Man stressed out Tribune Content Agency
Work is an inevitable part of life for many. Whether someone is a college student trying to get a degree, an experienced laborer in the workforce, a stay at home parent, or a CEO, people are always working in one way or another.
No matter what definition of “work” someone is relating to, it is important to always strive to give out your best performance for the benefit of yourself and everyone around you.
There is no better feeling than finishing a long essay that you’ve put hours into, and then getting an A on the assignment and compliments from your professor. Similarly, it feels amazing to be a part of a planning committee for an event and see all your hard work pay off when guests come to the event and have a good time.
Working hard always leads to positive outcomes, not just for yourself, but for those around you. But in order to work hard, it is important to have a strong work ethic that not only pushes you towards your goals, but also allows you to have a healthy work-life balance.
The issue is that many people don’t seem to care about having a strong work ethic. In fact, many people are pleased with providing mediocre work. The best example I can think of is in group work projects in the classrooms.
Many times, these group projects end up falling into the hands of just one or two members of the group who seem to genuinely care, while the rest of the members are more than okay with turning in below average work.
I remember my first year in college, I had to write a group essay with three other girls. One of the girls and I ended up doing the entire essay as a partner project, because the other two could not be bothered to meet a simple deadline.
The group essay project is a dilemma I still hear people complaining about to this day.
I find it so crazy just how many people are perfectly okay with turning in incomplete work, or putting little effort into things simply because they do not care. I was raised to always put my best foot forward, and to work as hard as I can.
But, don’t get it twisted, I am not some work machine to be used by everyone else. I go out of my way to create projects I’m passionate about and put all my effort into my school work because the rewards are worth it.
If I had not studied so hard in high school, I would have never been able to attend college on scholarships. If I didn’t focus on my classes and turn in meaningful work, I wouldn’t be so confident about my ability to get a job after college.
The best feeling that comes out of working hard on something is when it benefits others.
As the President of the Student Government Association (SGA), everytime a student feels content with an event we planned or a change we made in the school, I become overwhelmed with a sense of joy because the hard work of everyone involved made someone’s day a little bit better.
The hardest part for me to understand is why wouldn’t someone want to put in the hours and effort into feeling good and being rewarded for all the work they did? Why have the nerve to complain that things aren’t turning out the way you wanted them, when you had the power and ability to create something you are happy with?
A large reason behind the new norm of ‘lazy work’ falls on the people assigning the work who don’t care about what they are assigning in the first place. There are assignments I have turned in for my gen ed courses that have received 100s that would have been turned back to me with a “See me after class” note and a big fat zero in high school.
I think another reason behind this are the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, especially the lockdown period, people were unable to do the type of work they did in the past so it became acceptable (and understandable) to turn in work with less effort put into it than before, because that was the only option.
However, there is no reason for that type of below average work to still be acceptable today.
Ultimately, the acceptance of mediocre work by employers and teachers has gone way too far. If even Kim Kardashian has to go out and tell people to “Get [their] f****** a** up and go to work,” then you know there is truly an epidemic of ‘lazy work.’