The ability to work hard has always been underappreciated and devalued by various elements in society. In our experience, it’s crystal clear that having a strong work ethic and positive attitude towards working hard is highly predictive of success. Below, you’ll find highlights of our conversations around how one might go about developing or leveling up their work ethic.
Jesùs Nùñez
“My work ethic comes from my family. I was born into a poor family, where work was necessary for survival. Discipline in work was essential, and the results of work were necessary for our subsistence. This way of life educates you to have an ethic based on hard work and honesty. You can’t deceive anyone, nor can you deceive yourself when work is necessary for survival.” Read more>>
KevonTheGreat
Honestly I get it from my mother. I’ve seen her do everything that she could to make sure I had a better life while she was in school. Read more>>
Jen Troy
My parents both grew up in Chinese immigrant households. They had to fight, really hard, for everything they had. It ranged from an extra helping of dinner to figuring out how to get into and go to college. When I came along, I saw how hard they worked to give me a more secure life. Read more>>
Kristi Frisby
I was adopted into a family where diligence and hard work were modeled everywhere. I come from a family who owned a small music shop in Orange County. My parents worked together there in different roles, and as soon as I was old enough I also worked in the shop part time. Read more>>
Victor Phillip Marquez
That’s a great question. I wish I could point to relative or family friend, but honestly, I’ve always had a knack for getting the job done in a thorough manner. I love the “before & after” of anything I do. I have a little bit of OCD (I have a lot of OCD), so I guess that’s where it’s rooted. Read more>>
Ingeborg Frye
My schooling and home upbringing were instrumental in my current work ethics. Read more>>
Jonasia Cooper Licensed Cosmetologist
I grew up in a single-parent household for part of my life, I saw my mom work her hardest to provide for my siblings and me. Long nights, tired, body aches, and even tears from the life we were living at the time. Seeing her overcome every obstacle and become who she is today is the motivation that I can do the same and even more, she’s truly made her floor my ceiling! Read more>>
Tim Grigsby
I get my work ethic from the two women that raised me, my mother Frances Grigsby, and grandmother Marion “Nana” Akin. My parents divorced when I was a kid and my mother worked tirelessly as a schoolteacher to support me and my 2 brothers. After her day job, she was a private tutor on the side to make ends meet. Her sacrifices led to us graduating from high school and getting a chance to go to college. Read more>>
Kristen Thomasino
From a young age, my parents instilled in me the importance of a strong work ethic. They encouraged my brothers and me to value education and pursue our career passions. Having such positive role models has dramatically influenced my perspective on achievement. Additionally, my grandparents on both sides of my family taught us the value of hard work and encouraged us to pursue our dreams. Read more>>
NXOEED
Sobriety. Staying busy keeps me from slipping back into unhealthy habits. Read more>>
Courtney Woods
I get my work ethic from my dad and my love for the internet, technology, and the graphic design world from my mom. She sparked my interest at a very young age by making sure that we always had computers and internet access in our homes from the time that it was made available for individual households. Read more>>
Katie Brennan
I come from a long line of entrepreneurs in my family. My grandfather lied and entered the Navy at age 16 where he started boxing for cash. Once he saved up enough he retired from the Navy and bought his first car dealership as well as his parents a house. Since then he has bought, owned, and sold over 100 businesses that my dad now runs and someday will be passed on to myself and three sisters. I was taught work ethic from a young age – I washed cars at the dealership instead of going to summer camps. Read more>>
Amber Wyche
I have to give credit to my dad for my work ethic. At a young age he instilled in me a hustler’s mentality. Our first endeavor together was a candy business. He gave me $20 (my first angel investment) and took me to BJ’s where I bought a candy bar assortment box. Read more>>
Chauncey Kochel
A solid work ethic has been a staple of my life for as long as I can remember. Growing up, my parents taught me the value of working hard to achieve your goals; you get out what you put in. It can be hard to stay motivated and driven, but with a solid work ethic and keeping your nose to the grindstone you can achieve just about anything regardless of your intellect or talent. At the end of the day how hard you work is a choice and you’re the only one accountable for that. Read more>>
Jon Ososki
I took a lot of time to really think about how I worked, and what I was really good at. I have always liked the ideas of simplifying and creating more of a minimal lifestyle. I also like the idea of doing less, but doing less better. Developing my work ethic was very important for me, and I wanted to be focused, successful, and satisfied with all the work I was doing. To me, that meant really looking at how I work, when I working, and how I could find a simple balance in my life to be fulfilled with those values. Read more>>
Jessica Marin
Honestly, I hate asking for help. Ive always been very independent and like to do my best to accomplish something before asking for help. I think my work ethic is also based on my determination and how bad I want something. If I can imagine it in my head i will eventually get it done. Read more>>
Stacey Posnett
When I was a kid, I grew up in New York City. I was exposed to so many wonderful cultural experiences. I was lucky enough to be able to walk across the park and see paintings at the Met Museum and to see how their shop created products based on the paintings so that visitors could have a keepsake. Being surrounded by the hustle of the city also instilled a competitive drive in me just to keep up. I had to work very hard to get into the art schools I wanted to attend and the jobs I got along the way. Read more>>
Joe Menendez
I grew up the projects down in Miami. Food stamps, government cheese, government peanut butter. We were poor. So I had zero advantages when I moved to Hollywood in 1992 to try and become a director. I didn’t know anyone. For me, there was only one way I was going to rise above the station in life that I inherited, and that was having a strong work ethic. Read more>>
Lonny P
My parents definitely. They were definitely super hard workers. I don’t think I ever have seen my parents take a day off. That’s a trait I can truly say I inherited from them both. Read more>>
Greg Gerber
This is a great question. My work ethic was instilled as a 16-year-old working at McDonald’s. It was drilled in to me that there was always some type of work that needed to be done. “If you have time to lean, you have time to clean,” was a frequently-uttered mantra by McDonald’s managers. Read more>>
