Olavi Popyeinawa
How did the youth ever get to a point where they no longer view hard work as a necessary life skill and not just a trait to have and dispose of when one wishes?
How did the youth manage to convince themselves or buy into the notion that hard work is a thing of the past – and it is not necessary for this technologically advanced fast-paced life we live? How and why did good, old-fashioned hard work ever end up with a bad reputation?
In a conversation with an acquittance, I was asked, “is it really fair or even fun to work hard, harder than everyone around you, yet the results of that labour do not even come close to someone who simply coasts through life? Is hard work worth it when that happens?”
That is a dilemma most youth struggle to understand and comprehend. At face value, that does seem like the world we live in.
I have found that the real rewards of hard work or any work are the work itself. The act of applying your thoughts, knowledge and time simultaneously to try and achieve something worthy is the real reward of hard work.
So, it does not matter how hard or how little one works.
Regardless of the outcome, the real rewards are the work itself – and the harder you work, the better the rewards.
True rewards like wealth, knowledge, love and even good health come from ignoring others.
Working and improving yourself is a great task one can ever undertake.
In this world of information overload, we can get caught up looking at others and their stories, and overlook what it took them to get there; we focus more on others and ignore ourselves.
We recently had graduations – and while we celebrate those achievements, we seem to have overlooked the sleepless nights, the make-up tests that had to be rewritten, or even going to classes on cold mornings.
That is the hard work people do not want to do or even listen to.
The meaning of hard work is slowly losing its significance with each passing generation.
The youth are constantly taking matters out of context, and putting them in a way that fits their narrative – no matter how far from the truth it is.
“The wise man listens to meaning; the fool only gets the noise.” - Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
- Olavi Popyeinawa
Twitter: @olavipopyeinawa
Email: olavipopyeinawa@gmail.com