WHAT DOES ‘HARD WORK’ ACTUALLY LOOK LIKE?
Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come. — Dwayne Johnson
This morning I listened to an old speech by Arnold Schwarzenegger about success. While he had some great points, what stuck out most was his breakdown of ‘hard work’. So, here’s a few thoughts about it which have been floating in my mind.
What is hard work?
Whenever I hear someone talking about working hard, it can seem so vague. Working hard is hard to actually explain. What may be hard for one person may be easier for another. So, how do you know what ‘hard work’ looks like for you?
In his speech, Arnold breaks down the hours in a day.
Sleeping: 6–8 hours
Work: 8–10 hours
Travel / Eating: 2 hours
After you add these all up, you’re somewhere between 18–20 hours spent out of 24 hours. You basically have 4–6 hours every day to be defined as you like? So, how are you defining those hours?
I don’t want to get into how you work at your job. Hopefully, you have good habits and give your best effort at your workplace. We will leave that alone for now.
I’ll go first and give you a break down of where my 4–6 hours every day are allocated.
I allocate at least 1–2 hours of listening to an inspiring podcast. I use this time to help inspire me to write. I write because one day my vision and goal is to write a book and travel around the world inspiring others.
Another 1–2 hours are allocated with my family. Whether it’s helping my wife around the house for dinner or hanging out with the kids. These are hours I use specifically on building our home.
I believe my home is one of my greatest investments. I’m investing time with my kids now because one day, they are gone. I have limited time to spend with them now, which I expect for them to be setup to experience their best life.
There is usually an hour or so in there just for time with my bride. This to me is huge because she is my best friend. She is my better half. It’s foolish to think you can go be successful without having your family on the journey.
I’ve read too many books and watch too many people run after success and leave their family behind. In the long run, they either have to turn around and invest in their family or, they lose their family all together. That’s not the vision I have for my life and my family.
So basically, we have 4–6 hours everyday to use toward our goal and vision. How are you working hard with those hours? Do you have a vision to work toward? That would be the most important first start.
How are you improving toward your vision each day? How many hours are allocated toward your vision? Imagine just investing one hour a day toward learning more about your vision? You’d come to the end of the year with 365 hours of learning. That’s a big number.
Working hard is really about the hours you work for your future vision. If your vision isn’t compelling enough, you’ll probably skip on investing in it. So, get yourself a vision big enough to get you out of bed in the morning. Talk about your vision, hype yourself up about your vision. Inspire yourself to go after it and get those hours working toward your future.
There is no magic pill. Everything you have to do for your vision will take hard work and everything you have. But, if it’s big enough and electrifies your soul, nothing will stop you. You will become a ‘hard work’ expert and it’s much easier than you think.
Always keep learning. a.
O, and one more thing. Here’s some quotes that help get you going.
Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do. Pele
Everybody wants to be famous, but nobody wants to do the work. I live by that. You grind hard so you can play hard. At the end of the day, you put all the work in, and eventually it’ll pay off. It could be in a year, it could be in 30 years. Eventually, your hard work will pay off. Kevin Hart
Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work. Stephen King
