“Grandpa, what chores are we doing today?” is how my two kids started the second day of our vacation to my family home this summer. Sure, my oldest son works the land like most city kids do (with a lot of effort and enthusiasm in the first 30-minutes with just a little bit of added-value), but he has clearly established a vigorous work ethic at a very young age. A strong work ethic is something that makes communities better without requiring a ton of technical expertise and it can definitely be a differentiator, too. It’s glib to say that younger generations need to understand how to work hard (I have plenty of peers who are pretty lazy and/or always “busy”, while our interns never seem to stop) – my hope is that parents inspire work ethic in their kids because to road ahead looks pretty tough. Here are three ways to instill work ethic in kids.
Role model
I’m blessed to have a lot of role models who possess incredible work ethic. My wife is one of the hardest working people I know. She worked full-time while she completed her Masters pretty much full-time. My parents, both retired public school teachers, taught, coached and marked so much that I came to understand that stacks of paper worked-through late into the evenings was totally normal (they also built hewed our homestead from the wilderness, too). Kurt Heinrich, co-founder of this awesome publication, almost never stops working (he’s also really good at recovery).
Robin Sharma argues that superstars cultivate and protect amazing amounts of energy by surrounding themselves with people who deliver what they say they will because of how hard they work. I know my kids come downstairs to see me writing or reading – working hard at my craft – and my wife and I do much to celebrate hard working achievements of our parents at the dinner table. Kids adopt the behaviours and habits of the adults with whom they interact the most. Think about what example you’re setting through behaviours and conversations.
Make work fun
I swear that my five-year-old has as much fun sweeping leaves as he does playing hockey. When he was barely a toddler, well, his efforts were rarely helpful. These days, though, he can legitimately sweep a floor or rake leaves into a pile for removal by an adult. We gamified clean-up and chores with music, dancing and involvement of special guests – oftentimes kids from the neighbourhood help us sweep up the sidewalks. Work doesn’t have to be traded for fun – like cleaning up toys or raking leaves is rewarded with “PAW Patrol”. Working hard can, and probably should, be super fun because it makes us sweat, teaches us new skills or improves our circumstances by making things cleaner or more organized.
Monitor bed-making
In his popular speech/interview about how to raise inspired kids, Admiral William McRaven, a retired Navy SEAL, insists that making your bed makes a positive impact on everything from well-being to behaviour and also cultivates a habit of working hard:
It is the simplicity. I think it is also the amount of time that it takes to make your bed. It doesn’t take an hour to do, and yet you get this sense of accomplishment. The difference between going out for a 30-minute or an hour run or doing an hour’s worth of weight training or going off and doing an hour of meditation — this takes you a couple of minutes. Some things are hard to do in the morning, and I think those are important, too. I mean, if you can get up every morning and do your run or do your PT that’s great as well, but if you’re not one of those persons still it’s good to start off with a simple task that moves you forward.
Encouraging kids to make their beds and then monitoring the progress brings a simple, concrete and profound routine to their everyday routine. They can see the results of their effort immediately and not a lot of time is required for the work to pay off. Whether or not you want to bring more Navy-SEAL-rigor to your family is your call.