Keeping Up With Appearances: Do we still value hard work?
For many of us, drive and discipline in our work are second nature. A career featuring a side hustle is commonplace for Millennial and Gen Z women. Why, then, is our work ethic being called into question?
Photographer: Hannah-Joy Bull
Model: Bianca Henry
Media: Schön! Magazine
Stylist: Gulce Gunaydin
Makeup: Caroline Sims
EARNING OUR STRIPES
Being referred to or thought of as lazy is one of the things we naturally would become defensive about. Since the impact and change we want to see can only be made a reality through hard work, overlooking our will to graft seems harsh.
The echoes of Millennials and Gen Z dubbed as the snowflake generation, in contrast to previous generations, frightened of toil and easily offended, has certainly set many who fall in that age range on a mission to prove their labellers wrong.
In the digital age where our work history is readily accessible to anyone with wifi connectivity, social platforms like LinkedIn are overrun with promotions and career wisdom, ready for us to list the details of our professional life. We put our best foot forward, feeling that we need to keep up appearances and prove the quality and value of our work in an oversaturated, under-encouraged climate.
‘Lazy’ is one of the last adjectives we’d use to describe ourselves, and a mention of entitlement or having help to get where we are is quickly put into context or denied.
In a recent promo for Keeping up with The Kardashians by Variety, businesswoman and socialite, Kim Kardashian, shared her business advice for women saying, ‘It seems like nobody wants to work these days. Surround yourself with people that want to work’.
In the midst of social media scoffing and inevitable outrage, given Kim’s background, it left us asking: do we only celebrate hard work when it has been achieved through a self-made story, or when the transformation has been before our eyes?
DISMISSING HARD WORK
It would appear that we are predisposed to pick apart stories of success based on their origins. If a single parent with humble resources becomes a media mogul overnight, we offer applause and share in their rightful acclaim.
If someone with a privileged background, modelling career or influencer builds a brand, we often dismiss their efforts based on their existing profile. We imagine them to be living a relaxed life with little grip on reality. Any significance they receive is based on their financial excess or teams of people who help to orchestrate their life, we convince ourselves.
Kim’s comments cut some deep as they assume her business ventures have been handed to her on a platter.
Are we selling short hard work achieved by someone with a highly supportive infrastructure because it has taken many hands, not just one pair?
We will rarely witness a rising star who has come up solo without any help or support from family, peers, colleagues or investors. Irrespective of how we think people received their status - because of their name, or sheer work ethic - hard work is not a foreign concept to most women. Some may expect endless commendations for little input, but this is largely a myth about the present younger generation.
Perhaps the problem doesn’t lie within not wanting to work hard, but in the opposite, by forcing ourselves into an eternal hustle.
Seeing new notifications from our friends and co-workers overcoming hurdles in their industry can add pressure to perform and push harder and further than before. Sometimes it’s simply birthed out of a fear of missing out on a promised utopia. Maybe it is based on necessity and paying the bills, or because we want to make an impact in a certain industry. We buy into believing that by allocating a vast amount of time to work, we will eventually feel whole and accomplished.
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
In the Old Testament of the Bible, King Solomon had amassed great wealth and assets, yet, instead of feeling satisfied, he found himself in a place of despair, wondering what it was all for. ‘“Everything is meaningless”, says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” What do people get for all their hard work under the sun?’ Ecclesiastes 1:2-3, NLT.
Although we hope our work matters and means something, it’s worth asking ourselves what it is we’re working for or towards. Do we think the next break or opportunity will give us something that will satisfy us in the long term?
Crushing personal goals and targets can offer us a great degree of confidence, but it usually isn’t long before we are looking for the next thing. If we can consider faith in God amid our work, we’re able to look more deeply into the benefits of hard work. Beyond a new recommendation on our LinkedIn profile, we can see that contributing to society, developing skills and choosing generosity are possibilities as a result of our work.
We don’t have to prove ourselves by always being on the grind, or seek reasons why others might have a better grip on the ladder than we do. Faith helps us see that hard work should not be defined by how much we make, how far we've come or the applause we receive, but by the lasting legacy we leave through being present and giving our very best in anything we put our hand to.
WORDS BY
Rachel Calland
