The Amish are Known for Their Skilled Work, but not Everyone Understands Why

The Amish are known for their skilled work, but not everyone understands why. 

First, they enjoy their work. They don’t see work as a hardship that should be avoided whenever possible. They tend to cultivate friendships and camaraderie with those they work with and enjoy both the time they spend with others in their work, and the work itself. 

Next, they believe they should do their work as if they were working directly for God. They believe that God notices their work, that He expects them to do their best, and that work is to be approached with an attitude of appreciation. 

Third, they find honor in their work. And because of this, it is important to them that they do the type of work that they are comfortable attaching their name to. 

Fourth, work is one of the most central tenets of their tradition. So it’s not just central in their individual lives, it’s central in their communities. And so this value self perpetuates in a way that it otherwise would not, because of the expectations of those surrounding them most closely. 

And finally, they don’t tend to find physical labor as inferior to non-physical labor. It’s not that they don’t work with their minds, they actually pay quite a lot of mental attention to the work they’re doing, and their innovation is a product of this. They simply tend to find dignity in whatever kind of work they are doing, and they don’t tend to build layers on this. The builder gets the same respect as the office worker. 

For these reasons and more you can see, it’s not a coincidence that the Amish are known for their skilled work, but rather an outcome of their underlying belief system. It really couldn’t be any other way!