The work you purposely choose to do should make your work life stronger and better–not just busier and stressful. Take that path. Being truly effective (and not just working hard) is the result of strategic thinking, focus, and carefully applied mental or physical muscle. 10. He writes, “When working towards a goal, everyone takes a look at their inputs and then examines their results. You have something to offer. It’s a process. While his work is undoubtedly appreciated, it won't make or break a company -- he's not curing cancer. Understand that there’s a science to it. So always spend your attention on the top 20% things which give the most returns. The time you put in has nothing to do with how hard something is. Where are all the cheers? And why you keep working at it. You don't necessarily need to have an Ivy League education or to have millions of dollars startup money. If we as individuals do not work hard to succeed, then we do not receive the same satisfaction as we would if we put in hour upon hour or even year upon year of work to achieve our goals. 100 Inspiring Quotes to Start off a Great New Year, Feeling Lost? They both matter and hard work often plays a more important role as time goes on. By no means should the hard work be overdone. You Will Be After Reading This, This Is Why Hard Work Is Not Essential to Achieving Success, Relativity Can Tell Us A Lot About Productivity, 20 Life Lessons Everyone Should Learn from Chefs, 14 Ideas on How to Measure Productivity to Make Progress, 11 Things You Can Do to Increase Employee Productivity, 7 Benefits of Bullet Journaling and Why It’s Great for Everyone, How to Become a Leader That People Respect, The Importance of Delegating Leadership (And How to Do It). There is a big desire to do more with less. A […] As we all know, we all only have 24 hours in a day. Hard work as a key to success doesn't even make our Top Three list, because if somebody has to tell you to work hard, then something about your mission or … Something is not right though. 26 Quotes to Help You Find Meaning in Life, 12 Reasons Why Rote Learning Isn’t Effective in Learning, This Infographic Will Make You Realize It’s Never Too Late To Start, Not A Communicative Person At Work? “You could spend nine to five just emailing, but that’s not driving results or moving you toward longer, bigger goals. When people say, ‘I’m so busy,’ it really means, ‘I’m a poor planner,’ or, ‘I don’t know how to prioritize or delegate,” Angie argues. Being efficient at the wrong pursuit is not the same as being effective at the right tasks. To be effective, you need to be able to separate important tasks from urgent ones and focus on getting important activities done when you are most active. “All roads that lead to success have to pass through hard work boulevard at some point.” Anonymous. Finding your purpose and working with real focus achieves an awful lot more than working hard to be noticed. Spark: How to Lead Yourself and Others to Greater Success, Thinking in Models: Master The Mental Frameworks, Models, and Thinking Patterns of Top Achievers, Helpful Advice for Chronically Late People, Elon Musk, Albert Einstein, and Richard Feynman’s Best Tips to Learn Faster, The Complete Guide to Music for Productivity, Have Your Cake and Eat it Too: How to Be Spontaneous AND Punctual. Back to that janitor: Even if he's the hardest-scrubbing and most thorough janitor on the planet, chances are there isn't a shortage of suitable substitutes a company could find to replace him. I would like to break this winning formula down into "easy to chew" bite-sized chunks. You look around and discover that you are all alone. In other words, if I want to become a millionaire, I’ll need a certain amount of effort to achieve it.”. The real world rewards those who ship and get stuff done. People have silly notions of “what it takes to succeed” – and neither hard work alone, nor “getting lucky” is sufficient to explain success. Constantly ask yourself, “Would this matter to anyone else but me?” If the answer to that question is yes, then ask yourself, “Is it worth my time or expense to add it or change it?”. It is my belief that hard work and a great idea are required ingredients for success, but that those two elements alone are not enough for a startup to become a success… In its simplest form, the productivity formula looks like this: If you have set up a system to track and measure employees’ performance, but you’re still not meeting goals, it may be time to look at your management style. That doesn’t mean hard work has no practical value. Time is finite, and there are only so many hours in the business day. Malcolm Gladwell argues in his book, Outliers that to become an expert, you need to put in roughly 10,000 hours (that’s three hours a day for ten years). For the longest time, I believed that if smart people worked hard and grew up in a reasonably nurturing environment, success would come eventually. But losers are. 8. There is more to success than working damn hard…everyday. If you want to be a hard working person, you must learn to take a passion and value in your work. Hard work is necessary to achieve a goal, but it is not a defining factor. Managing your time isn’t about squeezing as many tasks into your day as possible. Success isn’t just about how long or how hard you work – it’s about what you work at. Take Luck When You Can Get It Millions of people have become too preoccupied with “the grind,” and it’s actually burning them out. “Effort should take a backseat to the amount of creativity, relationships or learning we require. By all means, get it done, and become obsessed with your goal. Where is everybody? “Most of us have no problem with being busy, but we’re often busy on the wrong things,” says Angie Morgan, co-author of Spark: How to Lead Yourself and Others to Greater Success. via shutterstock.com, 15 Simple Tips to Help You Find Motivation to Read More, 50 New Year’s Resolution Ideas And How To Achieve Each Of Them, 67 Ideas to Simplify Your Life and Feel Better Today, How to Get Your Life Back on Track When Things Are out of Control, employee morale translates into higher productivity, 50 Ways to Increase Productivity and Achieve More in Less Time, 35 Quick and Simple Tips for Better Productivity, 40 Powerful Productivity Quotes From Highly Successful People, When It Comes To Driving, Most People Think Their Skills are Above Average, How To Be Successful In Leadership As an Introverted Leader, Best Gift Ideas For People Who Want To Boost Productivity, How to Break Bad Habits: I Broke 3 Bad Habits in 2 Months. With the former, keep them; with the latter, remove them. There are many ways to achieve success. Let go of working hard for the sake of … Do a regular review of what you have done in the past week and the corresponding results. Most people have learned to view the major input as effort. Long hours don’t equal hard work. No matter what happens … good or bad … they lack hope. If you have not read it yet, I encourage it. I saw him once literally bleed from the bottoms of his feet, a man who came here uneducated, alone… "I watched a small man with thick calluses on both hands work 15 and 16 hours a day. Winners are not afraid of losing. Then analyze the things that are working and the things that aren’t working. The rule says that 20% of the causes gives 80% of the effects. Many of us confuse being “busy” with being effective, or efficient. Many companies are moving away from the idea of working together in favor of smaller teams and independent workers. Sign up here to be notified when it launches. 9. Don’t let your hard work stand in the way of your success. Bill Gates might have been incredibly fortunate to start Microsoft at the right time in history, but without decades of hard work, the opportunity would have been wasted. Well, turns out you need more than just hard work. But if you don't try and we lose, then it's all your fault.” ― … It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. This has been especially true in my career. Consider the following factors, which demonstrate why hard work alone is not essential to success: 1. It’s a process of learning how to succeed with less stress and struggle..”. The burnout factor is a huge obstacle for success. Or even the second. Growing up Asian, we are told that hard work is always what is needed to achieve success.Like a good Chinese girl, I followed that advice and worked my butt off at McKinsey, my first job.Fortunately or unfortunately, I learned quickly that hard work is not enough, and sometimes does not even help. Submitted by: Coach Duane Bemis M.Ed. For Related: Why You Should Change Your Mindset About Success . Success Strategies Don't Believe Success Comes From Hard Work Alone Get-it-done grit is necessary but not sufficient to attaining success … A person only eyeing the prize and not the process is not likely to be successful. "The way to achieve your own success is to be willing to help somebody else get it first." It is often said hard work is the only one way to succeed. “The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work.” — Thomas A. 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