What do you classify as "working hard"?

Originally Posted by Matt

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and those of us in the real world know you will never again have it so easy

yup, enjoying it while I can.

20,000+ posts on SF.

Its all relative to your personality, smarts and your physical ability. But all that aside, the hardest work is doing something you're not happy doing.

Originally Posted by NewYorkRanger

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Its all relative to your personality, smarts and your physical ability. But all that aside, the hardest work is doing something you're not happy doing.

Agreed!

Performing hard physical labour for a longer time (think being a runner at a busy fancy club from 10 'till 6) is not something I would like to do day-to-day. Sure, there might be a lot of stress involved in the other jobs, but working that hard will **** your body up eventually.

Originally Posted by clubbyjones

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Now that I'm in my mid-20s, there seems to be a huge difference between what people think is "working hard". I am trying to give this thought but I would like more input first. Compare: Case 1: Construction worker - physical labor, 8-10 hour days, grueling conditions of weather, physical energy required, etc. Case 2: Aggressive salesman - spends 10 hours a day trying to push sales, follow leads, lots of personal contact and communication. Focus is not constant Case 3: Surgeon - spends 12 hours a day working, first 4-6 are in surgery (intense focus, mentally draining, extreme liability) and the rest are done in follow-ups, emergencies, or treatment planning Case 4: Investment banker - spends 90-110 hours a week churning out excel spreadsheets and data for higher-ups Case 5: CEO - big-time decisions with 10-1000 people affected by each of those decisions. It may be impossible to compare one's strife to another, but I can't help but think that the mental focus required for doctors and upper-level management may be the most challenging of all. Many people I have asked disagree with me, saying physical labor is the worst. Others say that long hours are the worst. What do YOU think is classified as working hard? Is it quality over quantity?
Depends on the type of person. I know people that are very hands on and can't stand working an office job. I also know people that are desk jockeys and try to avoid physical work at all costs.

What I found with physical labor jobs is that it's very easy to get bored and have my head in the clouds. I daydreamed like no other. The tradeoff is that it's very simple work.

Originally Posted by globetrotter

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doctors have responsiblity and stress, but they also get to act like assholes more than just about anybody else - they have people who do all the dirty work for them, and get to yell at people and act like prima donas, and have sales people sucking up to them. so I wouldn't call that all that hard a life .
You typically have an above average level of insight, but here you couldn't be further off the mark.

As long as you are working hard for YOURSELF, that's fine. It sucks when you are working hard and you know someone else is profiting off your sweat. (yeah yeah - taxes blah blah). All I know is that I'd rather be a position that people are working hard for me. That's my aim.

Originally Posted by TyCooN

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What I found with physical labor jobs is that it's very easy to get bored and have my head in the clouds. I daydreamed like no other. The tradeoff is that it's very simple work.

Well, it depends on the job. If it's just mindlessly repeating the same action over and over again, sure, but there's plenty of hard jobs where if you daydream, things won't end well.

Originally Posted by Cotillion

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"what is work? Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relatively to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid. The second kind is capable of indefinite extension: there are not only those who give orders, but those who give advice as to what orders should be given. Usually two opposite kinds of advice are given simultaneously by two organized bodies of men; this is called politics. The skill required for this kind of work is not knowledge of the subjects as to which advice is given, but knowledge of the art of persuasive speaking and writing, i.e. of advertising. "


-Bertrand Russell

How trite!

Physical labor: it sucks, for the most part. Mind numbing, body damaging, most anyone (of physical ability) can do it if briefly trained. Hard work on the body, no work on the mind.

Sales: if you're good at it, it's awesome. Commission pay is a blessing and curse. How hard you work is directly correlated to how much you make, so it behooves you to work hard.

Doctor: Probably the hardest working of the five. Long, off-beat hours, grueling school to get there, malpractice insurance, super hard to maintain a family life unless you are in a small office. Oh and your job could be real live and death situations on a daily basis.

Investment Banker: to the person who said using Excel means you're working dumb (or whatever) I challenge you to make valuation models that affect multi-million dollar deals for 90 hours a week and then tell me if there's a better way to make said models than in Excel. Why make proprietary software when Microsoft has made a perfectly good base for you?

CEO: If you're a good one, this is a non-stop job. Perks, for sure, but loads of stress and decisions that affect your company and its shareholders.

Originally Posted by BC2012

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CEO: If you're a good one, this is a non-stop job. Perks, for sure, but loads of stress and decisions that affect your company and its shareholders.

But even if you suck at it you get a payoff that's the GDP of many small countries!

I would argue that CEO is often the hardest job. For all fo the others there is a training program and "right" answers. Even if a doctor kills someone they just go through an M&M conference to prove they tried their best.

Most CEOs that I've known got there by being the best, but there are no right answers. Every move is a judgement call, and if you make the wrong one, then you're gonna get sacked.

Not to mention if you sit in a bar of an evening and look around, you can guarantee that the people you see aren't CEOs, they're all still at home doing paperwork.

Originally Posted by NewYorkRanger

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Its all relative to your personality, smarts and your physical ability. But all that aside, the hardest work is doing something you're not happy doing.

Quoted for truth! I was going to type up some long post to this same point, buy NYR summed it up rather nicely here.
A great post from one of my favorite posters