There is a fact of reality that we just all have to come to grips with. That fact is that success is predicated by hard work. Some people might enjoy instant, sudden stardom, or riches, but in order to maintain anything you just have to understand that the only way we can really be successful is by hard work. I still find myself looking for shortcuts. Somewhere deep inside my mind there must be a belief that I can find a shortcut around all this hard work. What is it going to take for me to come to grips with the fact that the only way I am going to be successful at anything is via hard work.
Even the natural course of things take the path of hard work. We can sit around and philosophize how we should not fight the natural path of things. Let things go their natural way, stay calm we say. However, even the natural progression of things are born and carved out via hard work. That ant hill did not get built by a bunch of lazy slouch ants. They were working hard all day and night while you were not looking. In fact, I am thinking that the natural way is the hard way.
My problem is that all my hard work is scattered. If I combined the force of my hard work in one direction, I would probably have a greater impact. That is what I think we mean when we say, “let things follow their natural course.” The natural course is indeed a lead indicator to which we might apply our effort, it certainly does not mean that we can avoid effort all together. So if we all learned to apply a considerable amount of dedicated hard work toward a solitary objective, how much effective would we be as individuals? What if we were all combined in our efforts toward a single objective, how much more powerful would we be as a tribe of people?
I read though some commentary on success from some very wealthy people in our society this morning. Although they attributed their success to many factors, the one thing that was at the core of what they did in their lives was this. No one out worked them, ever. I listed to a podcast where this was the topic. One wealthy entrepreneur said that he has always woke up before everyone, always at his office before everyone. Where people put in 40, he put in 80. Of course he is divorced with estranged relationships with his children, but he become successful. I was thinking – OK, I will take 1/3 of this wealth and keep my family. How about that!?
Something tells me, however, that the concept is an unfortunate truth. Certainly we need to manage our workload to meet important obligations, but the reality is that the only way that we can really excel at anything is with consistent and constant hard work. The time that you allocate toward accomplishing your objective needs to be at maximum effort. If not, then do not complain when you do not get the results you want.
The greatest lie we tell ourselves is that “I have been working so hard.” Seriously, if we self examined what we really have been doing to hit an objective, then we will understand that this lie is just a smokescreen to try to dodge culpability and make ourselves feel better. I have said this myself many times, realizing inside my own head, that I really did not work as hard as I could have, realizing that I cut corners many, many times. Are you really working that hard at it? Have you really tried? My children have sometimes tried this when growing up. “But Dad, I tried. Really hard but it is too much.” Of course, as a parent I can see that their workload was hardly anything. They only spent 5 minutes starting at their homework. They really did not try at all.
This makes me consider the fact that we probably continue this same mentality into adulthood. We are always trying to fool ourselves and our loved ones that we tried really hard to accomplish something, but in reality we did not. We know the truth and a bit of serious contemplation will most likely lead us to that conclusion. As each day becomes a new day for us, we have a choice. Work really hard at what we are trying to accomplish or take shortcuts, breaks, and entertain distractions. What maybe actually true is that we worked really hard at hoping to get started. I have certainly done my fair share of that, today is the day I tell myself, only to find me immediately blowing it 5 minutes later.
So I just need to get over this simple fact. To meet my objectives, I have to work really hard. So maybe instead of starting out this week looking for the easy button, the shortcut, I will just take a deep breath and swallow the jagged pill, the unfortunate truth called hard work.
Guy Reams
