Task Force Entrepreneur
Task Force Entrepreneur (TFE) is a podcast for entrepreneurs interested in the service industry. It began as a way to document the creation of a new service-oriented business, and aims to provide a no-fluff narrative on all things entrepreneur!
Task Force Entrepreneur
The Vilification of Hard Work
If there's one thing that most high performers cannot disagree about - it's the fact that most people are allergic to hard work. In today's culture, it seems this rhetoric has increased significantly. In today's show, we'll discuss hard work, grinding, and why none if it is as bad as people make it sound. Originally Aired August 28, 2023.
And I want to be clear. This message is only really for the 1%. If you are perfectly happy in your 9-5, then hats off to you. I have nothing bad to say to you. I'm glad. I mean that's awesome, right. But there's a lot of people out there and I know because I've talked to them, there's a lot of people out there like me who you know the 9-5 just isn't for you. You want more than that. Hey, everybody Mike here, and welcome to Task Force Entrepreneur. The podcast I started went from being a tech engineer to starting a house cleaning business. Yep, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I hope you enjoy the show. Hey, what's up? Everybody Mike here, welcome to the show.
Speaker 1:Today we're going to talk about something that I was a little triggered by. I guess you could use that wording, I don't know. I mean, that might trigger somebody just using that word. Oops, I said it again.
Speaker 1:Anyway, this all started when I saw a meme online and I want to just paint the picture for you. So it was a photo, and it was from behind, of this lady, probably in her 50s, at the airport. She was waiting to board the plane and in her right hand she had a roller suitcase with a very expensive purse on top that she was holding on with her pinky while also grabbing the handle for the roller suitcase, and then, in between her thumb and her forefinger, she had a laptop that was open, and then in her left hand she was holding a phone to her ear and talking, and this image stirred up some controversy because it was you know, the caption was hashtag girl boss right Because she was working very hard. She had a very fancy bag purse I don't recall the brand, louis Vuitton or something like that, but a lot of people I was kind of just scrolling through the comments and it was amazing how the vast majority of people felt bad for this lady. There was a lot of comments like oh, poor lady, she can't even take a flight without working really hard, and there was a lot of people saying I would never do that and that's horrible and this isn't right and you know all of this stuff right.
Speaker 1:It really did kind of amaze me how the masses quickly attacked this idea that, working while standing in line for a flight which, by the way, was probably a business flight she was probably on the clock, she was probably working right. That's probably why her laptop was open and her phone was to her ear right, and had she been at home, guess what? She'd probably be working the same way and nobody would say anything. But either way, people were really upset by this concept that how dare someone have to work while standing in line for a flight. And first it kind of showed a lot of these people probably have never traveled for business.
Speaker 1:But looking past that, it kind of made me think about it that there's this outcry over hard work. And I've seen it in other ways, like a few years ago people used to say hashtag grind. And that was a good thing, that was like you're working hard, you're grinding right. Then fast forward, probably a couple years ago, suddenly that became a bad thing and it was kind of this toxic characteristic. It was like how dare you grind? You should work smart. You don't need to grind, you don't want to grind yourself into the ground, you need to take care of yourself, right, and I just want to put this out there.
Speaker 1:There are definitely multiple ways to be an entrepreneur. You can take the slow and steady approach. You can also take the approach of burning down everything around you in order to build your business. There's varying degrees of being an entrepreneur and, to be honest with you, I think it varies and depends on the person. For me personally, I dive in headfirst. Now. I don't sacrifice family, I don't sacrifice other obligations that I have, but I work hard and I would be that person waiting in line, using a laptop and a phone if necessary, to get the job done.
Speaker 1:And what's interesting is, I think as a whole society has gone very, very soft and is very, very comfortable. People will be quick to denounce hard work in this scenario, but those same people don't denounce things like excessive social media, even when the US Surgeon General has said that social media is literally not healthy for children. These same people are probably perfectly fine with their kids on social media, right, and I don't care where you sit on it one way or another, but the point is social media is not always a good thing and these people don't care, right? The same people that are complaining about hard work probably don't have anything to say about sugary drinks or texting and driving, which they probably do, right. So you see where I'm going here, right? They don't care about a lot of these things around them in daily life that are not ideal or not healthy. But the one thing they care to vilify is the concept of getting your hands dirty and working a little bit.
Speaker 1:And I want to be clear this message is only really for the 1%. If you are perfectly happy and you're 9 to 5, then hats off to you. I have nothing bad to say to you. I'm glad. I mean that's awesome, right. But there's a lot of people out there and I know because I've talked to them, there's a lot of people out there like me who you know the 9 to 5 just isn't for you. You want more than that, and so I think it's important to remember that. You know it's okay to want to work hard.
Speaker 1:The trick is you got to find what works for you, and there's a quote I really like that kind of sums up all of this really well, and that is and I don't know who this is attributed to, just as a heads up, but it goes are times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. So, again, I think it really comes down to, in my opinion, being honest with yourself. You know, if you're on Netflix four hours a day, don't complain about working hard. You're not really working hard Now, if you can only afford one hour a day and that's the only bit of time you have to work on your business, then work that one hour a day and I would still call that hard work.
Speaker 1:It's not necessarily about the number of hours, it's more about the quality. The point is to get whatever you can done in the available time you have, but at the same time, let's not vilify the people that are out there putting in the extra time, the extra effort and really doing it, because that's where their sense of self is, that they find happiness in that work, and you know, it's something that most people don't understand. Hey, while we're talking about working hard, I want to give you something that's real easy. That is leaving a review on Task Force Entrepreneur podcast on whatever platform you're listening on. It would mean a lot with a brand new podcast. I don't have that many, and more would be cool. Thanks and have a great day.
