Working hard is a requirement but not a guaranty of success

Let me tell you something about success that many people want to ignore: effort and working hard is not enough. I've spent my career practicing law and seen countless businesses rise and fall. Through this view I've noticed a peculiar misconception taking hold - this idea that if you put in the effort and hard work it undoubtedly will lead to success. There is more to success than simply putting in the effort.

Hard work is absolutely necessary to reach success, but it doesn't guaranty it. I've represented brilliant entrepreneurs who worked themselves to the bone but still watched their ventures collapse. The market doesn't care about your hard work. It's just a given that you will put in the effort. If you don't, then success always will be out of your reach.

I recently read an article by a professor at a university. After teaching for twenty years he has heard a new refrain from students not happy with their grade in his class: “My grade doesn’t reflect the effort I put into this course.” That's right, students actually want their grades to be raised for trying, not for mastering the subject matter. That's not how school and life work. When you put in the effort there is no promise of what you get in return whether in the form of a grade or business and financial success. Effort is simply required to have a chance to do your best and achieve goals (or grades).

However, and this is crucial, I've never encountered a successful person who didn't work hard. In law it would be like trying to win a lawsuit without preparing for trial; theoretically possible, but not a strategy to bet on. Hard work is your ante into the game. Without it, you're not even at the table where success happens. You're just standing outside the building, complaining about how the game is rigged.

The reality is that hard work is merely your admission ticket to the arena of opportunity. Once you're in, you need a potent combination of market timing, strategic thinking, relationship building, and yes, sometimes plain old luck. Think of it like a complex merger of these things where when you actually put in the effort there are external market conditions that will ultimately influence the outcome.

My advice to you is to work hard not because it guarantees success, but because without it, you're practically guaranteeing failure. The path to success is complex and often unpredictable, but hard work remains your non-negotiable first step. It's up to you whether you're willing to take that step to give yourself the best chance to succeed.