Chapter 20 – Work Hard

“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” -Tim Notke

This is a difficult topic to thread the needle on for a number of reasons. But to lay out my perspective upfront:

You absolutely have to work hard, and doing so can be a great differentiator. But try to keep perspective on it so it does not cost you your soul, your relationships, or damage your health.

There is a toxic perversion around modern hard work, one of hustle culture and idealization of successful individuals who seemingly never sleep and sacrifice absolutely everything in pursuit of their goals.

Branded and sold slogans like “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”, “Always Grinding”, and “Hustlin’ 24/7”.

When I say you need to work hard, it is never a subscription to this awful culture. Not only is this damaging, but it’s self perpetuating. If personal success, or the success of a business, relies on you working yourself to death it’s hardly a success at all. 

Another pitfall to be weary of is hard work being a crutch to terrible business decisions.

Many start-ups and companies leverage the modern acceptance of over-work to minimize planning and repercussions of short sighted decisions. “Of course we can build out that feature we’ve never thought of, we’ll just have the team stay late and pull it off”. “Of course we can hit this unreasonable deadline, the team will just hustle and make it happen!”. Unscrupulous companies will take advantage of modern workers’ lopsided relationship with work life balance and use it to push in 100 directions at once, counting on overtime and exertion as a resource.

These are not valiant reasons to work hard, and you should be wary of them as you progress through your career.

That being said, valid and meaningful Hard Work can be a career’s savior.

When something meaningful presents itself to you, often when surrounded by meaningful people who care about you, hard work becomes the fuel to the rocket ship. It will come naturally in these instances, where you’ll want to put in the effort. You’ll go to sleep easily knowing that you “left it all out on the field”, with nothing left to give. 

This isn’t hard work as exploitation, but hard work as fulfillment of ambitious goals and incredible opportunities. It’s the hard work that comes from unbridled excitement for the new paths you’re forging, completing the impossible and learning at a rate you’d never imagine possible.

Those meaningful people will see that you are capable of sacrifice and hard work, thus cementing yourself in a great network of people. Truly hard work is sometimes justified.

If you find opportunities that align with your personal growth and wildly ambitious goals, you owe it to yourself to work harder than you thought possible. Learn what you don’t know, output more than what most think is possible, and drive to achieve what you want.

This holds especially true if you’re young and don’t have a lot of responsibilities. Youth is a super power few ever grasp, where your energy, strength, and fortitude allow you to absorb knowledge faster and recover from stress quicker. What you lack in experience can be made up in effort and time, and it’s worth considering the sacrifice to cement your career’s path.

Hard work can be an incredible differentiator for your career. Be wary of situations where your toiling will be used unscrupulously for others gain, but aware of when the extra effort you put in will catapult you forward.

Work Hard.

What I’m NOT saying:

• You should never sleep and constantly grind
• You should only ever work hard for yourself
• You should just take it easy and only focus on “work life balance”

What I am saying:

• Achieving your goals requires hard work
• Working hard can be the differentiator between you and others
• When you find an opportunity that aligns with your goals put in the needed effort
• Cement yourself with colleagues by showing your ability to put in the work when needed