that is more manageable.
I'd have to say, the retail was probably the "hardest", since people can be so demeaning. At least roofing you felt like you got something done, you were ripped, tan and knew exactly what your job entailed... And the people were more appreciative when you did your job.
Now I have two teenage daughters, my hardest job is in front of me.
Early in life, I worked doing roofing for a company that was building all the pink stucco ticky tack boxes in Phoenix during the summers - at a smoking $6.25/hr. As long as you could go, all the OT you could handle. We'd drink 2-3 gallons of water a day and never have to stop to take a leak. Lugging bundles of tile up a ladder, sliding around on 120 degree roofs, that was HARD. Really HARD. But really, really easy - it was show up, man up, take a break, man up, go get a beer (or 7), rinse and repeat.
I saved up about $500/week for 10 weeks, then dumped that into my tuition payments while I worked a cakewalk retail job that was really simply physically and mentally (Nordstrom) - until you had the SAHM roll in at opening to do their "Ladies day" shopping trip and validate their meaningless existences by belittling everyone around them and get off on their husband's money and power trip. That was really, really, hard emotionally - I just wanted to slap one of those cackling idiots and walk out. But, I saved up money and dumped it toward Ramen, books and tuition - and a beer or 7.
After about 6 years of this (although I progressed up the retail chain side of things to Dept Manager, and ran a team of undocumented roofers in the summer and hung Xmas lights during winter break for $50/house at 2-4 houses a day), I finally had a worthless Political Science degree.
At least I didn't have much debt - maybe $3,500 or so when I graduated (beer had to come from somewhere).
What I did have was some work experience, some work ethic and a desire to never deal with manual labor or retail/service front line work again - and a healthy appreciation for those that are there. I was able to polish a turd of a resume and sneak into a mid-management job with a wireless company and took it upward from there. now, I manage the people that manage the people that supervise the people and it gets really stressful - then really easy - then back. It 's a different kind of "hard", but ultimately one that is more manageable.
I'd have to say, the retail was probably the "hardest", since people can be so demeaning. At least roofing you felt like you got something done, you were ripped, tan and knew exactly what your job entailed... And the people were more appreciative when you did your job.
Now I have two teenage daughters, my hardest job is in front of me.
I agree with you that "hard work" means different things, not just one thing. There is hard work where you feel physically exhausted at the end of the day, and there is hard work when you feel mentally or emotionally drained at the end of the day. I would define hard work as any work that makes a person exhausted and drained when they are finished with it (... does that make sex hard work? )
Time doesn't really matter to me because if I sit around and do nothing all day, I am putting in time but not much work.
I also prefer physical labor exhaustion over mental/emotional exhaustion because the former tends to be a stress reliever rather than stress caused. I once had a supervisor who was helping me with some menial physical chores on the job, and I asked him if he was irritated at doing that work. He said it was the opposite - he loved it when he could do something productive that didn't require much thought. I didn't understand at the time but I definitely understand now.
Early in life, I worked doing roofing for a company that was building all the pink stucco ticky tack boxes in Phoenix during the summers - at a smoking $6.25/hr. As long as you could go, all the OT you could handle. We'd drink 2-3 gallons of water a day and never have to stop to take a leak. Lugging bundles of tile up a ladder, sliding around on 120 degree roofs, that was HARD. Really HARD. But really, really easy - it was show up, man up, take a break, man up, go get a beer (or 7), rinse and repeat.
I saved up about $500/week for 10 weeks, then dumped that into my tuition payments while I worked a cakewalk retail job that was really simply physically and mentally (Nordstrom) - until you had the SAHM roll in at opening to do their "Ladies day" shopping trip and validate their meaningless existences by belittling everyone around them and get off on their husband's money and power trip. That was really, really, hard emotionally - I just wanted to slap one of those cackling idiots and walk out. But, I saved up money and dumped it toward Ramen, books and tuition - and a beer or 7.
After about 6 years of this (although I progressed up the retail chain side of things to Dept Manager, and ran a team of undocumented roofers in the summer and hung Xmas lights during winter break for $50/house at 2-4 houses a day), I finally had a worthless Political Science degree.
At least I didn't have much debt - maybe $3,500 or so when I graduated (beer had to come from somewhere).
What I did have was some work experience, some work ethic and a desire to never deal with manual labor or retail/service front line work again - and a healthy appreciation for those that are there. I was able to polish a turd of a resume and sneak into a mid-management job with a wireless company and took it upward from there. Now, I manage the people that manage the managers, that manage the people that supervise the people and it gets really stressful - then really easy - then back. It 's a different kind of "hard", but ultimately one that is more manageable.
I'd have to say, the retail was probably the "hardest", since people can be so demeaning. At least roofing you felt like you got something done, you were ripped, tan and knew exactly what your job entailed... And the people were more appreciative when you did your job.
Now I have two teenage daughters, my hardest job is in front of me.
That was a very entertaining read, well written, funny.
I have two daughters myself, which I attribute to God having sense of humor for my transgressions with the opposite sex as a young man. So, like you, I've got the hardest life 'work' still to come.
Anyway, back to the topic. Here I am, 10 AM on a Friday, dicking around on CD.com instead of doing what I'm being paid to do. But, I sit here and tell myself "Ok, from 10:30 until 5, I'm going to bust my as$, get a lot done and 'feel' like I had a good day, worked hard (as opposed to finding other things to do, like be on CD.com).
I go on CD.com like it was my job, it has become so automatic. I have to tell myself, focus, focus. I ended up accidentally blowing off my work for 2 weeks and had to scramble to get it done this week. That was hard work.
I like the definition about being drained. If it requires focus and concentration and execution, it's hard work.
All of a sudden I'm thinking back to one of the most important things I learned in college. (no, not the quadratic formula or theory of relativity). It was an offhand remark my professor told me when she was rushing to get to her next class. "Work smarter, not harder." Working hard is overrated. Why work hard if you don't have to? If you do the job well, no matter how you do it, then it doesn't matter if you're working hard, because you're still producing a quality product.
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