What are your incentives to work hard?

We hear a lot about the incentives that make people work hard or be lazy. Often, that means that we are projecting onto others what their incentives are, but we rarely look at ourselves.

I start with my case:

I am a professor in Chemistry at a R1 research university. At the time when I did my graduate studies, and later on during my post doc years, I worked 60+ hours a week, mostly worked on holidays, except for Christmas. I was very career oriented then. Long hours are fairly common in research if you want to get ahead.

When I got my first faculty position (Assistant Professor), the long hours continues, as the pressure mounted to get tenure. You need funding in the STEM fields for tenure, and funding lines are VERY tight. At the same time, we had our fist kid, so I made the conscious decision to work weekends only if absolutely necessary, even if it meant a risk with regard to tenure prospects. Family was starting to become more important to me than work. I did not want to be an absentee father just to get one more grant or one more paper.

When I got tenure, the work ethic was instilled into me, so I continued the long hours during the week, but not the weekends. The stresses of continuing funding and high research output, however, were starting to wear me down, to the point where I needed to scale back hours and spend even more time with the family. Gradually, however, we became financially more independent.

I am 53 now, if I wanted, I could probably retire, although not comfortably. Also, the kids are starting to become more independent and need less daddy time. I am feeling that this is giving me a new vigor for work, for two reasons. 1) Less time commitment to the kids, i.e. I need to keep busy in anticipation of the kids leaving the home. 2) Due to the prospect of financial independence, work has become a lot more fun again. I can actually take on the projects that I am really interested in, funding becomes less important. It is also a lot easier to say no at work to take on mindless tasks.

Over my career, however, I realize that money was NEVER the real driving force behind working hard. My driving forces were the joy of science, discovery and teaching, as well as the respect of my peers. Money, on the other hand, took the joy out of the science part, and probably made me work less hard because of the stress that was induced. Now, that money becomes less of an issue, the joy and the long hours return.

I was wondering what others have to say about their incentives to work hard and be successful. My feeling is that money follows success, not the other way around. Most people who have been vastly successful didn't do so because they were chasing money, but because they had other motivations. The scientists that I know, who are money chasers (yes, they exist), I am very suspicious of.

 

Thank you for sharing your story. I am currently retired, but when I was employed I had two work incentives:
1) I liked to eat.
2) I liked to keep a roof over my head.
I accomplished both of these goals, and I'm still doing OK.

 

What is the incentive?
If you are a Rightie, food, shelter, and the ability to support oneself in later years without being a burden of others.
If you are a Leftie, no real reason, the government can take care of me funded by the above.

 

I was asking for personal stories rather than your projection onto other Americans you deem your political enemy. Is that too much to ask?

 

I have responsibilities I need to feed, cloth, and house my family. Also I need to put money away as much as I can for when me and the wife can no longer work.

 

It sounds like you fundementally enjoy what you do, which is a great thing.

I have a theory in this regard. I believe that perhaps 10% of people truly enjoy working, and the remaining 90% do it solely for the paycheck.In other words, 10% of the population "get" to go to work, and 90% "have" to go to work. Some people assume that the 10% that enjoy working are lucky to have found a job that they enjoy, but my theory is that if you are one of the people that is predisposed to enjoy working, you are likely going to find enjoyment in whatever you do. 3 case studies......

-I have held a variety of career jobs in my lifetime, and by most accounts I do well. Whatever it is that I have to do in order to make money, I am predisposed to not like. I remember when I was in high school, one of my favorite TV shows was the Peoples Court. I had a class in high school that was an introductory business law class. During class, the teacher started showing episodes of the Peoples Court. Since there were assignments and quizzes from these episodes, I all of a sudden was colossally bored with the show and hated watching it. This is a perfect microcosm of my entire work life. If it is something that I have to do for work, I am not going to enjoy it. Being in sales, I have often found myself taking clients on expensive junkets, dinners, strip clubs etc. Many of these clients are also personal friends. It does not matter. Regardless of the fact that I am taking a personal friend on a junket to the Masters golf tournament, which is something that in any other context I would love, if it is for work, I do not enjoy it. It becomes a chore. With all of that being said, my sole motivation for working is the paycheck. To me, my job is what I do, not who I am.

- I have a reasonably close friend that up until 3 or 4 years ago, was playing in the NFL. While still in the league, he would often have teamates over at his house. These people complained about their job every bit as much as anyone that has a regular job. The same principle applied. Most of them didnt "get" to go to practice, they "had" to go to practice. If grown men cannot find joy in being paid millions of dollars to play a game, then what hope do the rest of us have?

- My wife is in the lucky 10% that enjoys working. When she was younger and was a waitress, she loved what she did. When her and I owned a couple retail furniture stores, she loved it and was enormously enthused about work. She is currently enthused about being a sales director for IT. Whatever she does, she finds meaning and satisfaction.

I realize that these are simply anecdotal examples, but in my experience it is undeniable that FAR more do not enjoy working and they do it solely for a paycheck. I believe that the people that enjoy what they do are extremely fortunate, but it is my belief that they dont love what they do because of what they specifically do. They love what they do because they are predisposed to enjoy working in much the same way that people are predisposed to be optimists or pessimists.