Joan Hyman
I grew up in a working class neighborhood right outside of West Philadelphia. Both of my parents worked and my brother had a chronic illness and was hospitalized a lot, which met my parents where busy and I was pretty independent as a teenager. I had to help out and prepare dinner some nights, keep up with chores, and help run errands. Read more>>
Latanya Williams
I get my work ethnics from my family valves that instilled me to have a strong mindset and determination to become successful. Read more>>
Katie Brightside
Work ethics are only productive when you and your team are reading from the same page. If you can’t work within and around your collaborators ethics you may create hostility. At Once Upon a Cocktail, we believe that the foundation of a great team lies in mutual respect for each other’s unique ethos and skill sets. Each team member brings their own expertise to the table, and we celebrate this diversity. We foster an environment where honesty is the policy, questions are encouraged and challenges are embraced. Read more>>
Shannen Stewart
I get my work ethic from my Mother, no questions asked. When I was younger, I remember being annoyed that I had to work for every single thing I wanted. In hindsight, this was a blessing as my Mother was teaching me that nothing in life comes free, you have to work for it. She was teaching me that if I want something, I need to find out how to find the funds for it or to roll up my sleeves and work for it. Read more>>
Eric Slayton
Growing up in Fort Worth in the fifties and sixties was always a challenge. “What are you going to be when you grow up?” Becoming an artist was not on the list. “Men don’t draw pictures. for a living”. Both my biological father as well as my stepfather were builders, so my path was already laid out for me. Read more>>
Christina Dang
My family has been in small business since the beginning. It has been incredible to watch each of my family members find their niche in their respective businesses and run each to its fullest potential. After spending a few years in corporate and luxury retail, I realized that entrepreneurship was where I was destined to be. My parents have always shared the importance of trying your best and working hard so I strive for that in everything I do. Read more>>
Casey Droege
Like many artists, I’ve always had a day job plus a side hustle plus some artmaking on the other side. I watched my parents, all self employed artists, do the same thing. They’d create artwork for fun and for clients, while also managing to do some other gigs to pay the bills. I think part of it comes from my nature, of having lots of ideas and wanting to make them all happen. The other part comes strictly from survival- you have to eat! Read more>>
Justine Gera
Both my parents have always been very hard working individuals, so I grew up seeing that from a young age. I have always been extremely self-motivated, competitive and disciplined. I never have been very reliant on others for help, and have always been comfortable working on my own and working hard for what I have. My work ethic is quite extreme and find myself usually going above and beyond for the final result. Read more>>
Bronson Allison
I’ve always felt that no matter what job I was doing I needed to do my best at it. Hard work always pays off in one way or another. I feel like anything worth doing is worth over doing. When i’m passionate about something I like to give it my all. The harder you work the better results you will see. I know I have a vision and a dream of what i’m after and I dont like to waste any time. Read more>>
Milyssa Rose
I got my work ethic from being an only child, I believe. I have always had to rely on me. I am very independent. I wouldn’t say I like asking for help. I also like things to be done a certain way. The more work I get done, the closer I get to relax. But I don’t know how to relax. I am constantly moving and doing things. Read more>>
Jennifer Bi
I got my work ethic from how my parents raised me. My parents always taught me that you need to work for what you want in life. The harder you work the more rewards will come from it. I have seen how hard my parents work and I see the rewards that they have received. My dad worked hard with his restaurant he had for 26 years and my mom had worked hard as a teacher for 17 years. I learned from how they managed the hardships and to persevere through the storm. My work ethic with photography has been showing the beauty of my clients and to make sure that they get what they have envisioned. Read more>>
Lauren Gregor
Growing up from a young age, I was a multi-sport athlete. Starting with gymnastics while in elementary school, then soccer, swim team and then volleyball I was always juggling practice schedules with school and other activities. My parents both worked full-time and expected us to do well in school and meet our commitments. Read more>>
Joie LaFrentz
I’ve always been goal and task oriented and believe that started from watching my parents. Both were teachers and during their time off in the summers would still work. My dad ran a detasseling crew for about 40 years and my mom did the book work. I grew up walking through corn fields every summer in all sorts of conditions, which was not easy work, and it taught me the value of a dollar and that I could do hard work. Read more>>
London Love (Customs)
My work ethic, I would say comes from my mother. I was born into the shelter home system and without much at all. As a young kid , we were moving from place to place ‘ or living with my grandmother. My mother had me at a young age of 16 and at just a child, she didn’t have much help. My work ethic comes from her. All I know is about “working to get something”, I only know about how to make it out of struggle, how to find a home, how to make enough money to eat, survive and to be able to feed those around you. Read more>>
Katie Stone
My parents. They each instilled a work ethic in me unique to their own circumstances. My dad was an insurance broker that got up early and went into the office no matter what. I don’t ever remember him staying home sick or just not feeling like working one day. He never complained about having to travel internationally to meet with ungrateful clients. He went to work every day to support his family and keep food on the table. That taught me to show up, no matter how tired I am or how much I’m dreading the work. Showing up is half the battle. Read more>>
Gwen White, PhD
I have always worked hard to get what I want and need. I had great role models in my parents. My father worked for the post office for 42 years. He always woke up and went to work and was only absent 5 times in his career. My mother suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and worked until she was forced to retire. However, that did not slow her down. She still volunteered for various organizations around Cincinnati and her church. Watching them and other family members made me realize that in order to move forward, you have to do the right thing and complete anything that you start. Read more>>
