I can only speak from my own experience but from what i have seen. Our parents generation just had a better work ethic. Their parents before them had a better one and the generation after mine is little to non-existent. Personally I would be a good worker without killing myself.
Now times change and attitudes change with them but back in those generations if you wanted to achieve something in life then you went out and got it. Worked hard, built yourself up to a strong position and achieved success.
I have a decent life which has been helped by a good example from my own parents who built a comfortable life through hard work and common sense. It was enough for them to work hard and invest wisely to be well set up in retirement.
I'm saying this as i sit in my armchair, on my laptop watching a rugby match. Not what they would have considered work.
We have a different attitude to work. With the rise of online earning and remote working we have a much more blurred relationship with work.
My parents worked full time jobs, dad came home and when it was still bright went up to the farm and did a little bit more.
The darkness was almost the line between work and rest. There was always something to do around the place.
I can pick up my phone at any hour of the day or night and use it to earn some money. My girlfriend works in a large company and has dealings worldwide. They can set meetings at any hour of the morning or evening and with remote working in most places there is less distinction between work and home life.
But i think that we have less inclination towards hard work in general. I don't mind logging on to earn some money later in the evening but there is very little chance of me getting up and doing anything physical after 8pm. Once the clock hits 8, i'm all about sitting down and turning on the tv. If i have the day off i could happily watch a movie at 10am which would be sacrilege to the older generation.
I was working at a house this week and the owner was a lady in her 60's. When we landed she was well into her daily jobs and she kept going long after we clocked out. While we worked on the house she was outside with a big tub of cleaner doing the tarmacadam, paths, patio. Scrubbed down the doors, windows, shoots and if she had the daylight would probably have kept going. She said that she works most days so anytime away from work is time to do the home jobs. They built them tough back then.
My own granny passed away this year at 94. She started when it got bright out and stopped when it got dark. I went up to say hello at 91 and found her balanced on a little stepladder leaning over the hedges cutting them. I tried to do it for her but she was having non of it. She didn't know how not to be working. Back in her day you worked or you had nothing. Work or die.
Now we have a generation raised on phones and have everything handed to them from a young age. Spoonfed until they are 18 and then when they do have to get a job come in for a rude awakening when they are expected to do it well and work hard for their achievements.
Unfortunately any of the younger people that we had hired over the past few years just didn't know how to work. They never had to work growing up and when they were expected to do it hadn't learned these important life lessons. I don't think it's healthy to work every hour of the day and night but i do think that young people have to be taught how to work. By the time they leave college it's a bit too late and there are still some hungrier people out there and people from other countries that will want it more.
A good work ethic is a valuable asset in life. You don't have to be breaking your back every day to see the power of consistency and making good choices in life. There are lots of ways to succeed but non of them will happen unless you go out and do it to a high standard.
