A Straightforward Option
On hard work and making it count
We are taught early that just as anything worth doing is worth doing well, so too anything worth doing requires hard work. There are no shortcuts. The central objective is making hard work fun (or as fun as it can be) while at the same time fueling the passion required to make hard work pay off. This is one of the biggest challenges of raising a family, leading a team, and/or accomplishing any individual goal.
There is artistry in managing this challenge, in knowing when to push and when to let up, in setting fair expectations, in making clear when nothing less than the best will do and when satisfactory is all that’s required. It’s a timeless artistry and no two people manage it exactly the same. Because of this, there are no secret formulas or surefire means of achieving a return on anyone’s hard work and few universal agreements on what it entails.
For the purpose of this quick note, I’ll define hard work as the persistent application of effort in pursuit of a goal. My assumption is that such a goal should not be ordinary, though at the same time reserve judgement on its relative difficulty. What’s challenging to you may be run-of-the-mill to someone else, and vice-versa. What’s important is that the goal is personally significant.
The following are observations on the topic of hard work. They are not designed to be all-encompassing and taken together are neither a recitation nor a recipe. They are simply a few of the learnings tacked to my mental bulletin board and passed on by some of the people I respect most. They are, as they will remain, subject to revision. Perhaps a few will nonetheless prove resonant. Here goes:
It’s very difficult to turn someone not familiar with hard work into a hard worker. In other words, you’ve gotta live it - and impart the wisdom - early.
There are valuable differences between working hard and working smart. The latter improves with experience, the best of which involves (you guessed it) hard work.
Competition is the prime motivator of hard work, and the most crucial ingredient of progress. Set a high bar. Few will argue it beats the alternative. If (when) you encounter someone who claims they’re not competitive, check first for a pulse, then ask if they care about anything…at all.
There are no guarantees hard work will pay off. I can tell you with certainty there will be many instances in which it will not. The only guarantee is that nothing great can be accomplished without it.
You should expect your hard work to pay off, otherwise why are you doing it? This isn’t entitlement, it’s earning what you set out to achieve. At the same time, always remember #4.
There will be setbacks. And no choice but to press forward. As the poet Frank L. Stanton eloquently expressed, “’Taint no use to sit an’ whine / When the fish ain’t on your line / Bait your hook an’ keep a-tryin’ / Keep a ‘goin!”
The carrot is always a better motivator than the stick. If it’s the stick you’re running from, you’re expending too much energy and dramatically decreasing your potential return. Conversely, if it’s the carrot you’re running toward, the work is part of the reward. Net: make sure you’re getting enough Vitamin A.
There’s an inverse relationship between the degree to which people talk about how hard they work and how fulfilling they find it. As though hours are a source of validation. Do the work and let the results speak for themselves.
If your work can be delivered efficiently while still providing an advantage over the competition, excellent. If you enjoy the process, even better. Maybe you have talent. This blessing doesn’t change the fact that hard work is required. Because chances are there’s someone with more talent than you and if you want to be great, there are still no shortcuts. In fact, in these situations, you’ll work hardest of all and the world will be counting on you to blaze a trail. Good luck.
You’ve heard the adage: all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Steer clear of people who work all the time and only talk about work. They tend to suffer from a lack of quality material and frequently work neither hard nor smart; they just work. Not exactly the life of the cocktail party.
Work-life balance isn’t getting easier and as we’re aware, there are two sides of the constant connectivity coin. Meaning lines must be drawn and self-discipline enforced. Some days (in fact some weeks and months) the seesaw will tilt almost exclusively to the side of hard work. It’s unavoidable. As long as there’s an offset, it’ll be OK.
Being force-fit with others who don’t share your work ethic can create a massive cultural gap. It can also open doors to leadership opportunities. Because deep down, people want to work hard and feel a sense of achievement. Guide them there. But if one or two don’t want to drink, don’t invest more time than is required. There will always be worlds to conquer and not everyone is cut out to conquer them.
Opportunities to work hard (and smart) are a privilege. They attract the best and brightest and most ambitious. They also tend to be the most fun. Gravitate to them at full speed.
Often we’re led to believe things “simply happen;” that the stars align and what’s being achieved wasn’t terribly difficult after all. Nothing could be further from the truth. At last count, 100% of all great achievements involved hard work that was dirty, messy, exhausting, and fraught with failure. Embrace it.
Have fun. Please. The more the better. You’ll remember your hard work; you’ll remember the good times that accompanied your hard work even more.
As the inventor Thomas Edison once noted, “The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work.” It’s a good metaphor, if not necessarily a 21-st century look. Either way, if it works for you, it works. And that’s what’s most important.