Hard Work — Does It Really Live Up To Its Hype?

There is a significant difference between working hard and working smart. As well as talent vs. skill. The only way you will know is by reading further into the article. In this chapter, we will dissect the myth of hard work into 4 critical components.

Hard work pays off yet like most things; it has its drawbacks. Working hard is just one trait out of possibly 100’s if not 1000’s that is needed for success. There is no finer example than 3rd world countries. If everyone got equal paid, wouldn’t all 3rd world countries be the wealthiest nations?

Hard Work Pays Off!

Yes, it does. Ask Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, to name a few. Yes, that was such a lazy example, but an example is an example nonetheless. No matter how much talent, skills, luck, or whatever traits one may possess; without execution, would it not be the same as if one were never to possess such traits, to begin with?

As far as I can tell Jeff Bezos possesses no talent . What is talent? The dictionary defines talent as, “people having natural aptitude or skill.” Jeff Bezos has skills, yet no talent. But as you can see, Jeff developed his skills over 100,000’s of hours. I believe one can say in this case hard work pays off.

Elon Musk and Bill Gates seem to be in the same class as Bezos. They both learned how to code and program, worked long enduring hours, and now they are in the top of their respective fields. Another fine example of when hard work pays off.

Let’s hear it from the successful and influential themselves since someone like me may not be qualified to take such a stand.

” I just think people have a lot of fiction. But, you know, I mean, the real story of Facebook is just that we’ve worked so hard for all this time. I mean, the real story is actually probably pretty boring, right? I mean, we just sat at our computers for six years and coded. “ — Mark Zuckerberg

“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.” — Colin Powell

“The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense.” — Thomas A. Edison

“It seems the harder I work, the more luck I have.” — Thomas Jefferson

As you can see, based on these quotes hard work does pay off, but as with all things, there is usually a negative side to the story. Let us see what others have to say about hard work.

Smaggle.com suggest 3 reasons why it may take more than that extra hard work:

• Overnight success is not possible. Many want success, today. The reality is success may come overnight or over 50 years. Humans are naturally impatient, wouldn’t you say? Especially when living in one of the greatest countries on this Planet. Everyone wants something, but just a few are willing to work for it, for a very long time.
• You stop before you even reach the finish point. Sure, one may put in 10,000 hours to get something done, but what if that something takes 10,000 + 1 hour. If only you had push just a little bit more, success would have been in your hands. So many of us don’t realize that success is very possible, you just have to keep going!
• You work only because you have to or want to be like others. Such mentally will surely kill your success. You work because you love it, it gives you meaning and something to live on. Don’t work because you have to, work because you want to!

Thomhartmann.com has some eye-opening reasons on why hard work will never pay off as long as an external force is blocking the way:

• The super-rich and elites make it harder for everyday people like us to get ahead. By purposely raising taxes, gas, food, and everything; it only means one has to work harder and harder to meet ends needs.
• Propaganda, fraud, inside corruption, and government laundering doesn’t help the middle or lower class if anything it makes getting by even harder. As long as evil exists, then good innocent people have to pay the price. It has always been this way. Going against the system can sometimes cost us, our very lives. Fortunately living in America is not bad when you compare it to Africa, The Middle East, and North Korea.
• They (the super-rich, elites, government, secret groups) profit off the hard working class. For the few to live in complete luxury, the majority have to suffer. There’s actually enough money and resources to go around for everyone, but not proportionally. Let’s assume only 1 billion dollar hypothetically exist, which must be shared among 10,000 people. How much do you think the top 1% get? Try 84%. Maybe it has to do with how they manage their time and money, and maybe it has to do with something else that everyday ordinary citizens like you and me can not control no matter how hard we try.

Is man naturally evil or good? I want to believe good but the story here is, one can choose his own destiny or let the stories of others influence them. When you give in to excuses, point the finger at others, hide behind someone or something, then do you see why you get nowhere?

Most of the top 1% didn’t just pour a cup of coffee and call it a day. There is always more to the story, and I’m pretty sure they put in a lot of hard work to be in the position that they sit on.

The reason I posted this particular image is none other than the fact that hard work may not pay off as much as you think. You see, I served in the USN (US Navy). Boy, let me tell you, if you think your 8–5 is a nightmare, then you wouldn’t last half a nano sec in the Navy. 8–5 doesn’t exist, especially for new recruits or enlisted personnel. You work when they say which was pretty much all the time. The paid was good for a young adult but to support a family, yes if your family meant me, myself, and I.

