Work ethic is something that I don’t think can be taught. It’s either you have it or you don’t. It’s just like willpower in that regard. Some people are just incredibly hardworking, switched on, don’t fuck around and absolutely know how to get shit done – on time!
This thought crossed my mind lately when comparing my business school friends to my liberal arts/social science friends. The business school guys are hungrier, driven, focused and just much more successful overall. A business student who’s majoring in Finance or Accounting has a higher GPA than someone who’s majoring in something like Philosophy or Sociology lets say. It’s really incredible. The student with the more difficult program has a higher average than the one with the easy program. What’s more, my business school friends are the ones who get jobs in the financial district with firms like KPMG, Deloitte, Boston Consulting Group and many other companies in capital markets or corporate finance. On the other hand, my liberal arts friends complain about the job market and assert that there are no jobs! So they blame it on baby boomers, the economy, and a whole host of other things. Of course, this isn’t to exalt all business majors or to denigrate all liberal arts majors but I’m just making empirical observations from what I see. When you have an escape goat, you don’t need to look in the mirror, its quite laughable at times.
I’ve spent many hours trying to figure out why some people act like they were literally cut from a different cloth while others just act like plebeians in a feudal society – just going along. It’s quite perplexing if you think about it. I was always fascinated with work ethic and how hard some are able to work hard compared to others who would rather rest their feet up on an ottoman and watch Netflix all night long. I’m interested in where this hunger comes from; how are some people more driven than others? It has lead me to believe that not everyone is born equal, take that whichever way you will.
I kind of compare that to my journey with game. I could’ve easily been the guy who sat back at home all day and played video games, indulged in frivolous vices and blamed my problems on others. However, I’m not that guy, I’m not the type of person who decides to be passive and let life just pass me by while I blame my problems on everyone else; I can’t do that. I’m the pick yourself up by the bootstraps kind of guy. If I’m in a difficult situation – generally – I’ll do everything in my power to get myself out of it. So I decided to read content on game, workout, work on my inner game and go out and get my hours in the field or my one thousand rejections if you will. I decided to hit the streets, the clubs, the bars and everything in between in order to uproot myself from my previous situation. How many people do you know who can do that? We live in a victim society where if your successful, it surely can’t be on merit, it has to be on some sort of privilege and if you fail, then of course it wasn’t your fault it was one of the follow or a combination of: racism, structural barriers, discrimination, sexism etc. I know many guys (some of them are my friends) who are horrible with women and they do nothing to change that whatsoever. No dates, numbers, approaches, zilch. They really couldn’t be bothered.
What makes me so different? Am I cut from a different cloth or am I just hungrier? If someone told you that there was diamond mind under the very ground you’re standing on, how hard would you dig?
Deus Ex Machina 