by Michael Snyder
January 18, 2026 - One of the keys to being successful in life is a strong work ethic. No matter where you find yourself, if you are willing to work hard you are more likely to get ahead.
Tom Brady, Michael Jordan and Jerry Rice were all born with physical gifts, but so were countless others. The primary reason why Tom Brady, Michael Jordan and Jerry Rice are now considered to be some of the greatest athletes of all-time is because they simply worked harder than everyone else. When Tom Brady came out of college, he didn’t have a gun for an arm and he was very slow. He was not a highly regarded prospect, and so he was drafted in the sixth round of the NFL draft. But once he got into the league, he worked like mad, and eventually he won seven Super Bowls. If he had not been willing to work extremely hard, he could have easily faded into obscurity without ever accomplishing much of anything.
Have you noticed that a lot of young people today don’t want to work hard? There are a lot of employers that specifically avoid hiring those that are fresh out of college because they have a reputation for being lazy.
Of course, the reason why they are not inclined to work hard is because they have never been trained to work hard.
If children do not learn self-discipline when they are young, they are not likely to learn it as adults. That is why it is vital to create a structure that makes self-discipline a part of their normal routine.
Recently, a man named Carl Randolph, Jr. shared a chores list that he was expected to complete as an 8-year-old boy in the early 1990s.
Carl Randolph, Sr. was a single father, so having a very strict routine was very important to him. By having all the household tasks on a regular schedule, it ensured that everything ultimately got done.
What percentage of parents have a list of chores today? Needless to say, that number would be really, really small.
Where did Carl Randolph, Sr. get his work ethic? He served in the U.S. Navy. In those days, virtually anyone that served in the U.S. military was going to develop a very strong sense of self-discipline.
Of course much has changed since that time. We have gotten soft as a society, and our system of education is completely failing our young people. The level of education that our young people are receiving in our public schools is a joke.
Furthermore, many of our young people have no moral foundation whatsoever.
Earlier this month, an 11-year-old boy in Pennsylvania shot his own father to death. It appears that he shot his own father to death because his Nintendo Switch had been taken away.
We have raised an entire generation of ultra-coddled young people who are completely addicted to entertainment and have never learned to fend for themselves. As a result, one out of every five 30-year-old men in the United States still lives with his parents.
We wouldn’t be in this mess if we had taught our young people the value of hard work.
When I was born, it was very common for a 25-year-old man to already be married and own a home. Today, it is extremely rare to find a 25-year-old man that is both married and a homeowner.
There was a time when Americans were known for their work ethic. Sadly, those of us that have been around long enough to have experienced that are getting older with each passing day, and the American work ethic no longer exists.
