What Does it Mean to Work?Hard?

Hard work is probably the textbook formula for achieving success. If you ask every successful person, they would tell you how they achieved it. And hard work is always a part of the mix. If success is based on how hard a person works, what does it mean to work hard? Do you have to exert physical effort to be considered a hard worker? Is hard work found in doing smart work instead? 

Growing up, I hardly knew what it meant to work hard. I wasn't a bad student and I did pretty well in my classes even though I wasn't the first or second in class. I did just well to remain close to the top. It wasn't until I got to senior high that I started to understand that, to get to the next level in life, you need to upgrade your work ethic. I began to understand the essence of what it meant to work hard.

Most people will say work smarter instead of harder and that's a seemingly valid point. 

But hard work is relative. For some it means putting in more physical effort, for others it means exerting more mental resources to solving a problem. 

And for the average person, hard work may mean showing up each day at work with an unflinching spirit, doing what is required to get their job done effectively and efficiently. But immediately work doesn't extend beyond your comfort zone, doesn't give you something challenging to do and keeps your mind from expanding and growing, then you are no longer working hard. 

Hard work can be summed in one thing, progressive and incremental productivity. Work ethic must be incremental and progressive because it must be tied to your goals which keep expanding and becoming bigger as you achieve them. Whatever your strategy, if you are working hard, you should have something to show for it. 

The hard part about work often has to do with the mind. In the Common Denominator of Success Study, it was found that successful people make it a habit to do the things that unsuccessful people do not like to do. The interesting part is that it was found that successful people equally do not enjoy doing those things but make it a habit to do whatever it takes to reach their goals. Hard work is a mindset game. Your mind frame can prevent you from doing work that you know you should be doing. 

I would say, as my conclusion that hard work is fighting your mind to do that which you know you should do no matter how badly you do not what to do it. And you must have the results to show for it. It isn't just about doing something, but growing, progressing and becoming better — that is hard work. 

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