My last post had way more backlash than I was expecting. In fact, my last post was called “a revolting piece of garbage” by someone. I was told that my thinking was out of touch. There was even a comment about the words I used and the picture I chose for the article. You guessed it, someone had to make a race comment. I also received comments on how work is not work if you’re passionate about it. Honestly, I was quite amused by most of the negative comments to my post, and now, I’m going to double down on what I said previously.
Firstly, the statement, “Shut up and work!”, is about mindset and nothing more, which I mentioned in my previous post. People complain about having to put in work to get where they want to be. They make excuses for not doing what needs to be done. A perfect example of this is living a healthy lifestyle. Is this something everyone does? Absolutely not, seeing as how America’s obesity rate is extremely high. A Harvard study suggests that over 69% of America’s population is obese and, or overweight. Instead of seeing the importance and value of making better life choices and doing what is needed to become healthier, people make excuses and push blame for their lack of discipline and self-control. Does it take work to be healthy? YES! Will you enjoy it? Probably not! Instead of complaining and whining about having to exercise and give up garbage food, just shut up and work! Be disciplined in your lifestyle and you will see yourself become better.
Secondly, work is work; plain and simple. Everything takes work. It doesn’t matter if you love it or hate it, work is work. There is no new definition to work. Sure, you can throw out the line, ‘Well, if I love what I do then it’s not work.” Yes it is. You still have to work at what you are doing. Sure, you may enjoy it more, but you’re still working. You may not complain about it as much, but you’re still working. And you are still having to do the things that need to be done in your life even if you love it or not. Work is work. People complain they don’t have time to do things, or they have too much to do, but instead of getting up and getting after it, they sit on the couch or procrastinate and don’t get things done. If they would take on the mindset of, “Shut up and work!”, then what needs to be done, would be done.
No one loves to do laundry, or the dishes, or clean the bathroom, and if you are a person who likes to do these things, you are awesome! I would say the majority of us do not enjoy these chores. So what happens? We wait to do them, things pile up, and then we have even more to do, all because we choose to complain about having to do them. Imagine what would happen if we became disciplined in our life, and we did what needed to be done in spite of how we feel about it. Instead of looking at the pile of dishes or clothes and rolling our eyes and getting frustrated that we have chores to do, we learn to shut up and get after it. We are really good at procrastinating, and as Alexander Graham Bell once said, “The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action.”
Thirdly, the concept of “Shut up and work!” has nothing to do with government, politics, race, religion, gender, or whatever else you want to impose on it. It has everything to do with attitude and life choices. I don’t care what your skin color is, I don’t care what gender you want to affiliate yourself with, I don’t even care what political party you want to bow down to, what matters is what you do with your life and if you are becoming the best version of yourself on a daily basis. Are you willing to go the extra mile, be kind when you don’t want to be, be encouraging when you don’t want to be, be compassionate when you don’t want to be, be quiet when you don’t want to be? Instead of comparing yourself to me, my writing, or others, are you looking in the mirror and making the choices that better you and making yourself grow? Or, are you so caught up in your self-righteous ideology, that you can only see what you don’t like rather than what you can learn?
Work is not bad. Never has been, never will be. Everything we do in life takes work, and the quality of our work will determine the quality of life we have. The harder we work the better we become. Instead of complaining about having to work, just shut up and do it! Make yourself better and stop comparing yourself to others. The only person you should compare yourself to is the person you were yesterday. Out work who you are on a daily basis. Yes, you will have garbage days. Yes, you will struggle with apathy and procrastination. This is why discipline is essential. Without discipline, we stop growing. We stop becoming better. We stop moving forward.
So, for all you haters who don’t like that I said, “Shut up and work!”, or don’t like that I used the picture I did, I don’t care. It makes me happy to know that you are reading my posts. I hope that you find time to break away from your self-righteousness and seek to understand and learn from what I am writing, rather than judging it and getting offended by it. It’s okay that you don’t agree with what I am saying, but can you find things in it that you can agree with? If not, I might encourage you to not read my posts. Go find something or someone that fits your small, narrow scope of reality. Because as many of you have pointed out, I am an educator, and I always encourage my students to seek out multiple perspectives and find things you can learn from each one. It doesn’t mean they have to agree 100% with everything, they just need to stretch themselves to learn from things they might not agree with.
Selfless Leadership Is Purposeful Leadership 