You don’t serve in the military for the money, you do it for the passion, to give back to those who defended this great nation. Hard work can pay off in many ways, not just for the sake of money or wealth.

Steve Job, Elon Musk, and probably so many others before them said these words, it goes along these lines,

” As long as you work hard and long enough, eventually you will get to where you want to be. “

It makes perfect sense. Think about it. Unless death or some major accident arises, then as long as one tries and doesn’t give up then how can one possibly fail? It sounds much easier said than done, that’s for sure.

Even if government corruption, elites controlling 84% of the wealth, and so on is 100% true; it shouldn’t steer you off course, in fact, these things should make you hunger for success more than ever. Because the greater the challenge, the greater the reward!

Working Smart Or Hard?

The elites and government sure do work smart, at least we can give them credit for that. Working smart and working hard is probably the deadliest combination for success.

Leverage income is the absolute best and smartest way to earn an income, well at least I believe so. Rob Moore shares his tips on how to leverage money:

• A business (physical or eCommerce)
• Property
• IP (ideas/patents/licenses/information/music)
• Investments (stocks, bonds, paper, etc.)
• Money lending
• Physical (precious metals, art, watches, wine, classic cars)
• Partnerships (franchise, joint ventures, etc.)

You either make money work for you or you work for your money.

I’m no financial advisor but I’ve done 5 out of the 7 on that list, and I can tell for a fact that there are no guarantees of returns. In fact, Eric Wagner, a writer for Forbes.com wrote in an article published in September 2013 states that 8/10 new business failed within the first 18 months. My new business, back in 2016 failed within 3 months. (I lost 50% of my saving, ouch!)

Another way to work smart is passive income. (From wikipedia: Passive income is income resulting from cash flow received on a regular basis, requiring minimal to no effort by the recipient to maintain it. )

I currently sell on Amazon. In a nutshell, it’s basically when you get your products made, slap your brand/label on the product, ship it to Amazon, they do everything but take 66% revenue (not profit), and you take about 20%-35% profit. 99% of the work is done up front.

With passive income, there is quite a lot of work to be done, mostly in the beginning though. Selling a book, courses, receiving royalties from music, etc. are considered passive income. The college investor has 30 ways you can receive passive income. Before you try any of them out, just remember nothing in life is free. You have to put in work so don’t believe everything you see or hear, especially online about make easy or quick money.

Investing is another smart way to work. Yet, the risk is off the roof but so is the reward. The greater the risk, the greater the reward, and the greater the downfall as I always like to say. Talk about Bitcoin and altcoins. If you had invested before November 2017 and cashed out the end of December 2017 or January 2018 for altcoins, then you could have easily become a millionaire. For the majority that invested after November, well you know where all your money went. (to those who invested before November 2017)

The same goes or stocks, bonds, and penny stocks. You can make a nice income if you are working smart. Gambling is when you bet on something even if you don’t know the odds but stocks and trading is when you actually do have some knowledge or clues about the odds. No sweat require here, only brains and a good fortune teller.

So as you can see working hard and working smart both have their advantages and disadvantages. If working smart meant one was guaranteed to earn an income, then wouldn’t everyone be doing it? No, that’s why it’s called working smart. The reason why many startups and business fail is that new business owners think they have the skills or knowledge to run a new business when in fact they don’t know $#!t! (I’m a prime example). Millforbusiness.com list the top 10 reasons why new business fail epically:

• Low Sales
• Lack of Experience
• Insufficient Capital
• Poor Location
• Poor Inventory Management
• Over-Investment in Fixed Assets
• Poor Credit Arrangement Management
• Personal Use of Business Funds
• Unexpected Growth
• Competition

Can you guess which one I fell into? All of them! If it’s too good to be true, it usually is, 100% of the time.

Talent Is Given Not Earned

Luck does have to do with success. Ask any $1 million + lotto winners or gamblers. To be honest, I rely on luck 0% of the time all the time. If it happens, it happens but luck never ever runs across my mind. It used to, and nothing lucky happened. People want and expect luck to give them a hand when luck is just a coincidence. Luck and accident is the same thing, but luck is something we all want while an accident is something no one wants.

