Beware of Antiwork Wisdom

Since you are reading this book, you likely do not subscribe to the Socialist propaganda being touted on Reddit and social media channels known as “Antiwork.”?None can argue that the Antiwork propaganda isn’t socialist - though some may argue that it is not propaganda – that it is the real heart and mind of the disenfranchised American worker. To that I say, “not all social media posts are written by well-intentioned authors; many radical ideas on social media come from foreign actors with an objective to destroy US economic superiority” (if indeed, it still exists at the time of this writing). Antiwork, if followed to its logical conclusion, has a long-term detrimental effect on US labor productivity, GDP, purchasing power, and leads to goods and service shortages as well as hyper-inflation.

At its least harmful, the Antiwork movement calls for shortening the work week to 30 hours, increasing benefits, and improving work conditions. At its most dangerous, the propaganda voices in the movement call for a society where work is not necessary. Their argument is the wealthy don’t have to work for their income – ie. their assets pay dividends, royalties, rents, and other forms of passive income, allowing the wealthy to work as much or as little as they want. Antiwork proponents believe that the working class deserve the same passive income lifestyle afforded to the wealthy, but without the effort to create the assets themselves, that wealth should be re-distributed – or simply printed.

It’s true. The wealthy do have assets that afford them luxurious lifestyles; but you will discover that most rich people you meet in your life employ considerable effort being wise stewards of their assets. You probably know the saying, “A foolish man and his money are soon parted.”?There is another saying made popular by the late President Ronald Reagan, “Socialism is a great idea. . . until the other guy’s money runs out.”

The “Great Resignation” is happening across America at the time of this writing. Millions of low-paid, white-class labor and the underpaid, largely-uneducated service sector employees are not showing up for work – ?something like an informal labor Union calling for a strike, with picket signs being waved all over social media. I hope not to sound unsympathetic toward their plight. Underemployment is real, but let me share a few stories to illustrate what I am saying are healthier ways to think about the nature of work.

The first story is the well-worn Aesop fable of the ants and the grasshopper, which teaches the value of planning, work (effort), and patience. The ants work hard all through a season of work because they know the winter is approaching. The grasshopper works for a short time, but then idles his time away. When winter comes, the ants have resources in their colony and survive the cold, whereas the grasshopper dies. Dad taught me that modern day ants live within their means, forgo immediate gratification for comforts and luxuries, save a little every day, build assets such as insurance, retirement plans, investments, rental properties, business endeavors, and even food storage. They know that the much touted “crashes” of 1999, 2008, and 2020 were not really wintertime – they were simply trial runs – dress rehearsals.

The reason Antiwork is gaining so much traction with the upcoming generation is they don’t know anyone who has eaten their boots. Let me explain. My grandfather was twenty-four years old when the Great Depression hit. He knew people who boiled their leather boots to make soup. He saw men leaning up against buildings stretching around the block in breadlines. My grandfather was part of the Greatest Generation. My dad was born in 1943, just before the baby boom started, and grew up on stories of terrible, lean times endured by the generation before him. I was born in 1969, and my father was true to the book’s title, “My Dad Taught Me How to Work” because he knew the generation of people who endured terrible hardship – a true winter. I am the third generation since the Great Depression and I knew my grandfather when I was boy. Unfortunately, the 4th and 5th generations - post-depression - don’t know people who have eaten their boots. They also don’t believe the US could return to a time like the Great Depression with double-digit inflation, unemployment at +30%, and global war. But just like the seasons in nature, economic cycles and global power shifts repeat themselves. Ants will be prepared. Be an ant. Control your appetite for consumption. Minimize your debt of all types and pay it off quickly so it does not consume you, and build assets that will feed you when the good season for work ends.

My second story is about Namibian stick-carriers. I was working in small city in the center of Namibia where opportunities were scarce and need was as vast as the ocean. Many young men and boys put on pathetic looking clothes and dirty their faces to beg from tourists, making it hard to separate the truly needy from the lazy poor.

As I drove to and from my worksite at a copper smelter on the outskirts of town, I occasionally saw young men carrying scraggly bunches of firewood on their backs. Rather than resort to begging, these young men walk miles every day in 95 degree temperatures, gathering sticks in the picked-over fields to sell for a few dollars a day. Once as I drove past two boys in their late teens, I felt moved to pull over and tip them. I didn’t need firewood in my hotel, but I wanted to talk with them.

The boys were laughing as they walked and I jumped out of my car and greeted them. I told them that I was proud of them for choosing to work hard rather than to succumb to laziness and beggary. I promised that, even if all they could do to earn money was to carry sticks on their backs, if they continue to do it, they will succeed. I then handed each of them the equivalent of $7 USD – likely a day’s pay – and told them this was a tip to encourage them in their work. I got back in my rental car, and as I drove off, I looked into the rearview mirror at the jubilant boys who could hardly believe their good fortune.

Not all work is noble, however all noble work builds character. Be persistent. If you are persistent, you will succeed. Your increasing self-esteem will open opportunities beyond stick carrying; but if all you can do at present to earn your keep is to carry sticks, be a cheerful stick carrier. One of my father’s favorite sayings was, “I complained because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.” Whatever tedium you are called to bear at work, you are not as bad off as a Namibian stick carrier – and I dare you to be half as cheerful carrying your burden as they are under theirs.

My last story is about a wire manufacturer in Cedar Rapids Iowa. While on a plant tour, I asked the General Manager about his workforce. His answer surprised me.

“We have two workforces. One group is over 50 years old. They have been with us for twenty-five or more years.?The other workforce is under 30 years old and they average 18 months before they quit.”

“Why do they quit?” I asked.

He answered, “It used to be that if you didn’t have a college education, your ticket to the middle-class was to get a union job paying $25 an hour pay with good benefits. You could pay for your house, car, and put your kids through college and earn something for retirement.?Today, kids stand on the line bailing wire just long enough to earn the money they need to travel someplace like Indonesia, where they live for 5 or 6 months till they run out of money. Then they come back to work. Or they decide to write an APP and think they can sell it for a million dollars. Or some try to become a YouTube star.”

But Antiwork isn’t just a recent social media phenom; it’s corrosive wisdom is endemic to some degree or another within every company I have peeked inside.?Everyone wants to get more out of their employer. If you start to feel lazy at your desk during the work day, remember the WIN, LOSS, TIE exercise mentioned in the previous chapter. Write WIN, LOSS, and TIE on a white board or notebook at your desk. Calculate your daily pay. If you get paid $100,000 for 50 weeks of work (after considering a net of vacation days), that is $2,000 a week or $400 a day. At the end of the day ask yourself, “Did I contribute $400 of economic value to my company today?”?It’s an uncomfortable question because it requires honest accountability. If that question is hard to answer, ask yourself this, “If I were the owner of this company, would I reasonably pay someone $400 to perform the work I completed today?”?If you answer “Yes” to these questions, then put a hash mark in the WIN column.?If you answer, “No”, put a hash mark in the LOSS column. If you feel the day was a toss-up, put a hash mark in the TIE column.

Even if you ARE UNDERPAID in your current job, if you do this for one year, you will learn more, contribute more, and get noticed more by your management than your peers who have been indoctrinated by Antiwork sentiment or propaganda. They will grow in laziness, they will gossip at lunch and complain in the copy room while opportunities will open up all around you. You are at this company today to learn all you can, and learning does not come without work. You will become a valued employee, which you can market to your internal management for promotion. If your management still doesn’t pay you for your increased capabilities, you can successfully market yourself to other employers who will.

. . . And your knowledge, influence, and income will grow, step by step, line upon line, here a little and there a little – and you will succeed. Be a cheerful stick carrier.