Working hard.

[Apileofballyhoo]

AIBU to ask if you feel people who work hard are lucky to be able to do so?

I was brought up to believe you are lucky if there is work to do. On a very simple level, if there is no food, there's no cooking or washing up.

My DM worked very hard to gain a third level education. But she was lucky that she was clever enough to do so, and she was lucky that her DM supported her. She was lucky there were scholarships available and she was lucky her parents gave her enough time to study for them.

I am lucky I don't have a physical disability. I am lucky I found subjects at school relatively easy. I am lucky my parents supported me financially at university.

Yes, I worked hard both at my studies and at summer jobs while I was a student.

So is everything I achieved down to my hard work, or is it a combination of luck and hard work?

Should I look at other people and think I'm lucky or should I look at other people and think well the real reason I have more than them is because I work hard and they don't?

Your parents support makes you fortunate, to be honest I’d stick st that you don’t really know about other people’s achievements, successes as everything is differently about what is important or significant.

everyone thinks not everyone is

I think luck is the wrong word, it implies random chance and your opportunities in life have been anything but random; you have benefited from a privileged upbringing with well educated, well off parents. That said, it sounds like you’ve worked hard; not everyone that is privileged does. Yes you’ve had easy access to opportunities, but you’re the one that’s taken advantage of them. Also we all measure success differently, it’s very subjective.

I can’t remember who it was that said “the harder I worked, the luckier I got”

It’s an interesting question OP. I’m lucky to have good health. There are many people with ill health which makes it hard for them to work and are genuine. On the other hand, people take time off work for lengthy periods for things I wouldn’t dream of.

It's both. You need to work hard but that alone won't guarantee you getting a good job, or having a good life. Think of all those people who work hard and barely manage to scrape a living. It takes luck as well.

Tbh, success is normally put down to good luck but people are very quick to blame circumstance for bad luck.

It's a blend.

I think that people who work hard are lucky to have the opportunity to do so. That said very few people don't have the opportunity to work hard. Only those who are poor with dependants and those who are very disabled have an excuse in our society for not working hard. Baring such exceptional circumstances everyone in Britain is fortunate enough for those opportunities are there if they are willing to work hard enough for them.

Hard work is a good mindset to have in general.

As a teacher, it's my students who work the hardest who are best prepared for university and for the life in front of them and on the whole they do very well in a general sense and certainly achieve beyond their natural potential.

i'm grateful for being able to work productively in a way that benefits me. So family support, education and living in this country all opportunities (luck) that I have embraced.

I see people working harder than me with little to show for it to be honest - without bringing people down, I'm not sure how lucky a sweatshop worker is for instance - perhaps they do feel they are luckier than the people living on rubbish tips.

When I was younger I used to get very cross when people suggested that my success down to anything apart from my hard work. After all I knew that I had worked extremely hard and made a lot of sacrifices to get where I was. More recently I’ve come to appreciate privilege that I have had. Now don’t get me wrong I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth.But I was lucky in that earlier in my life I had parents who valued education, access to good schools with committed teachers, had a very fast brain and great memory and no disabilities or major health problems. Now though things just by themselves don’t mean that high-paid jobs handed out like sweeties but they do make it a lot easier to get to the stage where my hard work brings the rewards.

So these days whilst I know that my hard work has paid off I also know it is my privilege that has enabled it.

Only those who are poor with dependants and those who are very disabled have an excuse in our society for not working hard. Baring such exceptional circumstances everyone in Britain is fortunate enough for those opportunities are there if they are willing to work hard enough for them.

Very disabled have an excuse? Must a person have an excuse if it is a question of simply not being capable?

Opportunities are there if they are willing to work hard enough for them. So you don't think there's any element of luck or privilege? Just a lack of hard work?

Appreciating our advantages/privileges is good.

But your parents’ philosophy sounds exhausting! Calvinist work ethic kind of thing!

Are you making a political point about people who are right wing?

Some ppl work very hard & get crap in life. Some folk do feck all & have lots of comfort & privilege. Mean to suggest otherwise.

Loopy your response made me when I think back to some of the battles they had trying to get us to do stuff! The lucky to have work to do was a way of reminding us of privilege I think. I suppose they were very conscientious themselves and tried to pass that on.

