Hard work is inevitable – A lesson from my father

“The leading rule for the lawyer, as for the man of every other calling, is diligence” – Abraham Lincoln

When we were growing up, my father used to always tell me and my siblings that hard work is inevitable. No matter what we chose to do, we will always have to #workhard. Want to graduate college? It will require hard work. Be a good parent and spouse? Hard work. Make good money to support a family? Hard work. Want to beat a video game? Hard work. Be a drug dealer? Hard work. Want to be an international spy or assassin? Hard work.

Okay…he might have been kidding for those last few. However, his point was clear. Hard work would be a part of everything you do in life, so we must get used to it and find ways to get better at it. Not only this, but we should figure out how to work hard for the things that mattered in our life. Put your hard work towards a specific direction. What were our #priorities? Who did we want to be? What did we enjoy doing? Those were the things we should be #diligent about.

He may not have always modeled this perfectly, be he always modeled it #honestly and #openly (which is more important in my book anyway). I always have this lesson in the back of mind and have tried to pass it along to those around me.

Learn how you work (hard)

Reflect on your work and communication styles. What makes you work harder? What do you absolutely hate? How do you learn best? Where are your strengths and weaknesses?

Understanding how YOU work is the first step in #understanding where your energy is required. Once you know this, you can prioritize, learn, and make decisions more efficiently (and effectively). You can also start to piece together your blind spots and ensure you have team members that can help you cover these.

You need to be able to understand yourself – not an easy task. Maybe you need a #mentor to help you figure yourself out. Maybe you can read #books and identify areas of strength and weakness. One thing is for certain, #leaders must understand themselves to be effective at what they do and who they lead. This is not easy.

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Leading others is hard work

There is nothing harder than #leading others. Fine, fine… rocket science and theoretical physics might be harder. But people are imperfect, have their own agendas, their own issues, and their own ideas of what hard work is. Guidance, team, and results are the #responsibilities of any leader - We have to guide people on how to hone their hard work, bring together the right people that have diligence in their tasks, and then achieve the results we promised to deliver over a set period of time.

My ultimate goal when leading or #influencing others is to help them figure out where to direct their hard work. What tasks should be #prioritized? When are things good enough? What do they enjoy working hard at? What is truly going to move the needle?

This often causes me to have to step back as sometimes others’ goals are at odds with my goals. It requires thinking about what is best for both the person and the company. And it often causes me to shift my focus areas as peoples’ desires and skills change. This is by no means easy.

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Creating strategy and goals are hard work

Leaders are the people telling their team which direction they need to move in. They are the morale and strategic compass of the group. But how do leaders know what #direction is correct?

Developing #strategy and #goals require hard work. It requires being constantly engaged with the market, with customers, and with employees. It requires constant learning. And the hardest of all to many, it requires removing your #ego so you can actually see areas of weakness and strength.

These are not things that just drop out of the sky as visions only the leader can see but take immense thinking power. Being able to identify strengths that need to be taken advantage of along with weaknesses that will require tough decision making. It requires debating if the right people are in place, it the product is correctly positioned, if the economy will be an asset or detriment, and if internal processes will allow for continued success. It requires reading, examining, writing, and reflecting. This is not easy.

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Being an engaged family member is hard work

“Be relentlessly insistent on brining your fullest and best self to work – and taking it back home again” – Kim Scott in Radical Candor

After a full day at work where you worked tremendously hard leading others and creating strategy, you then have a #family to go home to. In almost 100% of cases, these are the people that will support you in all of life’s triumphs and tribulations. These are the people that deserve your attention and engagement. These are the people you want to be around your entire life. However, they often only get second best after a full day.

Being a leader does not just mean being a leader at work. You must also be diligent enough to take your full self back #home again. This might mean directing less of your available energy to work so that you can bring energy home for the hard work needed there. This is okay! You must be willing to work hard at engaging with your spouse, playing with your kids, keeping up with household needs, and putting effort into maintaining #relationships. This is not easy.

Hard work is worth it

These are simply only a few of my reflections. One thing I know for certain – hard work is #worthit. You can look back and see how focusing your energy on what matters brought you forward. This does not mean that you must give 110% of your energy every single day to the point of exhaustion, but that you focus on what is needed and what you enjoy.

The best things you can do moving forward are to:

• figure out how you think and work so that you can be more efficient at working hard.
• identify what things you want to work hard for. Prioritize!
• ensure you have people around you that work hard in different ways to increase your team’s efficiency and effectiveness.
• Don’t forget your family and home life – ensure to save your hard work potential for them as well.

Books that may help you:

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Radical Candor by Kim Scott

What it Takes by Stephen Schwarzman

Bad Blood by John Carreyrou