 

Allow me to rephrase,
If you are me or think like me, food, shelter, and the ability to support oneself in later years without being a burden of others.
If you are not me or think like me, no real reason, the government can take care of me funded by the above

 

I want to make as much money as possible so it can be redistributed to illegals

 

I'm retired and don't have any.

Even when I worked the point was never to "work hard" and I avoided that. Instead I liked to "work smart" where I made a lot of money without much effort.

Being lazy is a huge asset when you want to get things done with the least amount of effort and with the maximum possible results. I don't know anyone that became wealthy by actually working hard.

 

Then I recommend what I did. Be lazy, get smart, and figure out how to make a lot of money without much effort so you can give it to the very hard working "illegals" that are at the bottom of the economic foundation our country is built upon,

 

When I work for my employer, I work hard so I dont have to work as much. I put in long hours so I can get more days off, and I make sure I do it right the first time so I dont have to redo it later.

When I work for myself, I don't work hard. I work slowly enough that I can enjoy what Im doing.

 

1 question for ya, are you willing to take 25% less compensation as a professor in order to facilitate more students having the opportunity to get a higher education?

 

That's a question I've been meaning to ask hedge fund managers as well.

 

I only work hard on my appearance because I plan to marry into money.

My future career is just something to pass the time or a fallback option.

 

Poor planning.

 

I don't work hard for the sake of working hard. I work towards goals. I've also learned that you shouldn't work too hard or you'l be miserable... you need time in your day.. at least a couple of hours to... reflect... read... do nothing... spend time with your family.. or simply just to organise the rest of your day.

 

Getting started and landing a decent job in my profession was always an incentive to work hard, but the actual work was never all that much fun. I have hobbies.

My wife and I are staring hard at retirement, and I can't wait. She's decided to get a doctorate. I told her she's crazy, but she'd probably go crazy staying at home. She never did like gardening all that much, and her job takes her all over the world attending conferences. I did that when I was starting out, but I hated that. I used to travel around the country setting those damn things up, giving lectures, writing papers, and one city became a lot like the last city. Nowadays people will ask me if I've ever been to some city, and honestly, I probably have but forgot about it.

 

Interesting- probably the best post I can recall you ever making. Something I absolutely believe is that the most successful people are those whose drive does not come from money, but from achieving the goals they expect of themselves. Money is frequently a side effect, and in business becomes a critical element of survival- but still not the prime motivator. I've tried paying talented but low-motivation people very high salaries to motivate them.... didn't work. When I say high- one guy, $50 an hour. Unbelievable, but nothing changed and I gave up on him. Lives with his mother now- just doesn't like to work.

I think everybody pursues the same three things- love, happiness and success. However we define those things differently, and you have to find the kind of success that has meaning to you. It doesn't mean a huge company, or even any company at all- it means achieving your own goal and being proud of the accomplishment. That is never done without some hard times and frustration... but it is worth it.

 

Hedge fund managers aren't socialists who want to re-distribute wealth. Since you responded.......are you willing to take 25% less compensation in order to facilitate more students having the opportunity to get a higher education?

 

I have always worked at one thing or another. I did the lemonade stand thing as a little kid. Paper route when I was old enough. Mowed lawns, etc.

Early in my official time clock working experience, I realized it sucked to be a worker bee. My motivation for work came from wanting to own my own business so I wouldn't have to have a boss. It took some early failures to discover something I enjoyed doing, and made good business sense.

Once a business is running, it takes on a life of it's own, and the hours required are dictated by the demands. Get employees, and responsibility and obligation to them becomes part of the equation.

But boiled down to it's basic motivation, it was to control my own destiny, and not to be beholden to the generosity, or whim, of someone else.

 

^^^^^^^ This right here gentlemen is a very smart woman. If you look pretty and act decent, you can get anything you want.

Which leads me to my answer about working hard.

My motto is there is only 2 things in life. Money and women. If you have one you can get the other.

 

I never found any incentive to work hard.

 

My personal story -- Starting at age 12 I was picking tobacco on a farm, delivering a morning newspaper route, setting pins in a bowling alley, and working at a newspaper in the mechanical dept during high school. Starting at age 18 I wanted to retire early so that became a long range goal. I tried a hitch in the Navy thinking that would help me retire early. Didn't like sea duty. Attended a printing school and worked nights in a print shop. Later worked in printing until I was 55-years-old. Sometimes I worked the day shift and later would work the night shift on my own time just to learn. Several times I worked two different newspapers. I learned printing, studied printing, and moved up the supervisory ladder and later becoming a printing executive. At the age of 50 I had more printing experience than anyone in my state. I retired comfortably at age 55. Looking back I had a burning desire to learn my craft and be the best and I wanted to retire early. Long hours and a great work ethic carried me through. And I must say I have had no problem being retired and I don't miss work. Today I can do whatever I like when ever I like. Life is good. Celebrating 24 years of retirement.

 

And, we have a bingo!

 

And another winner!