Full-Fast
Work Ethic
/wərk ˈeTHik/
noun
Definition of work ethic:
1. a belief in work as a moral good: a set of values centered on the importance of doing work and reflected especially in a desire or determination to work hard.
When I was fourteen, I landed my first real job (and by “real” I mean I got to tag along for the day with my older brother at his actual real job). My brother worked for a landscaping company, and on this particular summer day, the boss was in need of a little extra help. Now, up to this point, the extent of my on-the-job training came from exactly one person, Mr. Miyagi, so the mere fact that I was being offered the job left me to conclude that need was desperate. And that being the case, I accepted. Plus, I’d be making like six bucks an hour. More than enough for my martial arts fix from Blockbuster.
When we arrived to the jobsite, I stepped out of the truck and asked the boss, “So, what will I be doing? Mowing? Pruning? Maybe some detailed trimming with little scissors to teach mindfulness and promote balance and inner peace?
“Weeding.”
“Oh. Weeding what?”
“Over there.” The boss pointed to the entryway of the housing development. The space to be weeded was the size of a football field. Maybe two (I was more of a basketball guy so I couldn’t be sure). The ground looked dry. Harsh. And not a bonsai tree in sight. We walked over. I tapped the soil with the tip of my shoe. A small dust plume encased my Converse. I was being asked to weed a desert (I think the technical term is tumbleweeding). Compared to this job, painting a fence or waxing a car would’ve been a cakewalk.
The boss pointed over to an oasis. “We’ll be over there if you need anything.” I’m sure he was pointing past the ice cream truck.
They say you can go three days without water. Obviously, they never weeded Satan’s flowerbed. This reduces the window of survivability down to roughly a half-hour. And twenty minutes in, I was losing the fight. Dying. There was no end in view. No mercy. Pulling weeds was my Cobra Kai; the hawkweed, my Johnny Lawrence. Mr. Miyagi once said, "It's okay to lose to opponent. Must not lose to fear." But like Danielson, I was losing to both. I suppose it was only appropriate that I was essentially prostrate at this point. But I dug deep. Both figuratively and literally. And while I wouldn’t equate my victory to first place at the All Valley, I did manage to sit upright to a more sustainable crisscross applesauce position giving myself just enough reprieve to give the hawkweed a proverbial crane kick to the face.
Still reveling in my success, a shadow was cast in my workspace.
“How’s it going?” the boss asked.
I raised the weed for the boss to see and plopped it into my bucket (actions speak louder than words).
“You know,” he crouched down in front of me, “you could be the hardest working person on a jobsite, but if you’re sitting on your butt, you’ll always look like the laziest. So, I now have to ask you a question.”
We both stood.
“Are you working full-fast?”
“Full-fast?”
“Well, you’re either working full-fast or half-fast. And from over there, it looks like it might be half-fast.”
I looked toward the oasis and back. “Huh?”
He peered into my bucket. “Okay, maybe somewhere between the two. I know this is hard work, but no sitting on the job. No matter what the job is, always work full-fast, okay?”
A little embarrassed, I nodded. Ali Mills would be so disappointed.
So, what does it mean to work full-fast? Simply put, full-fast is giving your all to the task at hand. Work ethic. Actor, writer, director, and producer, Tyler Perry once said, “Developing a good work ethic is key. Apply yourself at whatever you do, whether you're a janitor or taking your first summer job, because that work ethic will be reflected in everything you do in life.” This coming from a man who was born into poverty and is now the CEO of Tyler Perry Studios—home to the production of 15 films, of almost 800 episodes of his five different television series, and of 400 job opportunities in Atlanta. But what is work ethic?
Employment website Indeed describes work ethic as consisting of the following traits: reliability, dedication, discipline, productivity, cooperation, integrity, responsibility, and professionalism. “Work ethic is important,” says Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe, “because, unlike intelligence, athleticism, charisma, or any other natural attribute, it's a choice.” So, if work ethic is derived from a set of values, then by definition such values are instilled or adopted. Choosing to live by such principles is one thing, but teaching them is quite another. Thankfully, we have help.
The American Academy of Pediatrics gives the following insights and suggestions for shaping behaviors:
· Model the desired value or behavior. “Do as I say, not as I do” doesn’t work (not even if you’re a governor). There’s just something about hypocrisy that doesn’t sit well with…anyone really. Whether we like it or not, we lead by example. Let’s make sure our examples are worthy of following.
· Behavior + Attention = More Behavior. To some degree, it seems as though we’ve been conditioned to focus on the negative. Bosses tend to give attention to mistakes, teachers to low grades, parents to misbehaviors. This tends to backfire. While correction is certainly necessary, we must not neglect the positive. That is, let’s be sure to give young people lots of attention when they’re doing a desired behavior. Consider also, simply removing attention when they’re engaged in an undesirable behavior. Within reason, of course. Shaving the family cat shouldn’t be ignored.
· Provide clear, simple directions. Try to keep instruction relatively short; make directions fit the developmental age of the child or adolescent; use manners (another opportunity to role model); and give praise for following, or attempting to follow, the instruction/direction.
· Implement a reward system. Set goals for positive behaviors, not just the absence of negative behaviors (e.g., being ready on time vs. just not being late), reward quickly, reward with positive affirmations (use material rewards sparingly).
Additionally, consider the following when teaching positive work ethic specifically: talk to your children about what they want to be when they grow up, give age-appropriate chores, encourage entrepreneurship, encourage volunteer work, and teach against perfectionism. And let’s be sure we teach that work ethic is a daily choice—it has an expiration date of approximately 24 hours. Ten-time NCAA champion and basketball hall-of-famer John Wooden said it best: “You have to give 100 percent every day. Whatever you don’t give, you can’t make up for tomorrow. If you give only 75 percent today, you can’t give 125 percent tomorrow to make up for it.”
While that day of pulling weeds never produced a muscle memory to help in my martial arts pursuits (VHS copies of The Karate Kid and Surf Ninjas was all I really needed anyway), it helped form the foundation of something much more valuable. Booker T. Washington once said, “Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.” But let’s be sure not to paint with too fine a brush because a strong work ethic certainly isn’t confined to the workplace.
The Apostle Paul writes, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23-24, NIV). Or, as physician and missionary David Livingstone put it, “Fear God and work hard.”
Hindsight’s 2020. So, as we look forward to a new year, whatever we do, whether it’s pulling weeds, managing a small business, spending time with family, looking for work, managing hedge funds, helping a friend move, ubering, writing a screenplay, making dinner, doing chores, selling cars, providing healthcare, volunteering at the local foodbank, selling coffee, grocery shopping, doing homework, nannying, or competing in a karate tournament, let’s be sure we do it with all our hearts. Let’s be sure we give it our all. Let’s be sure that in everything we do, we do it full-fast.
Proverbs 6:10-11
“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man” (NIV).
Proverbs 12:24
“Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor” (NIV).
Proverbs 13:4
“A sluggard’s appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied” (NIV).