Hard Work And Getting Ahead
I am so thankful my father taught me (and led by example) the value of a strong work ethic. Nothing beats the feeling of accomplishment hard work gives a man (or woman). A sense of pride, self esteem. I am all for helping someone down on their luck, but I want to see genuine effort from them to improve their lives, too. For THEIR sake, not mine. I’m fine whether they improve their lives or not.
Opportunity is missed by most people, because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
Thomas EdisonSuccess (and wealth) looks a lot like hard work.
Mr. Hobo Millionaire (with a hat tip to Mr. Edison)A lot of people complain they just can’t get ahead, yet they work 40 hours or less per week. News flash… you’ll never “get ahead” working 40 hours a week. You must put in extra effort/extra time to get ahead. If 40 hours were all that was required to get ahead, nearly everyone WOULD be ahead.
40 hours is less than 1/4th of a week’s hours
There are 168 hours in a week. Do you realize 40 hours is less than 1/4th of the total hours in a week? 1/4th!!! Throw in sleeping 8 hours a night and 3 more hours for driving, eating, and bathing per day… you still have 51 hours left!!! What are you doing with your 51 EXTRA hours per week? Oh… and that’s 51 hours per week… Over 2500 extra hours per year. Do you realize if you simply decided to work these extra 2500 hours a year for 10 years, make an average of $10/hour… you could save $25,000 a year for 10 years. That’s $250,000 in savings in 10 years. If you did that from age 20 to 30, invested the $250,000, and went back to a normal 40 hour work-week at age 30, for the rest of your life, you would be set for retirement if you never added another dime. By age 65, that money would turn into 1.3 million at 5% interest or 3.6 million at 8% interest. Again, that’s if you never added another dime to it. Oh, and if you got a 5% return over the initial 10 year period of saving $25,000/year… that would actually be $355,000 that would compound for 35 years, not $250,000, making our age 65 numbers 1.9 million at 5% and 5.2 million at 8% interest.
Oh, and you say you don’t want to work an extra 2500 hours a year for 10 years, then work half that. The numbers are still pretty incredible. If you’re young, work HARD and SAVE. The compounding interest math is CRAZY. It will pay off for you in the long run.
What do you think? Is it insane to work more than 40 hours a week to get ahead? Please comment below.
It is insane to work 40 hours in a week.
Health, not living in pain, family, friends, happiness, being able to respect yourself at night…if your priority in life isn’t working then why would you spend more time doing it?
Hi Brian. Thank you for your comments.
If you accomplish your life goals and stay afloat, then you can work however little you want. If you find the right job, I guess you can have a fine standard of living.
If you want to “get ahead” or “change your family tree”, forty hours generally won’t do it. I also enjoy working towards/knowing my later years will not be stressful due to money issues. I come from a family (and extended family) with lots of (lack of) money issues. It was important to me not to live like that.
I don’t think it’s insane to work more then 40 hours a week. If you are young and energetic it’s probably a great idea. I have a friend that worked his butt off to build a business between ages 20-25 . Now he’s 30 and is selling his business for a million and is pretty much set for life. I try to keep my hours to less then 40 a week because I have 3 small kids and I love spending time with them. I’m not willing to trade family time so I can boost my income from great to super-great. I can always work a few extra years after they are grown if I need to.
The right balance is key, Mr. VT. I’m definitely not saying to ignore the kids at all times to achieve success, but I would say you *might* miss some soccer games while they are growing up.
And my one comment on “working more later” which is 20+ years down the road… it’s MUCH easier to work extra hours and handle stress when you are in your 20’s and 30’s than it is in your 40’s and 50’s. I’m in my early 50’s now, and I can’t imagine doing the work now that I did in my 20’s and 30’s.
Thanks
Glad you enjoyed the article, Timothy! Would you care to elaborate on what you enjoyed?