It's Not About Hard Work...

I posted the picture above back in 2019 or 2020. Since pandemic years are like dog years, it feels like a decade ago. While the statement is still true, and I stand by it. I have come to better understand where hard work fits into the equation of success.

There are a lot of people out there, like me, who actually have a good attitude about working HARD. We like it. It feels like a badge of honor to say how tough your task was. It's not an ego trip either. We have some inherent belief that "If you didn't work HARD, then you don't deserve to be successful." ergo, we strive to struggle for what we want.

I can speak for myself that there is some element of imposter syndrome in that feeling. Somehow I have not done enough so I have to work HARDER to then deserve what I want. Maybe you can admit to feeling the same way. But a long time ago, I realized that this was not true. More over, that feeling of inadequacy or having "underpaid" for your blessings was actually blocking more blessings from coming my way. Is this you?

What I figured out was that it was CONSISTENT work, not hard work, that was the key to my success. Doing the right things steadily, over the required period of time has always been the key to every season of growth that I have enjoyed an the lack there of has been the catalyst for every period of decline that I have endured.

I had to break the lie that was governing my actions and tell my self the same thing I tell YOU now. "You are good enough. You are smart enough. You have earned the right to have what you seek. You just have to DO enough, and KEEP doing it."

I was recently in a session with Donnie Boivin hosted by BATL - Be a Tactical Leader . Donnie made an excellent point: Consistent action is the catalyst for any of the "philosophies", of motivation, or confidence as he called them, that many of us seek. This is so true. My personal turn of phrase that I have seen in and taught to sales teams that I have taught over the years is "Confidence comes from preparation."

To this day, I am still sometimes caught in confusion about my own axiom. Preparation does not mean perfection, or even completion. You don't wait for all of the lights to be green before you drive to your destination. You move forward toward the goal. It's that forward motion that gets you to your goal, the goal does not move toward you. You just put one foot in front of the other, over, and over, and over again.

Sound monotonous? Yeah, I know. I'm not hardwired for grinding. Some aspect of my personality doesn't jibe with it and it still takes some focus to not shirk it off. Hell, back in 2019, I actually commissioned a tee-shirt that would have said "All Hustle, No Grind". I am SO glad that vendor didn't come through, or I would have been walking around wearing a testament to my naivety.

I felt then, as you may feel now, that the the previous daily grind of a 9-5 was a soul sucking slog. Endless repetition of menial tasks. Slave to the wheel. Grinding every day for your check.

To some extent, that can be true. Ploughing away at a job can wear you down like a pencil being run through a sharpener till there's nothing left. I see it all the time. People get WORN OUT and used up when they spend day after day as the "tires" on the corporate vehicles they are part of. My little tee shirt statement was a celebration of how free I felt having finally turned my side hustle into my main hustle.

I was determined to SPRINT (hustle) to every goal with bursts of tremendous energy and HARD WORK. I didn't want to slowly push the rock up the hill but charge toward it headlong and explode through it fast to get momentum and get there quicker. And honestly, it worked...sometimes...for a while.

Those extreme (and they were) bursts of hard work over long nights did get me quick hits of success; sometimes BIG successes even. But what I found through these pandemic years is that this was not sustainable. My business, my life, my energy level, was a constant yo-yo. As I looked around at other hustlers like me I realized that hard working "sprinters" get BURNT OUT instead of used up in the grind.

What coaches like Donnie have helped me see is that the daily consistent effort is much more important than HARD work. No matter the task, hard or not, are you doing the RIGHT tasks DAILY to get you where you need to go. This is the true meaning of discipline. It's not (specifically) denying yourself pleasures and rest until you have met your goal. You can't "diet" yourself to success (unless weight loss is success for you, of course). Discipline is not just being organized and meticulous about your life, though it really helps a lot.

I heard Grant Cardone say "Discipline is Freedom". While I don't know if he coined that phrase, it's true. Discipline is also Confidence. Discipline is stability. Discipline is preparation. Discipline is GRINDING SMART. And I don't care what anyone tells you, yes, Discipline is HARD. It's simple, but it's hard. No matter how easy it seems to come for some people, starting discipline is...dare I say...hard work.

So to all you hard-workaholics out there, take a moment to shift your focus from effort, to discipline to get your hard work fix. Get your mind recalibrated to "embrace the suck", as they said to us in grueling military training. Focus on THIS hard work of cultivating discipline, and learn to enjoy it. Really change how you feel about it. After all..."Work ethic is not just how hard you work, but how you feel about working hard."