162 – To Work Like A Man…the lost art - a podcast by Alf Herigstad

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I want to talk about good old fashioned hard work today.  At the risk of sounding cynical, sometimes I wonder if it is’t becoming a lost art; the ability, willingness, and know how to actually work hard, like a man.Before I get into it though I am going to recognize the sponsor of today’s program, StumpTown Kilts.  They are, in my opinion far and away the finest manufacturer of every day Kilts.  So support this podcast by checking out this great sponsor.  That’s http://stumptownkilts.com (stumptownkilts.com), and type betterman (lower case) at checkout to receive this special offer. 
OK, we are talking about the concept of hard work.  “Hard work” is kind of a nebulous term…I think it means different things to different people.  To me it doesn’t just mean physically working hard.  When I say hard work, what it means to me is doing your absolute best, in everything you do.  Not taking short cuts, not skipping any steps just because no one is watching.  It means paying attention to the fine details as well as the bigs ones.  Listening closely to instructions and following through.Everyone listening to me right now probably agrees that these are all good things, right?  Of course you do…that’s what kills me about this;  it’s not a secret, this is stuff everybody knows intellectually and yet, there is a serious shortage of people who apply these ideas everyday in our work force.
At least…thats my experience.  I’ll explain what I mean.  I’ve had three different construction companies in my life and in each case my number one biggest challenge was finding men who really knew how to work hard, in the way I described a moment ago. I’ve had guys tell me they ran out of energy and walk off the job in the middle of the day.  I’ve had guys do a simple task wrong, over and over again, even though I gave them repeated instructions in between. 
I’ve had guys not come to work because they decided to have a party instead…and then invite me to the party.  I’m not joking.I have seen it all, and I have gone through so many guys before I would come to a genuine, bonafide, hard working guy.  And when I did…I would treat him like gold and try to keep him as long as I could.
I have also been an employee at several jobs, working alongside other guys.  The same thing always happens…maybe some of you can relate to this,  over time I wind up doing extra work, taking up the slack for my fellow employees who are doing everything half-assed. It’s really frustrating, and it’s a problem.  The reason I’m talking about it here is because what kind of work you do in life is a direct reflection of the kind of man you are in my opinion.
Also, I think there are a great many men who did not have the advantage of learning how to work hard, and well.  If you grew up like so many have, without an example of a man who took pride in everything he did, and always tried to be his best…if no one taught you that then how are you supposed to know? You may have never thought of it as a learned skill…but I absolutely believe it is.  I think this because there have been young men I mentored, who didn’t have a clue in the beginning, they took no pride in their efforts, they quit as soon as they were tired.  But, as a result of working alongside men who did know how to work hard…they learned, and in every case it changed their life for the better.It changed their life for the better because it gave them a whole new level of pride, confidence, and purpose as a man.
I hate picking on millennials, I know many fine amazing millennial people.  Their generation is getting a bad rap though, because many people my age just think they are lazy good-for-nothings with misplaced priorities.  But what if…they just didn’t have anyone to teach them?  Perhaps the generation before them was too busy doing other things?  I don’t know…just speculating here.So what is the remedy to all this?  Well here’s...

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