Hard Work - The cornerstone of every real success story
How do we find the energy, the motivation and enjoyment to work extremely hard?
How often have you read, or heard it said, that in order to become truly successful in life, the number one ingredient required is hard work?
In this article, we’ll explore what we mean by ‘hard work’… why very few of us will ever find success and fulfilment in the long run, without working extremely hard to get there, and where the energy comes from to do so.
As you may be aware by now 🙂, I have been working on a unique book series titled A Few Wise Words.
Central to this project has been meeting and getting to know some of the world’s most successful and high-profile individuals from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines.
Our mission has been to discover, at a fundamental level, what all of these remarkable people believe they have done to achieve so much in their lives. My aim has then been to share their knowledge, wisdom and advice with others, to help inspire anyone with big aspirations, to make the most of their own lives, too.
And one of the many characteristics that seem to define extraordinarily successful people is their intrinsic desire to work very hard at what they do.
But, while for some, this might seem like a superhuman power that’s almost impossible to emulate, the truth is that we all have the ability within us to work very hard when we need to, and want to, over the long term.
So, let’s now try to answer the following questions:
What is the magic key to enjoying hard work?
Where can we find all the energy we need to put in the hours?
How do we make hard work seem almost effortless?
What can we expect to happen once we master the art of working hard?
First, while hard work is not the only ingredient required in order to find success in our lives, it is undoubtedly one of the most essential.
This is what Ursula Burns, former chair and CEO of Xerox and one of the most successful female business leaders in US corporate history, once told me:
“...While there may be some shortcuts, there are very few worthwhile ones. You simply have to work really hard at it. There is no substitute for hard work.
Those that do work hard have a real shot at finding success, while those that don’t very rarely do...”
Ursula Burns - from her chapter in A Few Wise Words
We all know what hard work entails.
Most of us will recall times when we’ve worked a fifteen-hour-plus stint, maybe for a few days in a row, to reach a particular goal, because we were sufficiently motivated.
But, success over the long term will always demand far more than this.
Periodic bursts of effort will undoubtedly move us ahead, but it usually takes many years of continuous hard work and dedication before we can eventually cross the line.
Gary Player, the celebrated professional golfer, is often credited with saying,
“It took me at least ten years to become an overnight success!”
Popular beliefs and attitudes towards hard work
Many routinely place the idea of hard work outside of their usual comfort zones.
For some, the expression 'hard work' inherently suggests something difficult and even unpleasant, rather than simply an intense level of activity.
Many will refer to working hard in the context of long hours. Others will think in terms of work intensity. For those who do work hard, it’s usually a combination of both.
In regular employment, many choose to work from ‘nine to five’ if that’s what their employment contract depicts, and any expectation to work beyond this is considered ‘overtime’.
Others might think it reasonable to work no harder than their peers or colleagues seem prepared to work, which becomes a cultural thing.
Some will refer to those who work hard for long hours as 'workaholics'. This implies a form of addiction and, in turn, the negative impact this may have on their lives…
And, of course, there's that popular concept often discussed these days at dinner parties: work-life balance. For many, this immediately separates 'work' from 'life'. It suggests that we all need to control the amount of time we work so we can have more time to live!
But many will often view others who do work hard in a relatively positive light. They will often admire, respect and appreciate what they do.
Some would like to work harder, if they could, but feel that they simply don’t have the energy or motivation to do so.
It’s not about discipline, mindset or obsession
A common perception is that people who work hard are able to do so because they are simply ultra-disciplined about it, and they also have the right mindset that pushes them to the point of ‘obsession’ towards it.
Of course, sometimes people have to work hard because they have no choice - they need to meet their expenses or their job demands it. Or they may be self-employed, in which case they may sink if they don’t keep swimming!
For most of us, the ability to work hard in a sustained way is not something we can control simply by turning on a tap. It is something that only occurs when we have sufficient drive to do so.
And that motivation is linked almost entirely to enjoying what we are doing.
