[kenster07]

Actually, it is almost universally admired when a person pushes him or herself. One way to do that happens to be to work harder than other people. Now, it can get to the point where you become so inefficient that it's stupid. No, we don't typically admire stupidity. But let's not kid ourselves -- hard work is respectable.

As an extreme example, I'd wager that most people instinctively admire those who can make it all the way through Navy SEAL bootcamp, and one of the reasons is that participants are literally working NONSTOP during that period, at a level of physical exertion that most people nowadays could not sustain for a few hours, let alone days on end.