Luck has a lot to do with talent, probably everything because one is born with such gifts. Now they just need to use it to their advantage. Don’t tell me you have not heard of a 6-year-old solving Albert Einstein math calculations or a child that’s able to play the piano just as good as Mozart himself.

What takes a lifetime or many years for one to accomplish is all given to another in a matter of an instant. (for the most part).

But you know, you can’t take that as something negative. They didn’t ask to be gifted with such talents. Nor did half the world’s population who lives in poverty. Those with talent were just lucky.

Whether they do nothing with such a gift or become someone successful is entirely up to them. We have to make our own destiny with the choices that we were given. It’s ok to be envious, just don’t let it control or bring you down.

You see Mozart; he was both talented and a hard worker. Sadly he died at the age of 35. Still, he left one of the greatest gifts ever. His masterpiece. This proves that talent alone is as worthless as not having talent at all. Talent only pays off if one applies it. That still means one has to work hard, not as hard as those who develop the skills naturally. It doesn’t matter how well one plays the piano, if the world doesn’t know you exist, then you may as well be dead.

One could say that it is possible to be talented in a field with many years of training. According to the English dictionary, talent is an automatic skill given naturally. So that saying is false, yet it has logic in a sense.

That being said, assuming you were a CEO/VP/P/Higher Up, would you rather hire someone with talent or a hard worker of the same skill level? Probably the hard worker because he/she has experience. The experience of pain, endurance, sacrifice, sweat, blood, etc. Talent isn’t everything my friend, it sure helps a lot and can give one a huge boost. But hard work beats talent any day because hard work has 1 thing that talent doesn’t have, EXPERIENCE.

• One must forge his/her own skill.
• Put in the 10,000 hours or more that is needed.
• Let nothing stand or break their will.
• Keeps going no matter how hard it gets.
• And most importantly, never ever give up no matter what!

(Wo)Men that possess talent will never taste what true glory and sacrifice is. This is what makes those without talent stronger, better, smarter, and faster. We put in work, blood, tears, and we know pain!

Ever watch the Olympics? To even be pre-qualify one must already demonstrate the top abilities in their field. If one wins gold, then they are really the best. None of them had talent; they put in the work. There are thousands of websites and blogs proving that hard work beats talent any day. All you need to do is google “does hard work beat talent” and the majority of the results will prove likewise.

Talent can only go so far because at the end of the day it’s not the sword that makes the man who he is but the man must make himself who he is.

Skill Can Only Be Developed

Skill. Skill is the greatest acquired trait that one can develop. Skill is not given but rather earned, unlike talent. Hard work is a skill believe it or not. However, this particular skill (hard work) diminishes over time for the vast majority.

It doesn’t matter how many times we fall, what only matters is how many times we fall and raise ourselves back up. Possibly the greatest skill one can master.

Elon Musk. His rocket launched failed 3 times. He stated in an interview that if that 4th launched failed; his company wouldn’t of had the resource and finance to endure longer. Situations like this happen especially when finance is the main reason for giving up. Luckily the 4th launch was a success, but even after 3 strikes, Elon still manages to push on and persevere. This is why I rank Elon as one of the top .0001% of humanity.

Do you want to know how to get ahead in life more than your peers? Learn from the best but not only learn but apply. Learn from those that fail or almost failed and rose again. They have a story to tell. A story that’s worth more than 100 books and all the money that this world can buy. Because skill, skill is what matters in everything.

Success is not a skill; it is a by-product that is created by being skilled.

Working hard, enduring, tolerance to pain, wisdom, strength, etc. that’s a skill. A skill can only be developed through years and years of real-life experience. Success is the final product. That’s like saying in order to succeed you have to be successful.

Alison Doyle is a writer for thebalancecareers.com tells us there are 2 sets of skills, hard and soft skills.

Examples of hard skills include:

• Proficiency in a foreign language
• A degree or certificate
• Typing speed
• Machine operation
• Computer programming

Examples of soft skills include:

• Communication
• Flexibility
• Leadership
• Motivation
• Patience
• Persuasion
• Problem Solving Abilities
• Teamwork
• Time Management
• Work Ethic

Can you differentiate between hard and soft skill on your own? Hard skill is usually developed in class or through lessons. Soft skill can be developed on the field, through experience, or self-taught from continuous learning. That is why I believe skills are the most important when it comes to hard work because skills not only demand hard work but experience and knowledge itself.