#你还相信勤劳能致富吗? #
In today's society, we are often instilled with the belief that "hard work will pay off". However, the reality is often more complex than that. Here's a new take on this phenomenon:
In this competitive era, mere hard work doesn't always equate to success. As others move forward at a faster pace, steady and slow wealth accumulation may struggle to meet our expectations for a better quality of life.
In the 90s, "hard work to get rich" was a widely accepted concept. At that time, people's expectations of "affluence" were relatively simple, and it was enough to meet the basic needs of life. But over time, this notion is no longer applicable to describing the pursuit of wealth in modern society.
Take a true story of an elder who planned to buy a property but chose to wait because he was unwilling to bear the interest on the loan. As a result, house prices have risen far more than he could have saved up after a year of hard overtime.
For those with higher aspirations, hard work may no longer be the only way to achieve the goal of affluence. But for grassroots employees with lower income targets, their expectations can still be achieved through hard work.
In small cities, many workers and self-employed people fall into a "monthly wage trap" that appears to be stable at the expense of rest time. For example, a couple who run a braised vegetable business may have a decent annual income, but when converted into hourly wages, their income is not as attractive as it seems.
Among wage earners in smaller cities, overtime pay accounts for a large portion of the month, although monthly earnings may be good. Their high incomes are often earned through intensive labor.
The so-called "monthly salary trap" is not entirely accurate. It's not that many workers are unaware of the difference between hourly and monthly wages, but they don't see much value in their leisure time.
The philosophy of life of grassroots employees is that as long as they work hard and get paid accordingly, they will feel satisfied even if they do not have a leisure life. Their definition of happiness is closely related to income level and social class.
Happiness is a subjective perception. For residents of small cities, as long as they have a stable life, a harmonious family, and a surplus every year, they are satisfied. Their philosophy of life is that they don't have to compare themselves to others, and as long as they meet their basic needs, they don't need to be too anxious.
Through these stories and analyses, we can see that the relationship between hard work and wealth is not static. Our definition of the value of hard work and happiness is constantly evolving under different social circumstances and individual expectations.