Ah - is this a TAAT, OP? The independent school teacher AMA? If so, I think there does seem to be a polticial agenda here.

For what it’s worth, I recognise that I have had certain privileges in my life - an education, parents who valued education, the ability to apply for a student loan to enable me to go to university... However, that would have not been much use had I not been prepared to put the hard work in to take advantage of all of that.

And my father had none of it - born in a mining town, left school at 15 to get a job, yet ended up with a degree and a post-graduate professional qualification which enabled him to have a career. He had bugger all luck in his childhood but worked his backside off to achieve what he achieved, and sought out and took advantage of the opportunities he knew were out there. They didn’t just drop into his lap through luck.

I think that luck and support are a bigger factor than hard work, at least in my case.

I worked extremely hard at school and got top marks in GCSE, won a place at college but my mum wouldn’t let me go as she needed me to get a full time job to pay my way. I was earning £600 a month at 16 and giving her £400, plus she worked nights so I had to look after my younger siblings over night so didn’t have any time to myself (stepdad was down the pub every night, drinking the money I was paying )

I didn’t get to go to college until I was 31 but got my A levels and did a nursing diploma but I had the support of my dp, who I was lucky to meet!

I think it is both. If you work hard you are more likely to be successful and achieve more than those who don't, but it isn't necessarily the only factor. There are lots of people who work hard but have had some bad luck, and others who don't work hard but have things handed to them anyway!

It is partially down to chance, yes. Some people are severely disabled or ill, some have no family support, some enter into an abusive relationship young and start a family because they know no different (maybe they were also abused as a child) and sadly, some people just aren’t very bright.

Then there are excuse makers or martyrs if you like. They have had every opportunity thrown at them yet still fail. They will always find an excuse for why that happened but in reality, they didn’t have the enthusiasm to achieve. I taught a student like this last year and it was incredibly frustrating. He wasn’t the brightest person I have ever taught but he had lots of potential. He was given all of the support the college has to offer including deadline extensions and counselling yet he still dropped out half way through the nine month access course. I could make excuses for him and say he had a lot going on in his life but who doesn’t? At any one time there will be a person grieving, struggling financially, going through a difficult break up, tough family life etc and not everyone will fail.

Some people naturally have a drive to succeed and some don’t, for some it’s not even important and they are happy as they are.

Right wing or left wing or centre, I see it mentioned more and more about working hard. Sometimes it's 'I work hard but I've nothing to show for it because I'm in a poorly paid job'. Sometimes it's 'I work hard but other people have more than me'. Sometimes it's 'I have more than others because I work hard'. Sometimes it's 'My DH/DP/DW thinks I don't work as hard as they do either as I am SAHP minding the DC, or I have a job and they are SAHP.'

It's like working hard has to be said now, all the time, and a mindset that those through a combination of luck or privilege and hard work are somehow more deserving. There was even one recently where someone seemed to be resentful about someone else having a less stressful job, despite them having much more well paid work.

But it's the attitude of those that somehow think they are more deserving because they 'work hard' annoys me when there is really no measurable way of defining what working hard is and no acknowledgement that there is an element of luck.

Some people naturally have a drive to succeed and some don’t, for some it’s not even important and they are happy as they are.

I agree with this. But I suppose I wonder if people look down on others or think they should 'work harder'.

Theonly It's a thread about lots of different threads, not that specific one, if that makes a difference. I cross posted with you there, but I've seen it on loads of threads recently - the person who didn't think it was fair for her Mum to pay for her care by selling her home because her Mum had 'worked hard' all her life. Somebody asked on that thread how do we measure 'working hard' and IIRC should our taxes/contribution be based on how hard we work. That one really made me think about how much it's thrown around as a phrase.

Then there was a thread about where all the money comes from.

Another thread I've mentioned above.

And my father had none of it - born in a mining town, left school at 15 to get a job, yet ended up with a degree and a post-graduate professional qualification which enabled him to have a career. He had bugger all luck in his childhood but worked his backside off to achieve what he achieved, and sought out and took advantage of the opportunities he knew were out there. They didn’t just drop into his lap through luck.

You see there is an example of someone who really worked really hard.