Pouring Concrete: Learning What 'Hard Work' Really Looks Like

I remember as a child my dad coming home from working at a factory in the summer and then changing clothes to pour concrete. He paved sidewalks, porches, and stepping stones at people's homes for extra money.

There were a few times my dad took my brother and I to help him. It was around the time we were getting serious about the game of basketball.

One job took a few afternoons - we were out in the hot sun mixing concrete for hours! In retrospect, I think my dad purposely had us doing the worst part of the job. 😂

When that job was complete, my dad sat my brother and I down to talk about the value of hard work.

It was a lesson in empathy.

My dad was working two jobs in hot summers to provide for us. With that firsthand experience, my brother and I recognized how much he put into making ends meet.

It was a lesson in what hard work really looks like.

My dad told us that whatever we wanted to do with the game of basketball, we needed to work hard to use it to make a living.

In the shadow of being on the job with my dad, "working hard" suddenly looked different.

Working hard is relative.

I thought that I worked hard in the game of basketball until I heard Kobe Bryant's stories of his work ethic.

That lesson from my dad of what it meant to work hard was invaluable.

It suddenly became easy to work out in hot summer gyms, playing the game we love. It's all about perspective.