Day Forty

WORK HARD

Hard work always pays off; mere talk puts no bread on the table.

—PROVERBS 14:23 MSG

Persevere. Work hard. Don’t be wimpy.

I’m a part of the millennial generation. And people have, as they do with all generations, stereotyped us a bit. Among the good and the bad, one thing millennials are known for is not working as hard as our parents did. And listen, I’ve gotta be honest. I don’t love to work hard all the time.

I don’t know about you, and I don’t know what generation you’re a part of and what that generation is known for, but I don’t want to feed this perception of my generation.

I want to be punctual. In fact, I want to be about three minutes early. When I say I’ll be there, I want to be there, wherever “there” happens to be.

Our new intern, Haile, started on the same day the office microwave broke. She didn’t break it; she just happened to arrive on the day the glass on the front shattered into one billion pieces. I had a meeting that afternoon, and as I was leaving, I just mentioned to her, “Be careful when you walk by this. I’ll clean it up when I get back.”

When I returned home two hours later, Haile had cleaned up all the glass. It was not in her job description. I didn’t ask her to do it. She just saw a little bit of hard work that needed to get done, and she did it. And she wasn’t just trying to impress us on her first day. That’s who Haile continued to be for the whole internship (which is why we hired her once she graduated from college).

Whatever you’re doing and whatever you’re asked to do, work hard.

I saw courage in her, to step into a mess she didn’t make and work hard to clean it up. I was impressed. Still am.

You gain a lot when you work really hard. You gain respect. You get to keep your job. You gain a good reputation. It isn’t always fun, but it’s who you want to be, isn’t it? Don’t you want to be a person who is known for working hard?

Whatever you’re doing and whatever you’re asked to do, work hard. It really does pay off.

BE BRAVE: Work hard today, friend. Seriously. Give more than you have, and see what comes from it.