“In all labor there is profit, but idle chatter leads only to poverty” (Proverbs 14:23).
Plan the work, then work the plan. Having a vision and devising a plan to do good (Prov. 14:22) are of no value if you do not mix in buckets of “sweat equity”.
Talking about what needs to be done (i.e. “idle chatter” or literally “the talk of the lips”) is profitless. If that is your standard practice you have a one-way ticket to poverty. Humanity was created with an innate need to work and for the blessings of the sense of accomplishment and self-esteem it generates.
Even if you have little to show for the hard work you do, it is still profitable because of the tenacity of character it hammers into your soul. Without the grit of stick-to-it-iveness, material and spiritual success is unattainable. Even when you “work smarter instead of harder”, you are still working.
There is no substitute for hearty work ethic.
