nanook 1 #26 August 1, 2009 Quote Quote and tend to get "worry lines" twenty years or so later in life. That's just Botox Can't say you're wrong here_____________________________ "The trouble with quotes on the internet is that you can never know if they are genuine" - Abraham Lincoln Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 1,644 #27 August 1, 2009 QuoteQuoteQuote I think the issue with this thread in general is the ambiguous and relative nature of the phrase "hard work." There is nothing ambiguous about hard work. There is a relative nature to hard work. Disagree. Do you mean "hard work" as in a prisoner doing "hard labor"; sweating and toiling in the hot sun breaking rocks? "Hard work" could also mean "tedious work"; screwing the same widget onto another widget over and over, day in and day out. It's not necessarily physically "hard", but it's certainly not enjoyable and therefore "hard to take". "Hard work" could also be "mentally difficulty work"; an engineer working on some critical design that if he screws it up somebody is going to die. I'd say the term is at the very least ambiguous. Indeed. What's easy for some can be difficult or impossible for others. Knowledge workers can be very productive without breaking a sweat.... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BaronVonBoll 0 #28 August 1, 2009 I ork in the construxction industry. concrete welding carpentry. while many people call this hard work I enjoy building things to much to concider it a plebian existance. I could sit at a desk doing marketing or sales but I would hate every minute of it even if I was making more money. Any one who thinks building things from scratch is a brainless activity and requires only brute stregnth is an elititist,ignorant snob! Engineers may design the product I make but they cant build them. Anyway Is wok wok when you enjoy it hmmmm? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TomAiello 25 #29 August 1, 2009 QuoteNow you're dissing Paulson. Yes, I am. QuoteYou should save some diss for Greenspan. Don't worry, I've got plenty of that, too. My dislike for government intervention and wasteful spending is not dependent on which party is perceived as doing the intervention and spending.-- Tom Aiello [email protected] SnakeRiverBASE.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Royd 0 #30 August 2, 2009 Quote I picked chili alongside my mom as a kid. $4 a 25 gallon bucket If we could send all of those hard working illegals home, we could pick chilis for $25 for a four gallon bucket. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nanook 1 #31 August 2, 2009 Quote Quote I picked chili alongside my mom as a kid. $4 a 25 gallon bucket If we could send all of those hard working illegals home, we could pick chilis for $25 for a four gallon bucket. What?? And risk a jar of Pace Picante sauce to cost over $100? Salsa would become a commodity. Although. . .(thinking. . .thinking)_____________________________ "The trouble with quotes on the internet is that you can never know if they are genuine" - Abraham Lincoln Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FreeflyChile 0 #32 August 2, 2009 Whether I like it or not depends on motivation. Right now I voted option "C" because it's about being professional. Doesn't mean I like it though. When I am working for someone/something I like, working hard is one of the best, most rewarding feelings in the world. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nerdgirl 0 #33 August 2, 2009 Your post reminded me of an author I heard interviewed recently: Why I Got A PhD In Political Philosophy And Then Became A Motorcycle Mechanic “ Matthew Crawford got a PhD in Political Philosophy from the University of Chicago. Then he abandoned academia after a year, abandoned a Washington DC think-tank job after five months, and opened a one-man motorcycle repair shop. “He thinks more now than when he worked at think-tank. He's part of a vibrant, intuitive, well-educated community. He's proud of his work, which matters deeply to his customers. His decisions aren't arbitrarily changed by a superior. His job won't suddenly be shipped to India.” ---- --- - --- ---- In response to the OP, it depends on what the hard work is … so I guess I’m being slow today … cause I’m not sure what you mean by “hard work” either? Do I think I would like spending 12+hrs a day picking vegetables in the Central Valley in 90 degree heat with limited access to running water/toilet? No. A mix of random luck of my parents and geography and choices I’ve made throughout my life make that scenario unlikely. Does working hard mean working 65+hr weeks (sometimes more) on challenging problems and sometimes having to deal with challenging people if it’s something about which I am passionate? Absolutely! There’s a lot of room between the first scenario and the second. I'm not sure how many people would say "no" to the second scenario really? /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
masterrig 1 #34 August 2, 2009 I do! That's all I've done all my life. I live comfortably and pay my bills without concern. I appreciate those folks who work hard for what they have. I just don't like folks who look down their noses at people who do work hard for what they have. I don't have any use for those who 'expect' things to be given to them, either. I've known and worked for people who have worked hard all their lives and made millions and aren't afraid to get their hands dirty. I really respect them, too. I think, you appreciate what you have more if, you had to work for it. Chuck Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nerdgirl 0 #35 August 2, 2009 QuoteQuoteI know broke people and I know millionaires, and I think the broke ones are happier. My experience was different. I remember much shorter tempers and overall attitudes being much lower in my childhood. I've noticed that generally, wealthier people have a smaller chip on their shoulders and tend to get "worry lines" twenty years or so later in life. One of my favorite aphorisms: money doesn’t buy happiness, but it goes a long way to alleviating misery. /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #36 August 2, 2009 I'm normally an IT Consultant but have taken a job as a Motorcycle courier (there's not as much IT work around at the moment) - BUT - I'm loving it. The hours are crap (I work 5 and 1/2 days a week), the pay is poor (I get a week what I used to get a day) and the work is very tiring (concetrating all the time!!). After years of working with a lot of self important arseholes, I now deal with a lot of real people, doing real work. Unemployment was one of the very best things that has ever happened to me BUT I will NOT sit on my arse drawing unemployment benifit, so I went out and found a job. (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nerdgirl 0 #37 August 2, 2009 Quote Unemployment