How to make hard-work worth your effort- breaking down what makes hard work HARD.

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Our entire lives, we have been told that working hard is the key to success, especially when it comes to gaining fame and earning money. I am here to say that this is not entirely true, there is more hard work than just that, and at the back of our heads, at some point in our lives, we’ve all known that too. Why else would the fear of our hard work going waste pop up? What else could explain our question of ‘Do I work hard enough’? We are so used to seeing people follow the hustle culture and keep working hard. They don’t look that exhausted at all! How could they keep up with the rest of their lives if that was so? I kept wondering if hard work was worth it. Finally, my answer turned out to be… It depends on how you ‘work hard’.

Let’s begin with ‘What exactly is hard work?’

According to Google, it is ‘a great deal of effort or endurance’. And right below it is the example, “it takes hard work to be successful in business”.

So, hard work is to put in the extra effort. That’s it. It’s that simple…?

If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman of Africa would be a millionaire.

-George Monbiot, The Self Attribution Fallacy.

And now, “The one factor that determines if hard work is worth it.” and “What makes hard work so… hard?”

As the quote above suggested, if hard work made people rich, then the people who are working hardest, that is slaves, farmers, women, would all be the richest in the world (but to be fair, they do strenuous work, so technically, they cannot be rich).

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No, hustle culture and hard work alone doesn’t cut it. Hard work would be nothing if for one factor. Consistency. Consistency and hard work are different. Consistency is putting in a constant effort, whereas hard work is to put extra effort. Think about it, if I were to consistently study hard for 2 hours for 2 months before an exam, I could easily beat a person who studied harder for 2 days straight. This is the magic of consistency.

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So, it depends on how you work hard. With the example given above, I explained that consistency can beat random bursts of effort, just like how a rope can break a rock if it is rubbed against it long enough. Consistency is going on and on and on… whereas hard work is those random bursts of energy. I think at this point, you could be the judge as to which type of hard work is worth it.

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What makes consistent hard work so hard is the fact that it needs to be done time and time again. Consistently. With the same amount of energy, concentration, and interest with each effort, if not more. We find it hard to keep doing something repeatedly, especially if we are to get tired or bored doing it every day.

But that’s not all. Something about the right place…?

There is also another thing, hard work doesn’t always give us success. There are specific places we must focus on working hard on. Work hard where it counts.

Let’s take an example, let’s say you’re a student who does great in every subject except for maths (we’ve all been there), to work hard in the right place, in this case, is to focus on all on subjects but put more effort into maths. This is because by just focusing on your strengths, your weaknesses don’t just disappear. They’ll still be there and if anything, they’ll be more prominent and even worse.

Part of hard work is also knowing never to dismiss your weaknesses and to be ready to work your butt off, wanting to be better. It’s about your willingness to taking risks as well because the base of hard work is determination, and that means you will do anything you can to achieve your goal, so you must have the willingness to make a constant effort, take risks and be patient.

Hard work and enterprise in business.

As for business, working hard doesn’t make you money. Persuading people to give it to you does. Having the ability to sell does. That’s what business is all about, the ability to market yourself. To blend, but not to blend in (Yeah, that’s James Charles).

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Criticism is another major thing, if you’re going to succeed, then you’re going to have obstacles coming your way. It could be financial loss, the quality of your products or services decreasing, etc, etc. There could be many times that you’ve been harshly shut down. People are going to have complaints, they’re not going to like you, your ideas or your products, and they’ll be more than happy pointing all the flaws in just about everything. This is called criticism. Sometimes it’s going to be useful and constructive, and at other times it’s not. Knowing how to take criticism and improve is key to success (especially in business). Don’t give your customers or audience/users a chance to complain about the same thing again. Take criticism. Make magic.

But there is something even harder than hard work.

You read that right, and let me give it to you straight. Patience. Hard and consistent work gives you results, takes you places, and whatnot, but it takes time to get there.

Many times, people work their butts off but quit because they force themselves into it and see they’re not getting instant results and start thinking “Wow! What.A.Waste”. Let me tell you, if you do that, you’ll make a grave mistake. By quitting, not only are you putting that effort to shame, but you are also giving up on your chances of being successful by working hard. Patience is truly a virtue, and if not for the time it takes to build up momentum, your hard work will have absolutely no value.

Imagine you have been working hard on something for years on end, and suddenly someone else shows up and tops you just working on it for a few days. That would be insulting, and the value of your hard work would be worthless. So, knowing that time is on your side and will add value to your hard work makes being patient a whole lot easier.

When it comes to business too, it takes time to build up momentum and for your product(s) or service(s) to be recognized. It also takes time to plan, so plan well and execute it in the best way possible so that all goes well.

Business is all about selling, so do it. Work hard and consistently, market yourself well, take criticism and fly with it, take your time…and plan well.

Well… that’s it for now, I hope everyone’s doing well during these very trying times. Here are a few more articles of mine, in case you are interested.

How feminism can help everyone-including trans people.

Lessons that Coronavirus teaches us (and what we should be thankful for).

Till then,

Ishana 🌺