"It’s amazing how much you can get done when you’re always doing." - Thomas Jefferson
Industry is a Virtue
Industry is a virtue because it is a vehicle to release our creative energy into the world thus leading us to live a happier, more fulfilled life. It is through our Industry that we accomplish goals, develop as human beings, and build the self-esteem necessary for us to persevere in all of our virtues. Discipline, Freedom, Individuality, Mental Health, Physical Health, Social Health, and Time, all of our values, require the virtue of Industry in order to be upheld. Ultimately, the quality of our lives depends on our Industry.
Industry is man’s endeavor to have a permanent impact on his world by transforming his values into earthly products; whether they be songs, novels, software, buildings, sculptures, the form can be any thing or any act. The scale or quality of this work is irrelevant so long as its creator has put forth his best efforts and has stayed true to his values. This is true because we do not become exceptional overnight, we must first pay our dues to our vocations.
Industry and Time
The virtue of Industry is one of the primary means of attaining the value of Time. When you’ve conquered laziness and discovered a passion to pursue, there is always a way to monetize it. This transforms your work time into leisure time that you get paid for. If you put in at least some of your 72 hours a week on a regular basis, you will eventually become good enough (or, in rare occasions, lucky enough) to monetize your passion. When that happens, your work time during the week is transformed into paid leisure time. You then have complete power over how you choose to spend all of your time since 40+ hours is not always put into work. This is how the virtue of Industry ultimately leads to the achievement of the value of time.
Practicing Industry
Do stuff.
If you want to be a writer, write. Want to be a marketer, market something. Want to be a director, make a movie. We have smart phones and the Internet, our possibilities are endless. More software and tools exist now than ever before and these resources give every individual on the planet (who has Internet access) the power to do just about anything. All you have to do is pick something and do it.
If you are not sure if you would like something, do it anyways. Find out. Stop waiting for the perfect idea because chances are it will never come. Don’t waste your time, your life, and your opportunities by waiting.
"I shouldn’t have done that" is a good thing.
It sure beats “I should have done that.”
Success comes with countless failures. Embrace failures as the learning experiences that they are. We know that failure is a learning experience, yet we still fear it. Why? I have no idea, but my desire for success and happiness is far greater than my fear of failure and ridicule. Is yours?
Every time I feel fear starting to creep up on me, I remind myself that I will be better off in the end whether I fail or succeed. As long as I do something. The worst thing that can happen to us is that we learn something. The best thing that can happen to us is success.
Either way you can say “I’m glad I have done that,” which is a success in and of itself.
