{"id":95,"date":"2014-09-04T02:07:50","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T02:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/?p=95"},"modified":"2014-09-04T02:07:50","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T02:07:50","slug":"cultivating-a-winning-work-ethic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/?p=95","title":{"rendered":"Cultivating a Winning Work Ethic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Work is not a four-letter word. \u00a0Oh sure, on Sunday nights it&#8217;s often difficult to unplug from recreation and recapture &#8212; or manufacture &#8212; the appropriate enthusiasm for the day job. \u00a0But there are great rewards and greater opportunities coming to those with a winning work ethic.<\/p>\n<p>It may surprise you to learn\u00a0that an elevated view of work is a gift from the Church. \u00a0Prior to the ascent of Christianity, the Greeks thought labor was a curse and too base for elites fascinated with the life of the mind. \u00a0 \u00a0By contrast the church taught that work &#8212; the creative impulse &#8212; was a reflection of the divine image stamped on man. \u00a0As a result, work of any kind was worthy so long as it was inherently moral and done with excellence &#8220;as unto the Lord.&#8221; \u00a0This is\u00a0the origin of the protestant work ethic.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;ve undertaken a major project successfully, from pouring concrete for a bank vault to preparing a presentation for the board of directors, you already know there is great satisfaction that results from completing a job well. \u00a0In addition, from boyhood most of us are scorekeepers, so sales booked, wire strung, courses laid, customers served or \u00a0acres planted are all objective standards \u00a0we can use to evaluate how much we did &#8212; and how well we did it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So How Does One Get A Work Ethic?<\/strong><br \/>\nYou already have one. \u00a0The real question is how does one get a <em>good<\/em> work ethic. I offer the following suggestions<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Look up<\/strong> &#8212; The motivation to work is\u00a0even more\u00a0important than the nature of the job. \u00a0After all jobs change, but you need to keep that same drive going in every job. \u00a0Recognize that when we work, we emulate our Father God, so we owe it to Him to excel in every task. If you seek Him in your work life, He will help you find the proper motivation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Get up<\/strong>\u00a0&#8212; Start your day by getting up early enough to exercise, pray, read, eat and groom yourself so you can enjoy your commute and arrive at work focused and composed.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Show up<\/strong> &#8212; For the love of everything good, if you have a job, show honor by being on time every time. \u00a0Unless you&#8217;re Mark Zuckerberg, most young men are not going to be the most senior managers, so don&#8217;t keep them waiting. \u00a0(If you are Mark Zuckerberg, welcome! and thanks for reading.) Make a good impression by being punctual. \u00a0Make a great impression by being early. \u00a0Verify your schedule and double verify your time off. \u00a0Don&#8217;t assume.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Dress up<\/strong> &#8212; Take a look at the culture of the place where you work. \u00a0See what the top performers and producers are wearing? \u00a0Not flip flops. \u00a0Not ripped jeans. \u00a0Not bro-tastic t-shirts from Spring Break. \u00a0Emulate what the stars of your company are wearing in terms of its style and degree of formality. \u00a0(You <strong><em>do<\/em><\/strong> know how to shine a pair of shoes, right?) \u00a0Pro tip: If you work in a five-day casual workplace, consider dressing it up just a little. \u00a0You&#8217;ll stand out in a good way. \u00a0If you work where uniforms are required, always make sure yours is clean, neat and complete.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Speak up<\/strong> &#8212; Talk like a professional. \u00a0Mind your manners always. \u00a0And unless you&#8217;ve been told just to observe, by all means contribute\u00a0in the meetings you&#8217;re required to attend. If you don&#8217;t know, ask. \u00a0As a former boss once said to me: &#8220;We&#8217;d rather answer &#8216;stupid&#8217; questions than fix stupid mistakes.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Level up<\/strong> &#8212; Learn your company&#8217;s business by asking great questions. \u00a0Add value in every interaction by solving problems. \u00a0Don&#8217;t underestimate the value of hard work &#8212; but work hard on things that matter. \u00a0Results outweigh hours, so work smart.<\/li>\n<li><strong>If you mess up, fess up<\/strong>\u00a0&#8212; Realize that mistakes are an inescapable part of learning. \u00a0Everyone makes mistakes. \u00a0Own yours.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>So what about you?<\/strong><br \/>\nWhat are you doing to cultivate a strong work ethic? \u00a0What would you add to my list? \u00a0What would you remove from the list? \u00a0Add your comments below.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Work is not a four-letter word. \u00a0Oh sure, on Sunday nights it&#8217;s often difficult to unplug from recreation and recapture &#8212; or manufacture &#8212; the appropriate enthusiasm for the day job. \u00a0But there are great rewards and greater opportunities coming to those with a winning work ethic. It may surprise you to learn\u00a0that an elevated [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-work-ethic"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions\/106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}