We’ve all heard the phrase “work hard, play hard,” but where does our work ethic come from? Is it something we learn from our parents, or are we born with it? Do our friends, work environment or the city we reside in impact it? We asked some of the hardest working folks we know to share where they think they get their work ethic from.
Tammy Ash
My work ethic comes from a few things, actually; it would be impossible to put it into just one thing. I grew up watching my Grandpa and my Dad work as hard as they knew how, and neither one ever complained or backed down from a job. If they didn’t know how, no one ever knew; they would just figure it out. Read more>>
Nataliya Palakanis
My work ethic is deeply rooted in my family and upbringing. I was raised to believe that integrity, commitment, and follow-through are non-negotiable, if you say you’ll do something, you do it, and you do it well. My parents instilled in me the importance of hard work, perseverance, and treating people with respect and kindness, no matter their title or position. Read more>>
Lacey Griffin
My work ethic is deeply rooted in my family’s example. Growing up surrounded by hard-working dreamers, I watched my late parents and my aunts and uncles build their own paths from the ground up. Their drive, creativity, and relentless dedication to turning ideas into reality shaped how I approach everything I do. Read more>>
Dr. Kevin Sarich
I’ve always believed that a strong work ethic is something you don’t just wake up with, it’s built through the examples you grow up around and the purpose you attach to your work. For me, it started at home. I grew up in a single-parent household. My Dad was a sheet metal worker who provided for my brother and me. Read more>>
Lia Montelongo
Where I Get My Work Ethic From Even though I was raised in a single-parent household, I was surrounded by a family of hardworking, blue-collar, middle-class people. My mother would wake up every morning at 5 a.m., catch the train by 7, work all day, and return home around 7 p.m.—day after day, with unwavering consistency and strength. Read more>>
Allen Lyle
I have always thought of myself as a lazy person. I never tried too hard at my corporate job. I would see people sit down and work for eight hours straight and I never understood how they did that. It wasn’t until I started writing I realized I wasn’t that lazy. I had been valuing the appearance of work, not the work itself. Read more>>
Jean Bernstein
I grew up in a small town, the only child of second-generation immigrants. My parents saw their parents work hard to come to American and then, to build up, not so much wealth, but stability, a place to belong and feel safe. Read more>>
Destenee’ Moore
I’d like to think that I developed my own work ethic, but I think there would be a few people behind me clutching their pearls at the thought of me taking all the credit. I come from a long line of hard working women, and everything I do is built on the foundation they laid for me. Read more>>
Lauren Mutschler
I’ve always really loved being a workaholic. I think it dates back to middle school and high school, I had a hard time fitting in with others and was a bit of a loner. In order to escape that sense of feeling left out, I poured all of my energy into getting good grades and became heavily addicted to completing homework and art projects. Read more>>
Stacy Aloisi
My parents’ entrepreneurial spirit and drive have had a profound impact on my life and career. Their dedication to building their own business and striving for excellence is truly inspiring. Ive learned valuable lessons from them that have helped me succeed, especially in building my own salon. Read more>>
Zeb Welborn
My work ethic was born out of necessity. In 2009, during the Great Recession, I couldn’t find a job anywhere. Out of that challenge, I launched a tutoring business with little more than determination and a goal: to earn $1 million in my first year. Read more>>
Justin “JC” Collins
I received my work ethic from both of my parents being extremely hard workers. To paint the picture more vividly, I’ll use my dad. For example, he grew up with very little, but had big aspirations for his goals. Read more>>
Erica Hay
I get my work ethic from my upbringing and my purpose. I was raised to believe that nothing worth having comes easy, and that every opportunity is a chance to prove your dedication. Watching my family work hard and still make time to give back taught me discipline, responsibility, and gratitude. Read more>>
Noga Kedem
That’s a great question. My work ethic is something I needed to practice through many projects, although I was raised with that habit. There’s a story here – I come from a family with great work ethic and determination to succeed. Read more>>
Julia Bodwell
Being a small business owner takes a lot of grit and determination. I’d like to think the work ethic required to run my own business came from growing up watching my parents run theirs. Read more>>
Maksim Zverev
I believe my work ethic comes from a deep respect for the creative process and a clear understanding of how many people rely on my part of the workflow. In post-production, there’s always a chain of professionals involved — editors, directors, producers, agencies — and when one link fails to deliver on time, the whole system suffers. Read more>>
Lisa Mensonides
I developed my work ethic from our family business. I grew up working at the processing plant of our dairy farm where we ran a drive in dairy retail store. If an employee called out sick one of my three brothers or I would be the one to fill the shift. We had to sacrifice to keep the place running. Read more>>
Mirjana Vidic
My work ethic is deeply rooted in my upbringing and personal experiences. Growing up in Serbia, I was fortunate to have parents who exemplified hard work and dedication. They instilled in me the value of perseverance and the importance of putting in the effort to achieve my goals. Read more>>
Qiuping Han
