Doing Hard Work vs. Working Hard
The distinction that makes all the difference
Ask any successful person how they got where they are, and they’re likely to have one answer in common: “hard work”. This has led us to believe that we need to put in strenuous effort — give it 110% — in order to rise to higher levels of performance.
But we don’t actually have to put in a ton of strenuous effort. We don’t have to break our backs to extract the blood, sweat, and tears — just to do great things. We do, however, have to do the kinds of things that others aren’t doing and probably won’t do.
To put it another way, you don’t have to work hard to be successful, but you do have to do hard work. And there is a difference between those two things. Understanding that difference is more than half the battle. The rest is just about being choosy.
What’s the Difference?
Working hard means pushing, hustling, going all-out, exhausting yourself (and likely others) in pursuit of completing something. It can make you feel good at times, but it also leads to damaging stress. It leads to burn-out. In a company, it can lead to a decrease in morale.
Doing hard work means attempting things that are difficult, complex, require a lot of planning, practice, time, attention, and…
