Being A Hard Worker!

Are You a Hard Worker? Why This Question Matters More Than You Think

The conflict we’re dealing with is this: we are not working hard enough when we’re young nowadays and we’re working too much when we’re old. Specifically, young people are working in the wrong way and old people, leaders, are working at the wrong things.

There’s been a lot of talk everywhere Jason goes. People are criticizing the younger generation for not being able to work hard or not working hard. And he’s wanting to figure this out mentally and get a good read on the situation and also come from a standpoint of what were the rest of us who are listening to this podcast taught and how can we apply that to the current situation.

It comes up everywhere he goes. When he flies from place to place around the country, people complain about this. And here are some data points. People are saying things like “Jason, we can’t get anybody to show up.” “Everybody quits on us.” “People get jobs and then they won’t even come back the next day.” “People don’t want to work hard.” “I think we’ve got an epidemic in the United States of people that are unwilling to work or commit to anything.”

And Jason started to dig at this and he asked people “Do you think people have lower work ethic than they used to?” And most people would say yes. Then he’d ask “What do you mean by that?” And here’s what they’d say: “Well, they’re unwilling to work hard. They’re unwilling to sacrifice. They want things now. They want to start at the top.” All these kind of things. So let’s break this down and figure out what’s actually happening and what we should do about it.

What His Parents Taught Him About Work

Jason’s going to tell a couple of stories that his parents taught him. And before he does that, he wants you to know that not everybody was in the same situation and had the same parents. And this isn’t at all a criticism of people’s parents. This is Jason sharing the specific things that his parents taught him.

His parents moved from California to Idaho to a small town. They did that because they wanted a good place for their kids to go to school. They moved to a rural place. His parents didn’t have very much at all. They were in their mid 20s and they gave everything to Jason and his brother and his sister. Everything.

When Jason went to get his drivers license, his dad took him up to the DMV or whatever it’s called and he had Jason take the test. Jason didn’t pass the first time. His dad made him wait six months. And Jason was like “Dad, can I just take it again?” And his dad said “No, you have to wait six months because you didn’t pass it the first time.” And Jason was like “But I need a car.” And his dad said “Well, save up. Get a job. Save up and buy a car.”

His mom and dad were always very clear: you earn things. You don’t get things for free. If you want spending money, you get a job. If you want to go to college, you pay for it or you get scholarships. His dad didn’t pay for Jason’s college. Jason had to work for it. He had to get student loans. He had to get scholarships. He had to earn it.

When Jason was young, his parents had a big backyard. There was one corner of the backyard that nobody would go into because it was just this nasty like raspberry infested, covered with stickers and bees and garbage. And one day Jason decided he was going to clean it up. He was probably 10 or 11 years old.

He got gloves on. He got bags. He started working through this thing and he worked and worked and worked. And by the end of it, he had cleaned up that whole corner. And what he found was he loved it. He was addicted to the accomplishment. He was addicted to the hard work. He was addicted to the fatigue and the dirt and the sweat and the accomplishment and the before and after. That taught him something foundational about himself and about life.

The Mexican Workers Who Changed Everything

When Jason was in his early 20s, he had the opportunity to work with some Mexican workers. These guys would show up at 6 AM and they would work until it was done. They didn’t complain. They worked hard. They laughed. They had fun. But they worked their tails off.

Jason got addicted to that. He got addicted to the feeling of blood running through his veins. He got addicted to being tired at the end of the day from real work. He got addicted to the camaraderie of working hard with other people who worked hard. Those were his addictive moments. The corner of the backyard. The Mexican workers who showed him what real work looked like. And those moments became foundational to everything Jason did after that.

Here’s what he learned: if your parents taught you how to work hard, that is not only the foundation of everything you’re going to do, but it becomes a part of who you are and how you think about things.

The Hard Truth About Starting Your Career

Jason is 39 years old. After years, two decades of grinding and working hard and working his butt off and earning things, he’s finally out of debt. He finally has a nicer house. He finally has a decent truck. He finally has a path for the future. He finally started his business and is doing something he’s passionate and fulfilled in doing.

You have to go earn it first. Don’t expect when you come out of high school at 18 or when you come out of college at 22 or 24 that you’re immediately just going to land your dream job. You need to go prove yourself and you need to prove to employers that you are actually worth your salt. That is a true principle. And nowadays, because there’s so few workers, because we’ve got this concept of giving people something for free, which isn’t going to work, people have lost sight of this.

Here’s what Jason wants to be clear about: whatever plays out, whatever the government does, whatever the stimulus checks do, whatever happens with unemployment, whatever happens with the market, whatever happens with the economy, eventually it will only pay out for those who work hard.

His admonishment to anybody coming up is you have to grind. You have to work hard. You have to find that addictive moment. His addictive moment was when he went out and cleaned that corner of his backyard. His addictive moment was when he worked with those Mexican workers and got addicted to the feeling and his blood running through his veins. Those were his moments. Where are your moments? You have to learn how to work hard and everything else will be dependent or only as successful as that principle.

When Leaders Need to Stop Working Hard at the Wrong Things

When you’re older, you kind of have to switch your paradigm with work a little bit. There are so many people who become leaders, who become project superintendents or senior superintendents or managers or whatever, who are still out wanting to work hard and clean the back of the truck. You still have to work hard at what you’re doing, but you need to start doing different things. Don’t escape to go do the things that you already know. Work hard at doing the things you’re supposed to be doing.

