“A little sleep,
a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and
poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.” Proverbs 6: 10-11. Part
of the American myth is that if laziness leads to poverty, then surely, hard
work will lead to wealth. Part of the argument against slavery before the Civil
War was that a free man would work harder for his own benefit than a slave
would under compulsion. The labor union movement came about as more and more
people realized that hard work alone did not bring prosperity, especially to
the workers.
I mentioned to my
friend Eric, that I was taking a class called, “The Master Guide to Financial
Reporting and Analysis using Microsoft Excel,” and that I really didn’t know
why. I didn’t need it for my business, and I wasn’t looking for a new job. He
mentioned the class to his wife who reminded us that we cannot know too much,
every skill enhances our lives. Every new skill or bit of knowledge improves
our lives, sometimes financially, but always in every other way.
I am reminded of
the story about Steve Jobs taking a college class in calligraphy. It was a
totally random elective, but he was so enthused about fonts and letter design
that when the Macintosh operating system was being developed, he insisted on a
wide variety of fonts and customizable type. Because of that one class, our use
of computers and design is completely different than it might otherwise have
been.
Most new businesses, innovations, and successes come from the
combining of seemingly unrelated fields. It is this combining of skills and
knowledge that lead to success, not working harder.
Our quality of life is determined by the skills we have, the
variety of things we can do, and the knowledge of many different fields, not by
how many hours we work or the number of widgets we can get on the truck. As the
songwriter Hoyt Axton sang, “Work your fingers to the bone, what do you get?
Boney Fingers, Boney Fingers.” Clearly, working smarter not harder gives a
better outcome.
The income gap between people with college education and those
with only High School or less is widening quickly. This is almost certainly
because of skills, not work ethic. The greatest thing we can take away from
formal education is the desire to learn new things and the desire to develop
new skills.
The writer of Proverbs, Solomon, goes on to say in Ecclesiastes
10:10, “If the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed,
but skill will bring success.” In other words, take time to sharpen your axe.
Jim Mathis
No comments:
Post a Comment