Comments on: Manvotional: The Gains of Drudgery

By: jon

jon — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:34:31 +0000

@jer- read the first paragraph. by drudgery we mean…
“But over and above all these things that pertain to ourselves and our own interests there lies an obligation upon us to the relation of the human race. Through the sacrifice of patriots and martyrs over a thousand years of struggle, there has been built up, inch by inch, the great edifice of liberty in which we inherit today. We are the inheritors of an immeasurable past, the residuary legacies of all the ages. Hands that are long since dust once toiled for us, so now we must toil for the future. And we do this with the certain conviction that no work done well is worthless, that a humble life lived with diligence and patience is truly noble.” WJD

By: London

London — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:36:41 +0000

Great article, thanks for the post.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:58:15 +0000

I try to instill this in my fifth grade students by teaching them to analyze “hard” tasks and assignments and renaming them either “tedious” or “challenging”. Higher students like this because it give them permission to seek help with the “challenging” tasks (many of my students come from very demanding families, and wouldn’t dare appear lazy). Struggling students like it because they learn that a “tedious” task is one that may be a pain to do, but can ultimately be completed successfully. When you spend most of your young life toiling away and still getting Fs, a little bit of drudgery or tedium can be pretty encouraging.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:02:36 +0000

Absolutely brilliant writing! More poetry than anything else….This is how you inspire people.

By: James

James — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:46:29 +0000

Very motivational and very true.

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 00:01:53 +0000

Having recently graduated from college I’ve been looking for a job recently, which, in itself, is a full time job which feels mostly like drudgery. You put so much work in, only to get a measly postcard back saying “sorry, we’re not interested.” Especially when, unlike many of my peers, I’d be perfectly happy with a minimum wage office rat job just to be pulling in a paycheck, this can be rather disheartening, so reading this was very much appreciated.

@Brett: Thanks for the update on the book. I already preordered and would be anxiously awaiting the arrival of my copy even if it was all reprints of stuff from the site, but hearing that 3/4 of it is new material just makes me all the more anxious to get my grubby paws on it. :) Thank you so much for all you and Kate do!

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:16:50 +0000

This is a great article. It underlines why we, as parents, need to let our children fail. It is a difficult thing for me to do, when I can step in and do his tasks for him, or give him his prize even though he failed in the necessary steps to earn it. The child will learn more from the trying and failing than from the father’s gracious and well-intentioned intervention.

By: Brett McKay

Brett McKay — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 04:57:40 +0000

@Alexander-

This selection is not in the Manvotionals book. The selections in the book are each tied to a specific virtue, and while it could have gone in the “Industry” chapter, it really covers all of the virtues and applies to life in a variety of ways, so we thought it better just to put it up on the blog.

But there’s a ton of super excellent stuff in the book too. 75% of the book’s selections have not be published on the blog, as we wanted to give regular readers of the site some fresh inspiration.

By: caleb

caleb — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 04:35:06 +0000

Great thoughts. Just what I needed to hear.

I’ve been the guy who works insanely hard for his goals in the past. I made Eagle Scout at 14. I completed a BA and 60 credit MA in 6 years straight out of college.

The last few years have not gone as well. My wife and I took a huge risk toward something great and it failed miserably. That was actually a bit over 2 years ago now. It has been a long time recovering. Though there has been a lot of other things going on in that time (lived in 4 places in one year; bought a house and had a baby w/in 6 months of each other), the dreams and goals have been on hold.

I’ve been to lazy/tired to push things as I normally would. But there is always a time to start! Time to drudge on!

By: Mantuitive

Mantuitive — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 19:54:40 +0000

A worthy and well articulated reminder that nothing great is accomplished except step by step. Sometimes those steps grate on you, or at least have the potential to but I hope at least for my sake I keep pushing through the drudgery until I get to where I want to be.