sandorski
No Lifer
- Oct 10, 1999
- 70,226
- 5,803
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re:Hard work
When we(humans) were Hunter/Gatherers hard work was almost a guarantee of Wealth. Without it you might starve. Even then there were some factors beyond one's control, though those factors would likely affect all your neighbours as well. The Weather, Wild life populations, or Disease were the main factors beyond our control. In our limited understanding we developed concepts such as "God(s)" and /or Blame(for upsetting "God(s)") for causing the circumstances out of our control to lack of Wealth despite Hard Work or the willingness to Work Hard.
Hard Work is still an important part of acquiring Wealth from nothing, but the uncontrollable factors for most of us in the First World are much different than those from Hunter/Gatherers. Certainly drought or Disease still could undermine our Wealth, but for the most part we are able to control the effects of those factors. We do, however, have some unique factors that undermine Hard Work as the sole means of achieving Wealth. Some of those are Poor Parenting(lack of instilling good Values), lack of Education, Health issues(Physical Illness, Mental Illness and Addiction being main factors), and even the initial Wealth of Parents(affects all previous points) can mitigate the positive affects of Hard Work.
To a large extent our(First World) Societies control the effects of those factors. From Public Schools, to various forms of Welfare, to Charities, to Psychology/Psychiatry, to Drug/Alcohol Treatment programs, to even the old concept born from our Hunter/Gatherer stage, Religion. All of these help to keep a level playing field and to make Hard Work the main difference, to varying degrees of success.
One factor that has always existed though is just plain old Good Luck. That is being at the right place at the right time. A few people can foresee something and act upon it, thus creating their own Luck, but for many(perhaps most) Good Luck is merely the random discovering of the herd(Hunter/Gatherer) or the discovering of an important Person(today).
All that said and to reinforce others: Hard Work is still important and even if it doesn't make you "Rich", it will give you a comfortable existence the vast majority of the time.
When we(humans) were Hunter/Gatherers hard work was almost a guarantee of Wealth. Without it you might starve. Even then there were some factors beyond one's control, though those factors would likely affect all your neighbours as well. The Weather, Wild life populations, or Disease were the main factors beyond our control. In our limited understanding we developed concepts such as "God(s)" and /or Blame(for upsetting "God(s)") for causing the circumstances out of our control to lack of Wealth despite Hard Work or the willingness to Work Hard.
Hard Work is still an important part of acquiring Wealth from nothing, but the uncontrollable factors for most of us in the First World are much different than those from Hunter/Gatherers. Certainly drought or Disease still could undermine our Wealth, but for the most part we are able to control the effects of those factors. We do, however, have some unique factors that undermine Hard Work as the sole means of achieving Wealth. Some of those are Poor Parenting(lack of instilling good Values), lack of Education, Health issues(Physical Illness, Mental Illness and Addiction being main factors), and even the initial Wealth of Parents(affects all previous points) can mitigate the positive affects of Hard Work.
To a large extent our(First World) Societies control the effects of those factors. From Public Schools, to various forms of Welfare, to Charities, to Psychology/Psychiatry, to Drug/Alcohol Treatment programs, to even the old concept born from our Hunter/Gatherer stage, Religion. All of these help to keep a level playing field and to make Hard Work the main difference, to varying degrees of success.
One factor that has always existed though is just plain old Good Luck. That is being at the right place at the right time. A few people can foresee something and act upon it, thus creating their own Luck, but for many(perhaps most) Good Luck is merely the random discovering of the herd(Hunter/Gatherer) or the discovering of an important Person(today).
All that said and to reinforce others: Hard Work is still important and even if it doesn't make you "Rich", it will give you a comfortable existence the vast majority of the time.
