Bust-Butt Attitude

Talk to me any day, and I will proudly tell you that I love to work. I don't love doing mindless, often pointless, repetitious tasks. I can't stand trading my mortal time for a couple of dollars. But I love work.



Work is the act of creating value with actions. Most people tell themselves that they don't have time to do small tasks. They can't be bothered to help. A wonderful example of this is watching a Taekwando class set up at the local college. More than eighty percent of the people in this class are greenhorns. These people have little to no experience in a pseudo-military environment, and some adapt faster than others.



The first group of people, the doers, are in control of their lives, outcome, and surroundings. Some of them can be in the middle of a category 5 shitstorm and not feel helpless. At the very least, they do not wait. Things do not happen to them, things happen because of and around them. They turn each event to use. They work to overcome the inertia of idleness.



The second are the followers. They do not have control of their lives, and are generally somewhat lost, in a holding pattern, and unwilling to put forth effort to acheive a goal. They flounder. They do the bare minimum. The goal is simply declared "too hard" and discarded. The quick learn quicker not to expect true excellence from members of this group.



In order to set up for this class, two or three people need to go to a different portion of the building and fetch the mats. If there will be sparring or pad drills, that gear needs to be retrieved as well. But many is the time I have seen one, three, or even five people stand and wait in the empty gym, waiting for the equipment to magically appear. Then we doers arrive (or have already arrived and are bringing in equipment), and the rest of the class simply watches it all happen. No-one moves. No-one volunteers to assist in any small manner, from giving a mat a small push as we unroll it to maybe--gasp--walking with us to fetch the rest of the equipment.



Avoid these people. Surround yourself with doers, who evaluate and improve their own results. Who set up their own goals, ask for assistance, respect greater skill and knowledge, and most of all, do everything they can, in every field they can, whenever they can.



It isn't tough to have a bust-butt attitude. All you have to do is increase the value of things within your sphere through both small and large efforts. Pick up the flyer the person in front of you dropped rather than leaving it on the ground. When it's automatic, you don't even have to break stride. Don't wait for people to ask for help, offer it. Many times, you don't even have to ask. Just give your assistance in carrying out the details of the task at hand. Rather than standing around, ask where you can be useful. Even better, look for a place, identify it, and go be useful there! Why bother to ask a higher-up's permission when you can take the initiative?



Veteran wildland firefighter Peter Leschak writes of "developing a reputation as a 'good crew'" through hard work, volunteering for every assignment offered, and most of all, doing this work efficiently. On many fires, this attitude on the part of even a few crewmembers has been enough to earn a mention of their "bust-butt attitude." Among fire grunts, that takes something special! Leschak tells of working a shift with one crew recruited from the city by the Job Service. Because of the sheer amount of fire in the West that year, these people had not been through the regular process that self-selects the self-motivators and efficient workers for assignments on fires. Leschak's experience quickly revealed that these people, average joes in every sense, had no place on the fireline.



In fact, most people will act like the Job Service crew most of the time, throughout most of their lives. They will stand around while other people bust their butts on things that are "not my problem." Do this in a high-performance situation and you will be pulled out of that situation. Do this in everyday life and you will do nothing special.



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In essence, that's what I mean when I say I love to work. I love to spend my idle time identifying and then doing all of the small, asynchronous tasks around me that most people leave undone. Oftentimes this means nothing more than working on the details of making my everyday performance better. When I choose to do something, I do it with a purpose. There is no place for being half-assed in a life well-lived. Take pride in the details. In my efforts to do everything I do as well as possible, I've come up with a few basic tenets to guide a purposeful life.



-- First, do no harm.

-- Seek learning and experiences



-- It is not the mark of a professional to deal well with action. It is the attitude and behavior in lulls that distinguishes the professional from the layman.



-- On the same token, the smallest thing you do reflects on you. Nothing is "close enough" only because nobody else is watching.



--You are always on duty.



-- Be your own worst critic, be your own best motivator.



-- Keep your own counsel, but seek the advice of people more capable than you.



--No situation is a waste of time until you are not learning anything from it.



-- Share the glory with whom it is due, but when something goes awry, aways shoulder the full responsibility.



-- "Sorry" means it won't happen again.



-- When you make a mistake, work to make it right.



-- Nobody can "make" you feel or act a certain way. It is always a choice.



--Everything is possible.



-- Avoid poisonous people, poisonous attitudes, and poisonous environments. Something is wrong when you say "I can't because..." and not "How can I?"