The Reliable Man Trap
"You got a second?" That phrase should come with a surgeon general's warning. An excerpt from Chapter One of Don't Let This Job Break You.
The Hard Hat Blog
Lessons from the job
Leadership, burnout, and honest work — written from the shop floor, not the conference room. No slogans, no hustle, no corporate language.
All articles
Responsibility Without Authority Is Just Blame With Extra Steps
You're accountable for the outcome and powerless over the inputs. That's not a leadership challenge. That's a structural defect, and it has a name.
Endurance Is Not a Virtue
Somewhere along the line we started handing out medals for absorbing punishment. Here's how to tell the difference between endurance that's building something and endurance that's just draining you.
Show Up. Do Honest Work. Take Care of People.
Three principles, learned by violating every one of them on the way up. No seven habits — nobody remembers number four anyway.
What They Learned Watching You
Your kids didn't hear your lecture about hard work. They watched what you actually did with a Friday night — and drew conclusions you never intended to teach.
Loyalty Is Not a Strategy
Loyalty is a fine thing between people. It is a terrible plan for a career — because the company cannot be loyal back, and it was never built to try.
Nothing matches that yet
Try a different word, or clear the filters to see everything.
Prefer a reader? Subscribe to the RSS feed.
Free Download
Get the Field Guide. Free.
The Don’t Let This Job Break You Field Guide: 7 Rules for Protecting Your Purpose, Energy, and Identity When Work Gets Heavy. Plus new articles and word on the book when it lands. No hype, no spam, unsubscribe in one click.
- Spot the trade before you’ve already made it
- Say no without torching the relationship
- Tell real duty from borrowed guilt
- Keep the job from becoming the whole of who you are