this post was submitted on 25 May 2025
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Self Improvement
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There is one more week left of May to finish the month strong.
Genuine question. How does one build a work ethic?
I criticize the bourgeoisie and fascists for being spoiled libertines, yet am I really that much better? Sometimes I think I am fitting the stereotype of the lazy leftist all too perfectly. I find excuses to never try “why bother, it’s too competitive?” “Employers will never hire again” “you’ll grow bored of it” “it’s a waste of money” just to name four.
What do I do to just…have more energy and to actually have the drive to stick through things and not make excuses?
In general, I think that drive/motivation is something that can't be manufactured, you either have it or you don't. But the good news is that you don't need drive to achieve anything, you just need some discipline, and that is within your control, as opposed to drive. Can you give an example of what you would like to achieve with drive?
I can only speak for myself but I have found that work ethic is simple but not easy. For me, it's about putting priority on tasks that important and not misallocating your attention on those things that are not. I had a "why bother" phase, and i realized that for me it was a shield i used to protect myself from the potential of failure.
I would rationalize a thing as "too much/lame/rigged/stupid/worthless" all as a means to not have to try. I think a lot of people are afraid not of hard work or diligence but the fear that it might not work out and then all that work will be "for nothing". Personally whenever I have worked super hard at something and it didn't work out, i still felt the sting of defeat but the work i put in usually rolled over into the next the thing. That sort of inertia has been a big help for me getting myself on my feet in a lot of different areas in my life. I am not exactly where i want to be in most of those areas but I'm no longer face down on the ground metaphorically. I don't think i'd be able to be upright in some areas if didn't have the momentum i was building in others.
Work ethic to me is just working independent of an outcome. Not exactly work for works sake, more so "I want to be able to do hard things so I need to work hard at things". The sort of stuff i want out of life is hard (at least for me) and i'm not naturally gifted in a lot of areas, but i can make up for that through working hard.
One last thing I would add is that hard work by itself is cool and good, but i have found that creating systems of discipline/structure makes hard work easier. Personally i having systems of how i do thing allows for hard work to be slightly easier in that i don't have to rely on personal motivation or mood, i just rely on my system. It's a lot easier achieve my goals when i have systems that create a pathway to that goal, and the hard work part is simply the movement across that pathway.
I too very much experienced that. I think it's a curse of being a semi-smart person is that you think about stuff and see how stupid and bullshit a lot of stuff is, however i think the semi-smart person tricks themselves into thinking that it isn't worth the effort. I think the enlightened person see that all of this is stupid and bullshit but also see that there is value in the effort and doing of things. I think the spitefully semi-enlightened person (like me) says as we can't let these bourgeoisie, liberals, and fascists achieve self-actualization and not do it ourselves. We need to work harder than them and make life better for ourselves and the those around us so they don't boil the earth.