was one of the very best things that has ever happened to me ... I was unemployed for 3 months in 2003 ... after I sold my stake in the first company I co-founded. Had my next job lined up in less than 3 weeks; it just didn't start for a couple months. Concur that it was one of the best things - becuase if I hadn't left that position I wouldn't be doing what I am now, which I love! Remember one of my skydiving friends commenting I worked harder unemployed than most people do employed. /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #38 August 2, 2009 It's sort of a silly thing to say ... but I've actually learnt quite a bit about myself recently too (and I like what I found) (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StreetScooby 5 #39 August 2, 2009 Quote Do I think I would like spending 12+hrs a day picking vegetables in the Central Valley in 90 degree heat with limited access to running water/toilet? No. A mix of random luck of my parents and geography and choices I’ve made throughout my life make that scenario unlikely. Does working hard mean working 65+hr weeks (sometimes more) on challenging problems and sometimes having to deal with challenging people if it’s something about which I am passionate? Absolutely! These both count as hard work, IMO.We are all engines of karma Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,426 #40 August 2, 2009 >>Do I think I would like spending 12+hrs a day picking vegetables in the >>Central Valley in 90 degree heat with limited access to running >>water/toilet? No. >>Does working hard mean working 65+hr weeks (sometimes more) >>on challenging problems and sometimes having to deal with >>challenging people if it’s something about which I am passionate? >>Absolutely! >These both count as hard work, IMO. So I guess for Marg the most accurate answer to your poll would be "yes and no." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Croc 0 #41 August 2, 2009 Perhaps a lot of posters have missed the point of the poll. The question was who LIKES to work hard. I do, and I always have. If I'm not enthusiastic about something I find something else to do. I've worked hard at my trade (plumbing, for thirty years) because I like working that way. Can't do it any other way. The young guys in my shop think I'm nuts, but I'll bet I'm the happiest guy there! I like estimating the job, selling it, running the installation, and picking up the check. Is that working smart? Who cares? I love my job!"Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StreetScooby 5 #42 August 2, 2009 Quote If I'm not enthusiastic about something I find something else to do. +1We are all engines of karma Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StreetScooby 5 #43 August 3, 2009 Just checking the poll results. Looks like alot of hard working Americans here. I love it.We are all engines of karma Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StreetScooby 5 #44 August 3, 2009 Quote I'm not sure how many people would say "no" to the second scenario really? Uhm, how many people get that choice?We are all engines of karma Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrewEckhardt 0 #45 August 3, 2009 It depends. I like working hard on interesting problems which lead to delivering product to customers and increasing share holder value. I can do 70-80 hours a week that way for years and 100+ hours for months. May 1 - June 8 I did eight man months of scheduled work. I worked continuously May 1 through mid July except for sleep, commuting, taking my wife out for dinner twice, and having two beers a week with my cow-orkers. I met my wife while working like that, learning after the fact that while I was sleeping under my desk (you get more work done when you don't waste time commuting) she was down in the parking garage sleeping in her car. I even work around the unreasonable people and situations which go with it, being the last one in my group to quit twice. After enough incidents of such projects which are essential to corporate survival getting postponed or cancelled in favor of crap that doesn't even provide a real competitive advantage I stop caring and may not be at the office eight hours a day. I can't stand wasting my time on uninteresting things that don't serve real purposes or working around other people's avoidable management, hiring, and technical problems. Especially when I've made rationale arguments before the bad decision illustrating why things needed to be done differently. Even 40 hours a week is 30 hours too much if the difficulty doesn't go with an otherwise personally rewarding project. I can't stand boring situations where I can't apply my skills or experience. I've taken $50K pay cuts to get out of such situations. I'm working towards avoiding the crap by being independently wealthy from reasonable ownership shares in organizations where I can theoretically make a difference as a technical employee, or getting to a founding CTO role where the avoidable problems are my own fault and therefore not repeated a second time. I'd live off the grid before doing hard manual labor for money. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StreetScooby 5 #46 August 3, 2009 Quote I can't stand wasting my time on uninteresting things that don't serve real purposes or working around other people's avoidable management, hiring, and technical problems. Especially when I've made rationale arguments before the bad decision illustrating why things needed to be done differently. Even 40 hours a week is 30 hours too much. Got the T-shirt.We are all engines of karma Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nerdgirl 0 #47 August 3, 2009 QuoteQuote I'm not sure how many people would say "no" to the second scenario really: working 65+hr weeks (sometimes more) on challenging problems and sometimes having to deal with challenging people if it’s something about which [one is] passionate? Uhm, how many people get that choice? Don't know. I do, so N = at least 1. /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StreetScooby 5 #48 August 3, 2009 Quote I do, so N = at least 1. Exactly. And there is a reason for that. You work hard, and get it done. And probably have for a very long time. We are all engines of karma Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pirana 0 #49 August 3, 2009 One of my mantras: Work hard, play hard, have fun. Another is: How you do anything is how you do everything. A person is diligent, or they are not. They have integrity, or they don't. They are self-aware, or they are not. Where a person is with those things is reflected in every facet of their life. Character traits go to the core of who a person is." . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Croc 0 #50 August 4, 2009 What he said!"Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so." Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
