Industriousness requires that you are up and moving, doing something both constructive and productive. Work-- both hard and steady-- is what creates an industrious spirit. It is what is required of any accomplishment that can be measured.
When I think of the work that my maternal grandparents did, this is the word that comes to mind. They both taught me about hard work and sticking to it despite the difficulties that may come. Day after day it is required. Get up and do it again. Find joy in the contribution being made. Effort can be made without being industrious, but you can never be industrious without effort, work, and plenty of it. Don't waste your time on work that will benefit no one. Always look for how what you do will contribute to the world around you.
Very early in my life I discovered that the feeling of satisfaction that comes after a project is completed is unequaled by any other than love itself. The bigger the project, the better the feeling. I am not talking about pride either. It is satisfaction. It is done and I, or we, did it. I can move on to other things more pleasurable without feeling guilty that I did not do what I needed to do.
Getting through school, working various jobs, caring for my family, and all of the thousands of projects in between required that I did more than maintain what already existed, but to build on and grow with what God has blessed me with. As I get older things seem to get easier, and I am working to keep industriousness, and not reactive necessity, in my life.
