Getting a Reality Check on Work Ethic

Work Ethic Perspective Needed 

           

            Quick, rate your work ethic on a scale of 1-10?

            Got it? OK, now I’m not Nostradamus but I’m about to make a dead-on prediction. I guarantee your answer was in the 7-10 range. How did I do that, you might be wondering? Simple. I’ve been asking that question for years and I’ve never once heard an answer under 7. I know what you’re thinking; I must keep some amazing company. How is that I only associate with the top tier of hard-workers in the world?

            Everyone overrates their work ethic. It’s one of those rare traits that everyone respects. And because there’s little way to measure it, most people inflate theirs way above reality.

            For a long time, I did too. Especially when I was a new business owner in my mid-20s, I compared myself to other 27- and 28-year-old professionals who were working 40-50 hours a week without the pressures of running a business and assumed my work ethic must be a 9+. Then I got a reality check hanging out with a group of other business owners. Turns out there are people working much harder than me.

            So I decided a scale was required, which should force most of us to re-evaluate our personal work ethic rating:

            10 – The Bill Gates legend. I say legend because who knows exactly how many days off he took when he was building Microsoft, but the most common story I’ve heard is he took just six days off in a 10-year span. That’s a 10 in work ethic.

            9 – Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison and the historically-renowned workers. Reading through biographies, most of America’s greatest contributors have legendary work ethic and made tons of mistakes. So it wasn’t pure brilliance or talent but a commitment to attack their work.

            8 – I know a couple amazing businessmen who have remarkable motors, but I couldn’t in good conscious rate them with the 9s and 10s of work ethic. My grandfather comes to mind. It took nearly seven years of six- and seven-day work weeks, early mornings and late nights to get his business off the ground. He was relentless until it became a great company still thriving today.

            7 – The proven horses of work ethic. The men and women who demonstrated an ability to sustain high-performance work ethic. My dad comes to mind for this group, working from 5:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. for more than 30 years to run a successful business.

            With this scale in mind, most of us are probably in the 4-6 range. And that’s perfectly fine if average results are the goal. If you want a lot more, moving up this scale might be something to consider. Because there are a lot of myths out there about business and being successful but none greater than the idea that you can give mediocre, satisfactory, good or even great effort and expect that that will be what it takes to be highly successful. In all types of business, exceptional work ethic is required. The good news is it rarely takes much more than that.

             - Joe Nolan