Comments on: What Is a Good Work Ethic?

By: James Chen

James Chen — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:39:10 +0000

Hi Amber,

I just discovered your article today, in my search to find a way to install a good work ethic.

I think a good work ethic is installed in you as you’re growing up, in areas like hard work and discipline and knowing that if you work, you can build a life. My parents were Chinese immigrants and worked all hours of the day for my brother and me. Unfortunately, that work ethic wasn’t taught to us — they instead wanted us to be lawyers or doctors, and constantly belittled me for not being good enough. This isn’t about blaming them, though, it’s just backstory.

I’m now in my 30s, have worked in meaningless jobs just for the money and been underappreciated all along, and really feel an absence of a work drive. I really envy those who trained in an artistic field early, as I secretly wished this for me when I was growing up. Now I feel at a dead end, really really reluctant to work for somebody else, and yet have no alternative.

Best wishes,

James

By: Fnark

Fnark — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:11:19 +0000

A key part of the work ethic is submission. The early Protestants knew this and capitalized on it. Submission to God can best be achieved by submitting to man, in this case, the boss. If you don't do everything the boss says, how, and when he says, you have no work ethic worth mentioning.

I think this is a major failing of the work ethic.

By: adventurist

adventurist — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 23:05:53 +0000

A good work ethic is ploughing as much energy and passion into what you love as possible. The wrong work ethic is going along with everyone else’s ideas about what makes work virtuous. What makes it valuable, and why we should do it.

Never just settle for mediocrity because that’s what the world ordered. The real work ethic that you want to cultivate is a view whereby you love to ‘work’. That point where work becomes play. This is a point at which you will never have to worry about having the right work ethic ever again.

I’ve recently written a blog post on why the western work ethic is wrong, which is highly relevant to this discussion, and I think you’ll find it interesting;

http://burgeoninglist.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/why-so-many-people-think-the-western-work-ethic-is-right/

By: Karen Cleveland

Karen Cleveland — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:58:07 +0000

Sometimes thinking about the opposite can help define something.

I visualized someone who did NOT have a good work ethic and the first thing I noticed was that person’s attitude. The body was there but the heart wasn’t. Even if the “work” got done well and timely, I wouldn’t say the person had a good work ethic.

A person with a good work ethic doesn’t complain or resent that the work needs to be done; they just dig in and do it. Maybe diligently, day after day. Maybe full out till the task is complete. Either way; their attitude is the same – Let’s get the job done!

Just my take…
Karen

By: Weekly Link Post 128 « Rhonda Tipton’s WebLog

Weekly Link Post 128 « Rhonda Tipton’s WebLog — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:00:43 +0000

[...] What Is a Good Work Ethic? – This article makes you think. Work ethic means different things to different people. [...]

By: TonyCurtis

TonyCurtis — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:28:38 +0000

Accountability, accountability, accoutability. I may work on a very small minute detail or mistake for a client, and I get vocal and harried (yes, harried) by coworkers about “why all the fuss?” or “it’s no big deal” but it’s because I still know it’s MY work, and MY name and I want the reward, not the punishment. Clients love the attention, bosses (good ones) like when they don’t have to micro manage you to death. Danny Bonaduce said to a guy on his radio show “don’t go back to selling drugs. I know your minimum wage job may suck but the only way to make it bearable and turn it into anything is to do the best damn job you can!”

Danny Bonaduce. Go figure.

By: Amber Riviere

Amber Riviere — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:09:50 +0000

Hello, everyone, and thanks for commenting! You all make great points.

For me, I know I’m able to get down to the work and get things done without a problem. Mostly, my issue is figuring out a good rhythm of working and taking time off to recharge. I’m a churner. If you give me something to do, I won’t stop until it’s done, which is the way I work best, but at the end of all that churning, I have to recharge (have to), or I end up feeling spent and losing my enthusiasm for the work. I love what I do and wouldn’t want to do anything else, but figuring out the right “blend,” as Katy’s friend says, calls for a lot of experimentation and taste-testing!

Great conversation, everyone! I’m glad you all chimed in to comment.

By: Katy

Katy — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:09:01 +0000

Hi Amber – great post to make us all think about how we work and how hard we work. I try to work on things that energize and excite me (thereby adding to my life vs. taking away from it). It’s not always possible – sometime you have to slog through some drudge work – but if I find that my work is draining my life away I make a change. I agree with J.T. though – our generation holds different values than others and part of my balance includes working flexible hours so I can be there when my son comes home from school. To me a person with a good work ethic is someone who is passionate about their work AND their home life and finds ways to integrate both things successfully. A friend of mine once said that he doesn’t have a work/life balance anymore, he has a work/life blend.

By: Simon Mackie

Simon Mackie — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:50:24 +0000

That’s a good point, Dave — older generations don’t understand a lot of the work that’s done today to be “work.”

By: Eugene Kan

Eugene Kan — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:53:22 +0000

If you take into consideration “work ethic” and sports, I think it’s something a little easier to envision. Somebody who works tirelessly at their trade and puts in the work that is often not glamorous or fun but ultimately necessary.

You can have the greatest work ethic but personal incompetence, narrow mindedness and the inability to learn from your mistakes will all work against you. Yet I still feel that work ethic is by and large the greatest precursor to success, more so than talent cause it’s doing the necessary but “un-fun” work that contributes the most to overall success.