I'm interning at a marketing company this summer. Basically, I'm doing sales. We let customers know about special promotions we've got going on and I literally save people hundreds—sometimes thousands—of dollars.
But that's not why you decided to read up: You're wondering where working over 40 hours a week comes in.
My boss explained to my company how not that long ago he, too, was a young 20-something graduate who just wanted to hang out with his friends and take fun trips to the beach or spend late nights partying. The catch? He worked instead of indulging in these desires, and his work weeks often added up to at least 60 hours. Now, he's 35 and making about $400,000 every year.
I can't really imagine what I would do with a $400,000 salary, but I can assure you that I wouldn't complain if I had one and I'm sure that most people are in the same boat. He told us that his secret was just to outwork his peers. While other 20-somethings were entertaining themselves with usually noble things like travel and hanging out with friends, my boss worked as a door-to-door salesman. Now, the tables seem to have turned: his friends are doing fine, but not much better than they were a decade ago. My boss? He's, well, a boss.
He explained all of this to us to encourage us to do the same and told us that it really wasn't that bad. He broke the week down into hours: if you sleep 8 hours a night (56 hours/week) and work 50 hours a week (a little over 8 hours a day if you work 6 days/week), you still have 62 hours per week to do whatever the heck you want.
Now, I understand that this will probably make a lot of people upset. Why would you throw your 20's away to work? Why can't you just enjoy being young? The key is patience. By working harder now, you still get to enjoy your life: probably just in a little moderation compared to your peers, but your outlook on life is also huge. Either way, the kicker is that the extra hours you put in will make you that much better, that much richer, and that much more competitive in your future endeavors.
I've got a competitive side. It might not manifest itself in sports (which I SUCK at lol), but when it comes to my future, I am willing to work hard. I'm sure that many of you are like me. I've got friends working in research labs, taking classes, and working jobs this summer, and you'd better believe that they're putting in way more hours than I probably will.
To those of you who feel like it's all just getting to be too much, hang in there: your work will be recognized. Perhaps we won't all be able to make salaries as steep as my boss's, but I can just about promise you that getting in some extra work now will yield you a better future.
Keep going, hustlers!
