How can you get a good summer job? How can you keep that job all summer and then be welcomed back to work the next summer? Here’s how you can develop a good work ethic and get on the fast track to a life of success!

By J. Tim Thompson

“Summer Help Wanted,” said the sign in the shop window. Sixteen-year-old Tom got off his bike and looked curiously through the window into the store packed with busy shoppers. He wanted a pair of expensive Nike high tops which his parents couldn’t afford, and he wondered if a summer job would give him the necessary money.

I wonder how much they pay? Tom thought. Then he remembered that he didn’t have any work experience and didn’t even know how to ask for a job. Nah, I don’t want a job, he said to himself. I won’t be able to shoot hoops with the guys if I have to work all summer. Mom and Dad will just have to work overtime to buy me some Nikes.

Tom’s dilemma is a common one for teenagers. He wants “things” but he doesn’t have any money, and it seems like there’s no way to get it short of doing something illegal—like some kids who steal and pawn things or sell drugs. Working all summer and missing the fun of hanging out isn’t a good alternative to him either. Why can’t someone simply give him the money or the things he wants? Life just isn’t fair, Tom thought.

What’s a fella to do?

Our friend Tom needs to face the realities of life. No one is going to hand him the things he wants on a silver platter. He’ll have to do what 99 percent of people do, and that is W-O-R-K! But Tom doesn’t know how to work or how to please an employer. If Tom had gotten the summer job at the shop, it is likely that it would have ended miserably with him being fired by the frustrated shop owner.

Unfortunately, Tom’s parents never taught him a good work ethic. And besides, he didn’t want to learn that kind of thing anyway. But that’s where the answer lies to Tom’s dilemma. He needs someone to help him answer some basic questions in life: What is a work ethic? Why is a good work ethic important? How can someone develop a good work ethic?

Once the answers to those questions are understood, then getting and keeping a summer job becomes easy for anyone.

The Work Ethic—Drive!

A good definition of the work ethic is, “The ability to get things done properly.” A more precise definition might be, “A high standard of conduct and attitude exemplified by hard work, sound judgment, honesty, loyalty and self-discipline.”

Herbert W. Armstrong wrote on pages 28-29 of his booklet The Seven Laws of Success, under the subtitle “The All-important Fourth Law,” how “A person may have chosen his goal [law #1]. Having it may have aroused tremendous ambition to achieve it. He may have started out educating and training himself for its accomplishment [law #2], and he may even have good health [law #3] and still make little or no progress toward [the goal's] realization.

“After all,” Mr. Armstrong continued, “success is accomplishment. It is doing. They say any old dead fish can float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim up. An inactive person will not accomplish anything. Accomplishment is doing.

“Now comes an all-important law. The fourth success-law, then, is drive!

“Half-hearted effort might carry one a little way toward his goal, but it will never get him far enough to reach it.

“You will always find that the executive head of any growing, successful organization employs drive! He puts a constant prod on himself. He not only drives himself, he drives those under him, else they might lag, let down and stagnate.

“He may feel drowsy, and hate to awaken and get up in the morning. But he refuses to give in to this impulse. … Without energy, drive, constant propulsion, a person need never expect to become truly successful.”

It is clear that Mr. Armstrong deeply understood the work ethic. You could say that a good work ethic is the glue that holds together the seven laws of success. Law number four is the one that comes closest to describing the work ethic because it embodies the heart and core of the work ethic itself, and that is pushing oneself to work and accomplish!

Having a good work ethic makes all of the laws of success possible, because all of those laws require work! It is through hard work that we choose the right goal. It is through hard work that we educate or train ourselves. Hard work helps us maintain good health, especially through vigorous exercise. Hard work develops in us the drive to accomplish. It is through hard work that we build resourcefulness by working to find solutions. Hard work teaches us perseverance—stick-to-it-iveness—which takes great mental and physical energy. Finally, through hard work we obtain contact with and guidance from God through intense prayer and Bible study. All those laws take work!

When and if Tom learns a good work ethic, he will be well on his way to success. Getting and keeping a good job every summer will be easier each year because he will be building on the successes of past years. His former employers will welcome him back, or he can expect them to be good references of his ability to produce and please an employer when he seeks more challenging work at other companies.

What the Bible Says

What does God say about the work ethic?

In 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12, 14, the Apostle Paul admonished Christians, “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread …. And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed.”

The book of Proverbs beautifully illustrates the work ethic in Proverbs 6:6-8: “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest” (New King James Version).

Work Ethic Training

Learn to enjoy your work! It should become even more enjoyable as you mature and your work becomes more challenging and more fulfilling.

Someone with a good work ethic understands the importance and the dignity of work. He takes care about his craftsmanship and in accomplishing tasks.

Ecclesiastes 2:24 says that we should “enjoy good” in our labor because it is “from the hand of God.” We should all take a positive approach to our work, no matter how insignificant it seems. Most adults spend more time working than doing anything else. That means, if we are miserable at work, then our lives will be miserable! Work should be considered a blessing from God!

One of the blessings of work is that it allows us to live a more comfortable life. As Cato the Elder very wisely put it in the second century B.C., “Cessation of work is not accompanied by cessation of expenses.” In other words, whether you work or not, you’ll still be responsible for paying the bills.

The Summer Job

Our friend Tom wants some new basketball shoes. He can probably have them, as well as other things he wants, if he is willing to work for them. But how can he get a summer job if he has no work experience?

To get a summer job, Tom should take a shower, put on some appropriate and clean, ironed clothes and go talk to the person doing the hiring. He should tell the prospective employer confidently, but not boastfully, that he wants to learn to be the best employee they have if they will give him the chance to prove himself—and he needs to mean it.

Once given the chance, Tom must be punctual, diligent, honest, loyal and dependable, using his time wisely and evidencing godly character. He must learn to accomplish and to enjoy that accomplishment! That is one of the keys to having a successful life. In so doing, Tom’s school work and summer work will produce feelings in him of dignity and self-respect, as well as eventually providing financial independence.

If Tom wasn’t taught when he was young how to work, then he will have to learn the work ethic from other sources, such as True Education and the Bible. Ecclesiastes 9:10 points the way for Tom by stating, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” If Tom will do that, then he will get that summer job and keep it! Then he will learn some wonderful lessons in life: that we should be glad to work! And be thankful for our work! And thank God for our work!