My work ethic comes from a combination of upbringing, personal curiosity, and the environments I’ve worked in. I was raised in a family where doing your part wasn’t negotiable—it was expected. That early sense of responsibility shaped how I approach everything, from school to professional life. I studied cinematography at Beijing Film Academy and produced 20 short films during my early years—learned by doing. Read more>>
Katelyn Garcia
I get my work ethic from my parents! They are long time business owners and growing up, they showed me how important it was to work hard towards the things that you want in life. Read more>>
Elizabeth Davidson
My work ethic has been shaped over many years of disciplined piano study. From a young age, I learned the value of consistency, focus, and persistence. I practiced regularly, tackled challenging pieces, and gradually built my skills over time. Learning new repertoire, especially difficult or unfamiliar pieces, taught me to embrace challenges, break them down into manageable steps, and persevere even when progress felt slow. Read more>>
Pierre O’Driscoll
Obviously habits help productivity, but the reason why is because they’ve become ‘no-brainers’. If we can make things we want to do ‘no-brainers’ then it eliminates hesitation to do them. I’ve made it a no-brainer to me to check items off my to-do list, to give clients the best experience, to work hard, etc. Read more>>
Keyon Mays
My work ethic comes from my parents but is mostly self driven. Whenever I put my mind to something I’m like a full steamed coal train with no breaks. With no plan of stopping until the mission is complete. Read more>>
Rachel Tabak
My work ethic is rooted in gratitude for my family’s resilience. My father was born in Israel after his mother survived the Holocaust and later built a thriving business in the U.S. On my mother’s side, my grandfather arrived through Ellis Island with nothing and eventually purchased land in Trousdale in the 1960s — a reminder that hard work and perseverance can create lasting legacies. Read more>>
Damon Monday
I have been working since I was 15 years old, and being a Mexican-American in SoCal, I have been surrounded by hard workers my entire life. One example that is really close to my heart is my Mom. Read more>>
George Jonathan
My work ethic comes from love disguised as labor. I’ve learned so much from both of my parents. My father worked not for glory but for us, for the simple, profound fact of our togetherness. My mother, whose hands kept our world intact with such gentle constancy that we mistook it for magic. From them I learned: work is another language for presence, for love. Read more>>
Briana Bower
I got my first job at fourteen. I grew up with a mom who was a flight attendant and a dad who worked many different jobs with strange hours. Needless to say—I was home alone a lot starting at maybe age ten. Some may say I grew up a bit too fast. Read more>>
Meggie Fritz
I think I was born with a certain drive to do well and achieve the goals I set for myself. I do not like to be bored and so I find myself constantly coming up with new ideas or goals to work on. Read more>>
Laura King
I can easily attribute my work ethic to a number of things, but I believe that the most impressionable came from one of my first employers, Mrs. C. I interviewed to work for a Family Entertainment Center, I had previously worked at a water park and this was a similar type of business. Read more>>
Taylor Cotton
I’d like to think I get my work ethic from different challenges I’ve faced in my adult life.It has helped me prepare and grow into the person I am today! Read more>>
Rachel Greenspan
I think my work ethic stems a lot from my parents and living in New York. My dad was in sales and always focused on driving business for his company. Everyone in New York was constantly hustling and it was part of the culture to grind hard and then have fun afterwards. Read more>>
Hugo Sena
Growing up in Veracruz, Mexico I started. working at a very young age in order to help my neighbors, friends and family. I would help with general cleaning, yard work and landscaping in order to have a little bit of spending money. I was also responsible for doing my daily chores at my house, which of course I didn’t get paid for! Read more>>
Wyatt Espalin
I was raised by my maternal grandparents, Tom & Elsie Harvey. They owned and operated a campground and eventually RV Park. My brother and I learned from an early age how to work for the things needed and wanted in life. Read more>>
Anne Sharkey
My work ethic is definitely attributed to both my parents. My parents both grew up on family dairy farms in Wisconsin. There are few people I know who work harder on a daily basis than dairy farmers. I am grateful every day for the work ethic and drive that was instilled in me from a young age. Read more>>
Casey Morphew
I didn’t inherit my work ethic—I earned it the hard way. It came from hitting rock bottom and realizing no one was coming to save me. I had to dig deep, face my failures head-on, and learn how to rebuild from the ground up. That process taught me discipline, grit, and the value of showing up even when everything feels stacked against you. Read more>>
Racha Fares
Short answer: my father. I’ve always been competitive, especially in college, where I thrived on the challenge of outshining my peers in any academic contest. But when it came to my first job after graduation, I was thrown into a whole new arena. I’d never worked a day in my life before, and suddenly I found myself nervous, unsure, and easily intimidated by authority figures. Read more>>
Madeline Insignares
I spent over 10 years as a retail manager and I believe that played such a large role in how I work my business now. Things like working different parts of a successful business, hiring for different positions, prioritizing customer service and working towards goals all helped shape the quality of work I put in to my business now. Read more>>
