Hi David! Thanks for reading!

To me hard work is not inherently virtuous. It’s simply a tool.

If you have to use that tool to get food on your plate, have a roof over your head, and provide for those who are under your care, then you have no choice — use it.

If you have fun playing with that tool, great — use it.

If you’re making the world a better place with that tool, awesome — keep using it.

But if someone thinks that just swinging around that tool makes them a better person, or even that swinging that tool around is the purpose of life, I disagree.

Using a hammer doesn’t make you a good person. It depends on what you use it for. And you can be a good valuable member of society even if you don’t decide to use a hammer. And so it is with hard work.

It’s only in the last 300 years that we’ve collectively brainwashed ourselves into believing that swinging hammers is inherently a good thing. Before it was just a means to an end and if you could achieve your end without those means, you did. And it was okay!

Thanks for prompting those thoughts!