Leaders need to work hard at different things than workers:

• Building the team instead of doing the work the team should do because you miss the feeling of accomplishment from physical work.
• Having hard conversations instead of avoiding conflict because you want to be liked or because confrontation is uncomfortable.
• Managing direct reports instead of escaping to tasks where you feel competent because management feels uncertain.
• Holding remarkable meetings instead of skipping them because meetings feel like a waste when you could be doing real work.
• Scaling communication instead of hoarding information because being the only one who knows makes you feel important.

One of the biggest things Jason deals with when programming leaders in trainings and doing teaching is getting rid of that “I want to be liked” and “I feel like I have to work hard to be valuable” mindset. People in leadership positions need to arrive at a point where they will stay at the head, they will stay at their stations, they will stay at the helm and steer that ship and do the things that are required to keep that project, that team, or that organization in orbit, afloat, whatever the analogy you want to use.

We have to get from the “leaders are out with their bags on with their head below their backside working” to “I’m going to work hard at whatever I’m going to do. I’m going to work hard at being a leader. I’m going to work hard at learning the people side. I’m going to work hard at building the team. I’m going to work hard at these meetings. I’m going to work hard at planning and preparation. I’m going to work hard at scaling communication.”

The Negotiation That Showed the Problem

Jason was talking to somebody about hiring into a certain position the other day. They were discussing hours and they found themselves negotiating the lowest amount of hours in a work week for a certain amount of pay. The pay was quite considerable and the amount of negotiated hours was really low.

The person was really wanting to negotiate the lowest amount of hours. And Jason thought, yes, he believes in work-life balance. Yes, he believes in being home with families. But in construction, we work 55 hours. And this person was negotiating towards 40 in a starting position. He thought “I just don’t know that we’re a good fit because we have to be addicted to this industry. You got to be committed to this industry. You’ve got to be all in.”

Once you’ve started to work and grind and earn your stripes and you’re through that year, two year, three year field engineering position, that’s when we teach you the personal work-life balance, where you can really even out and level your hours. But you can’t do it in the phase of human development. You can’t do it until you first grind and you go into those entry level foreman, assistant superintendent, field engineering positions where you grind and you’re dedicated.

Jason came to the conclusion this might not be a really good fit because in order to become an expert, you need to put in the time. In order to become an expert, you need to put in the hard work. In order to become an expert, you have to be committed.

What It Takes to Be Successful in Construction

To be successful in construction, you’ve got to love that smell of cement. You’ve got to love the smell of asphalt. You’ve got to love the smell of construction. You’ve got to love those early morning backup alarms. You’ve got to become addicted to construction.

That’s one of the main reasons they do field engineer boot camps: to get people set up and headed in the right way and to actually, just like they do in SEAL training, show people and separate the people that are committed from the ones that aren’t and show people to themselves.

At the end of the day, if your parents taught you to work hard, get on your knees every day and thank God for them and what they taught you. And then get up on your feet and prove that you were listening. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

FAQ

Q: Why does work ethic matter more than technical skills when starting out?

Because everything else will only be as successful as your ability to work hard. Jason is 39 and after two decades of grinding, he’s finally out of debt, has a nicer house, decent truck, started his business doing what he’s passionate about. You have to earn it first. Don’t expect to land your dream job at 18 or 22. You need to prove yourself and prove to employers you’re worth your salt. Eventually it will only pay out for those who work hard, regardless of what happens with the economy or government.

Q: How do you develop an addictive relationship with hard work?

Find your addictive moment. Jason’s was cleaning that corner of his backyard at 10 years old. Getting gloves, bags, working through the nasty raspberry infested corner covered with stickers and bees. By the end he was addicted to the accomplishment, the hard work, the fatigue, the dirt, the sweat, the before and after. His other moment was working with Mexican workers who showed up at 6 AM and worked until done. He got addicted to blood running through his veins, being tired from real work, the camaraderie. Where are your moments?

Q: When should leaders stop doing physical work and focus on leadership work?

When you become a leader, you have to switch your paradigm. So many superintendents and managers are still out wanting to work hard and clean the back of the truck. Don’t escape to do things you already know. Work hard at what you’re supposed to be doing: building the team, having hard conversations, managing direct reports, holding remarkable meetings, scaling communication. Get rid of “I want to be liked” and “I have to work hard to be valuable.” Stay at the helm and steer the ship. Work hard at being a leader, not at doing work the team should do.

Q: Why can’t new workers start with work-life balance in construction?

In construction we work 55 hours. You can’t negotiate towards 40 in a starting position. You have to be addicted to this industry, committed, all in. Once you’ve worked and ground and earned your stripes through that year, two year, three year field engineering position, that’s when we teach personal work-life balance where you can level your hours. But you can’t do it in the phase of human development. You can’t do it until you first grind in those entry level positions. In order to become an expert you need to put in the time, the hard work, the commitment.

Q: What does it mean to be addicted to construction?

You’ve got to love that smell of cement. You’ve got to love the smell of asphalt. You’ve got to love the smell of construction. You’ve got to love those early morning backup alarms. You’ve got to become addicted to construction. Like Jason’s addictive moments: the corner of the backyard, the Mexican workers, blood running through his veins. Field engineer boot camps exist to get people set up right and, like SEAL training, separate the committed from the uncommitted and show people to themselves. If your parents taught you to work hard, thank God for them and prove you were listening.

On we go.