Stephen Fry, the popular and hugely successful TV and film personality and author, puts this neatly into perspective:
“… I have yet to discover anyone who has achieved fulfilment without putting in extraordinarily hard work.
This is something that most people may not want to hear, but interestingly, almost everyone I have known that has found fulfilment in life (and I include myself) was invariably shocked to discover that hard work is actually what they want to do and is an extraordinary pleasure and the most fulfilling of all things.
Noel Coward, a man who achieved an astonishing number of things in all kinds of directions in his lifetime, had a simple motto: ‘Work is more fun than fun’.
To him it was, and to me it is…”
Stephen Fry - from his chapter in A Few Wise Words
The key to working hard, and the magic behind it
Every extraordinarily successful person I have ever met has invariably worked extremely hard to achieve their success.
Most of them would also express that hard work doesn’t feel like ‘hard work’. It’s something they simply enjoy doing, and they seem to find all the energy required to do so, naturally.
But it’s not that they possess some extraordinary characteristic that enables them to generate more energy than most (Science has yet to discover the ‘work-hard gene’).
The magic behind their ability, and desire, to work extremely hard is fuelled almost exclusively by one essential thing:
Their passion for what they do.
Passion is one of the most powerful internal resources that we all possess. It is a potent force that remains dormant, deep within us, for most of the time, and is only released when the time and conditions are right.
But once we do reveal it, all manner of magical and positive things naturally unfold as a consequence, including all the energy and drive we will ever need to work extremely hard and in a sustained way.
So, what then is the key to revealing our passion in the first place?
The answer is simple: to find something, first, that we can genuinely love doing.
Because when that happens in our careers, this becomes the natural precursor to revealing our passion and releasing all of that energy.
Our Number One Goal, therefore, should always be to find something, along our career journey, that we can genuinely love doing. And we must not stop searching until we find it, no matter how long it takes!
In the meantime, we should view every stage of our career journey as stepping stones until we eventually reach that goal.
If you would like to learn more about the importance of passion, I have written a three-part article which you can start to read here:
Passion (part 1): Why revealing your passion is crucial to your future success
The indirect benefits of working hard
As soon as we find our ‘work hard mojo’, the rate at which we then progress goes into overdrive.
Needless to say, the harder we work, the more we get done, and the faster we reach all of the short-term goals we set ourselves.
The harder we work, the more we learn, too, and the faster we grow as individuals. Our passion also fuels a desire to learn more about what we do.
While another key ingredient of success is good fortune, one of the most powerful consequences for those who work hard is that they begin to make their own luck…
We all know the expression about ‘being in the right place at the right time.’ Well, it’s most often our hard work that puts us in that place to begin with.
People who are seen to work hard at what they do, who are passionate about their work, and who have a fundamentally great attitude towards it, always stand out. They begin to attract great opportunities to them, often the life-changing ones that will help them to leap ahead.
And those who have the power to present significant opportunities to us will only do so to those whom they believe are genuinely ‘open’ to receive them. They know that people who work hard are far more likely to deliver and to make the most of an opportunity given.
Working hard can become an integral part of our flow and an entirely natural, enjoyable aspect of our lives, enabling us to pursue our journey in a way that becomes both fulfilling and successful.
Everything changes once we can reveal our passion. It starts with finding something that we can genuinely love doing, and once again, that should always be our principal goal.
Finally, I will leave you with the words of Sir Ben Ainslie, the multiple gold medal-winning Olympic sailor. This is what he once expressed to me, emphatically, about working hard and passion:
“…My advice to any young person is that you absolutely have to find something you are passionate about.
If you are not passionate about it, then it’s not right for you.
In order to be successful at something, you are going to have to work very hard at making it happen – and you’re simply not going to commit the time or the energy to something for which you lack genuine enthusiasm.
One of the keys to success, therefore, is to keep looking until you find that thing...”
Sir Ben Ainslie CBE - from his chapter in A Few Wise Words
