CLUELESS REBEL

OK Whatz the Difference

     To a lot of people "working hard" and "hard work" are the same thing but far from it. They are actually at opposite ends of the scale. Working hard can make you rich but hard work will rarely do more than make you sore.

     You see hard work is stuff no one ever wants to do. This is stuff like breaking rocks with a sledge hammer, piling boards by hand at a sawmill, digging a ditch with a hand shovel etc etc. Hard work is usually at the bottom of the pay scale in any situation.

    Now hard work does have some advantages and the main one is it can make you fit and strong. A lot of "smart tough guys" miss this point when they start a heated argument with a "dumb sawmill board piler". I did board piling for a couple of years at a sawmill. It don't make you smarter but man does it make you strong! I mean like dangerously tough strong!

     The other advantage with hard work is it can often give you time to do some thinking. Usually because the hard work itself doesn't require a lot of thinking to do. That was one of the main things I liked about that board piling job. I could work hard and still think about things I wanted to do after the work was done.

     Working hard though is a whole different game and strange as it seems is a whole lot harder to do. The reason is it requires personal motivation and the ability to strive when your job does not depend on it.

     Though working hard is almost extinct now every so often you do bump into an example of it. When you do it is like a glass of fresh cold water after a long walk through the hot desert!!! This is the service guy who actually seems eager to help you, or the repairman that goes out of his way to clean up after fixing your toilet, the lawyer who hates icbc as much as you and everyone else in BC or the auto mechanic that talks you out of the expensive repair. These are people who work hard at doing the best job they can offering the best service they can. 

Where'z the Satisfaction

     Strangely this is one of the main things that can give us satisfaction in life. Most think it is that new car, couch, stereo etc that is going to bring them happiness but nope, at least not for that long. That new car might get you a year of "happiness" at the absolute best. Of course when the new fully self driving model comes out next year your derelict outdated pig turns into a poor man's case of scabies. In fact not unlike that 120" big screen tv did when the new and far superior 14 footers with the duo parallel speed dividers came out.

    As cliche as this sounds real satisfaction in life comes from the service we give to others. Short term fun might come from the things we buy but that wears out faster than we think. Even with the new car two months after getting it some cyclist running a red light hits you and scrapes your fender. Of course the bum has no money or insurance so you are stuck with the two thousand dollar repair bill. If this happened in BC then you will also be stuck with burn scars caused by having to deal with ICBC for the next five to ten years in order to get your money back.

    Now don't get me wrong there is nothing bad about buying new shite. It keeps us working and the economy moving along you just have to make sure you are not trying to get "life satisfaction" from things that can only give you some short term "fun" or maybe "amusement".

     I am pretty sure we all know someone who is desperately looking for satisfaction in life through buying stuff. They are constantly buying the very best of everything their credit limit will allow but never seem happy. This is why. You see once you have found something that actually satisfies you then the desperation to have fun that most people these days have diminishes rapidly. No longer do you have to scramble around in desperation buying everything you can get your hands on.

   Now there are times when people, maybe you, have a job that is very satisfying but maybe not a lot of fun. In their desperation to have some "fun" they quit their job or spend time trying to figure out how to make that "satisfying" job more "fun". Sure they could try but what for? Enjoy the job for what it offers and quit trying to use it to get more fun in your life. Now at the same time if you find your job fun also then even better!!!

     So if we go back to doing hard work. If you were doing "hard work" and found it satisfying then who cares what anyone thinks, enjoy it! In fact if you are smart you could even "work hard" at that "hard work" After all you are getting paid to get strong. Will it make you rich? Not likely but neither will a job that pays you ten times as much.

     It is a well known fact that has been proven over and over that the amount of income one makes has very little to do with getting rich. The truth is it is what you do with the income you make that really makes you rich.

     After all higher paying jobs often just lead to more heavily investing in items that depreciate rapidly. Things like cars, boats, toys, 14 ft TV's etc etc. This is what the average, frustrated with their life, consumer does.

Summer Eyes

     Thus to summarize working hard and hard work are different. If you are stuck doing hard work then work hard at that. If your job is easy then don't slack off..., work hard at that easy job. You will be amazed at how much satisfaction you get from working hard. Even if it is working hard at doing hard work!

     Now if you are lucky to find work that is satisfying then all the better. The main thing is that it really is satisfying to you. Not satisfying to the media or your ego or whatever. To do this you have to be seriously honest with your self.

    One way is to notice how you feel at the end of the day. If you feel "quenched" so to speak then that work is likely fine. But if you feel empty and that you never got enough done thus making it hard to stop it might just be something that your ego wants and not what you really want.

     The main reason for this is your ego is never quenched or satisfied. More is never enough when it comes to ones ego. Sure it does push you but eventually you reach a cliff and that push is not what you want then.

     You see it is not "the man" that has you rat racing in life. It is your ego. Rat racing is what happens when your ego is running the show. It's the one that keeps telling you that once you make all the money you are going to make.... Theeennnnnnnn you can kick back in your chair and play your guitar all you want, or go fishing every day, or whatever it is you have been dreaming about for years. Most times with most people they made enough money years ago to follow their real dream but their ego... Not life... Got in the way!!!