Work hard and anything can be done. That's a piece of advice that's been repeated so many times to us that its significance is kind of lost. The thing is, we feel like we're working hard now, but for a lot of us, it feels like we're not going anywhere.
So, is that full bunk counseling?
I'd argue that it's not. Instead, I assume what has gone wrong is our concept of hard work.
The thing about trying to pin down a hard work description is that most of us already believe we are hard workers, as I said. We've been to college. We got great marks. We have jobs. We did just what we were told to do by our fathers and high school guidance counselors. We get out of bed, we go to work, we pay our bills, we keep our homes and ourselves tidy and clean, and every night we go to bed feeling a little tired.
But the problem with that concept of hard work is that when they gave you the advice "work hard and you can accomplish anything," it was not what all those successful people meant. Most of what we do on a day-to-day basis is simply what we have to do to survive. Your career, your responsibilities, your family commitments and your friends' favors, that's not hard work. That's job daily. That's your routine, the things you and every other human being do each day.
Hard work on top of all this is what you do. After putting in your eight hours, after cleaning your apartment, after holding all your appointments and following through with all your promises, that's what you're doing. Hard work is above and above, and it's the only thing that can bring you beyond and above.
That's not even the story's climax. What makes hard work very tough isn't even the job itself. When you make the choice to work hard for your goals, it's everything that that you take on. It's the viciously fair self-evaluation, the daunting personal sacrifices and the ever-lurking confusion.
Among the five "easy" steps to hard work, we'll be talking about that. As you'll see, the title of this article is more than just a little tongue-in-cheek. Learning them is the easy part of these steps. Doing them is the hard part. Let's start off.
Overview: The Five Hard Work Elements
Hard work is just one of the ways you can accomplish your objectives. It is the only way for those of us who are not excessively rich, clever, or fortunate. While the journey of each person to success would be different, the anatomy of the hard work they do sometimes looks quite similar. The hard work they put forward included all of the following for the most successful individuals:
The Drive-This is the inspiration, the motivation, the whole reason why you work hard. This is the engine which is driving forward your efforts.
The strategy- If the push is the center of your hard work, the skeleton is the plan. The strategy sets out your course of action and helps to track and keep you on track of your progress.
The Grind-The Grind is the point where it stops being enjoyable and exciting when working hard and begins to become boring, exhausting and maybe even discouraging. Often, what distinguishes the winners from the quitters is how you manage the grind.
The Sacrifice-This is the crux of hard work, and the one thing that really makes it impossible to work hard. Every ambitious objective requires considerable personal sacrifice. The true test is to bear the burden of your relationships, finances and level of comfort.
The Payoff. This is the brass ring. You have to identify a set of goals and achievements and know when you've accomplished them in order for hard work to be worthwhile. And you have to up the ante once you do, and keep going.
