I come from work.
Generations of Coopers before me knew the sight of the world before sunrise. Like me, they likely often felt, at the end of the day, that work they'd done that same morning had occurred several days before. And that's the way we like it.
When you grow up around barns and woodpiles, you get more than a strong back: you gain , I think, the ability to recognize others who are capable of work. It's not work "ethic" as much as it is work "practice": drive to try harder isn't necessary if you've been trying hard for thirty years already. It's intrinsic.
As CrossFit coaches, we try to improve the work capacity of our CrossFit Families through exposure to constantly varied hard work. When I started CrossFit, it felt like a homecoming: here I was, flipping tires and swinging sledges; jumping over, onto, and through stuff; carrying large loads long distances...only the time element was new.
It's often said that we, as employers, should hire for personality, and then train for skills later. That's true. When choosing your Cowboys and Shepherds, though, look at their hands. Check for dirt under their nails. Feel their callouses. Test their grip. What's the hardest they've ever worked? The longest? The angriest? How did they handle it?
Over a decade ago, I returned to Canada from the cornfields of the midwest to work at a ski resort. The owner - gruff, but able to motivate in a huge way - gave me more responsibility than my age, experience, or education could justify. I worked hard for a year. Then he fired my boss and gave me free reign to set up my department any way I liked...as long as it was more profitable.
I aggressively cut staff, replacing long-term veterans with kids, like myself. We ran the rental shop with five staff members, compared to ten the year before. Everyone did more than could reasonably have been expected. Each day, I'd drop them off, exhausted, after dark. I'd pick them up again before daylight, and we'd start all over. They did this for minimum wage - and, after awhile, for pride. We were pulling something off. There was something out there to prove....and we were proving it through hard work.
It's easier to run this kind of overspeed operation if you have a fixed season, because the end is always in sight. Anyone can last one more day, if they have to, as long as they know that eventually the snow will melt and they can rest awhile.
The work may change, but the qualities of hard work do not. Yesterday, while doing my routine bank run, I reflected that I'm still in contact with the guys from the ski hill. Best of all, I'm very proud to have one of them as my new partner in Steel City MMA (he's President. I'm just an advisor.) We've already had our business mettle tested, and the community that instantly formed around the cause has left me in no doubt that we'll be successful. Hard work attracts hard workers.
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