“WOW Work Ethic” By Darren Hardy

I want to ask you a few questions.

Do you take pride in your work?
Do you get up each and every day eager to get to work?
Do you give your all no matter what each and every day?

And the ultimate question, do you think others are WOWed by your work ethic?

Oh, I’m sure you think you work really hard.

You THINK you work long hours, but…. in a 2011 TED Talk Niall Ferguson, professor of business management at Harvard University described how the western culture (that’s you and your peeps) are losing its work ethic, particularly in comparison to most eastern cultures.  He cited a study that showed the number of hours worked in eastern countries was almost 1000 hours greater than those in western countries.

Ya, not a little bit more… ONE THOUSAND HOURS more!
Add to that… the research showed that the West has been progressively DROPPING in number of hours worked… since the 1950s.

This demonstrates that not only has our PRODUCTIVITY waned but that definitely our WORK ETHIC has as well… which usually go hand in hand anyway, right?

But what we need to be asking is why…
Why has our work ethic dropped off?

To answer this question I want to give you an example of what kick butt work ethic used to look like for EVERYONE in the West and is now considered somewhat an anomaly.

Today people like Aaron Levie are considered crazy, OTT (over the top) and obsessive. Aaron Levie is the 27-year-old CEO of Box.  Aaron co-founded Box when he was 20 years old and has been working doggedly to build the company ever since.  Levie is in constant motion.  You won’t find him sitting in an office in Box’s three-story office building.  There are no offices at Box by the way.  Usually you can find Levie in one of the kitchens getting his needed lubricants—water, coffee or energy drinks—or running up and down one of the stairwells or in one of his many meetings.  And all this starts at 11am and ending usually around 2am the next day.

Levie’s hasn’t taken a vacation in the past 7 years since starting his company. Not that, that is necessarily a good thing, BUT he says he doesn’t need one because it would be boring and uninteresting by comparison to the awesome fun, zeal and excitement he feels working his passion and building his business every day.

Oh, and weekends are workdays too for him just a little more laid back with fewer meetings.

Work ethic for Levie goes beyond just hours in the day however.
It is built into the core values of his company as well.
Box has a core value of “10x.”
They are constant pushing on the scale of opportunity – realizing they can do things 10 times bigger, 10 times better and 10 times faster.

Another core value for Levie and Box is “Get (ehem) stuff done.”
Although he uses a different middle word there.
The company culture is execution oriented.
Levie doesn’t want them to get bogged down in processes because he knows the competition will use that time to surpass them.

All of Levie’s dedication and worth ethic, and that of his 600 person team, has led to a business that according to The Wall Street Journal is valued at $1.2 billion dollars.

Ya, I mentioned he was 27 years old right?
What were you doing at 27?
But don’t complain, because Aaron has done it by outworking you – both in ethic and ethos.

Now, let’s go back to the question we had of why over all work ethic, particularly in western countries, is on the decline. Obviously Aaron Levie, isn’t aware of the declining work ethic.  He is focused on doing what he loves each and every day which happens to be his business.  For people like Aaron there is no such thing as “leisure” in the classic sense of the word – work is their play.

I think that answers our original question of why.
We have forgotten that doing what we love… and quite frankly, loving what we do and giving everything we have to all we do… is crucial to living a great life.

When any super-successful person is asked for one tip they would give to someone seeking a rich life, it always seems to be: Do what you love.

If you love what you do, you will not only be great at it, thus likely successful, but you will also never see work as work, but life itself. I, too, believe in this romantic notion of life. I don’t believe one should live a dual existence—their work life and their non-work life.

Think about it, all told you spend three-quarters of your waking hours—at least five days a week, 50 weeks a year—involved with your work. If you don’t like what you do, you are living most of your life in pain and misery.

This is no way to live.
To really live, spend most all your life loving what you do.

WARNING: Don’t OVER romanticize this notion. Every business, job and productive project will have its difficulties, taxing responsibilities and unpleasant aspects. Pressing on and overcoming those factors is where much of the feeling of accomplishment comes from. Yet, overall, you are exhilarated and fulfilled by your work.

The bottom line is you can’t separate life from work.
To be successful they should be one in the same… or at least as passionately pursued the same.

I hope you enjoyed this post on WOW work ethic. Feel free to share this with any like-minded achieving friend, family member, or teammate that may need a kick in the arse regarding their own work ethic. And make sure you are subscribed HERE so you don’t miss out on next week’s post! Trust me, it’s a good one.