Hard work does not lead to success

Recently, I attended a program which had a key-note speaker several years my senior, and they said – “Hard work does not lead to success. Only mules work hard.”

I got thinking. Like most of us, I’ve grown up listening to advice about how hard work is the only way to success. I am myself a loyal ally of hard work, and was tempted to dismiss his one-liner but for a sliver of doubt that refused to budge.

I have worked very, very hard for most of my life. So did my parents (and that’s why I do too, actually). Even so, something didn't add up. Not all hard work, either mine or theirs, has led to proportionate success. (We ought to have been billionaires by now. Seriously.) On the contrary, at times not working hard has borne results, and working very hard has delivered disappointments. Has this ever happened to you?

Mighty frustrating, if you ask me! Not to mention - upsets my conditioning.

Though on deeper thought, and considerable mulling, I reached some of these hidden realizations. Do tell me if you concur or otherwise.

In the year 2003, my career slumped dramatically, business was bleak, my finances were in shambles, and I was in no position to help my family or myself. The situation was serious enough to give me several sleepless nights - being awake was nightmare enough, I guess.

I still don’t know what happened back then. But I refused to work harder. The very thought of working harder magnified the irony of the situation. Because the only way I knew to work up until then was with diligence, I had remained admirably honest in the face of great odds, and I knew with conviction I had what it took to be the proud owner of a great career. And yet, I was nearly broke. The anomaly disturbed me more than my condition.

In essence, there was every reason and temptation to work harder and try harder. Instead, I decided to sit at home and think harder. Maybe, there wasn’t much to do outside home, anyway. Some amazing questions arose from a mind-numbing series of personal hardships.

What did I want from life? More importantly, what did life want of me? What did I really want to do? How could I improve as a person? What kind of money did I deserve to earn? What did it take to work with the best? And here's the clincher – if I was so capable, competent, honest, and hard working – what was I doing on the wrong side of success?

While I questioned myself, I unwittingly pictured my life to be beautiful, comfortable, happy, healthy, adventurous, and full of friends and supporters (such happy mind tricks these). I then did something that now seems preposterous and downright laughable. I searched for the best training organization I could find in India, and applied for work through their website. In a month’s time, I was on a flight to join them at their headquarters as a specialist trainer.

And this wasn’t the only dream break I’ve had in life. It had happened to me before and it has happened to me much more than once since. The more I peel the layers of what the key-note speaker might have meant, the more I am prone to agree. Hard work does not lead to success.  

Working hard without a purpose is pointless. Working hard with a solid purpose, and knowing what we hope to achieve from daily hard work, is one of the finer points of the art of achievement. I now understand why at times my hard work failed to deliver. From being a hard worker I have now moved to a hard core, purpose driven worker.

I’ll go so far as to say that it’s much easier and wiser to stop working altogether and find our purpose than to keep blindly working hard in the hope of stumbling across something worthwhile. I work hard every day. The only difference is that I choose carefully what I work hard on, and who I work hard with. That’s smart work, I am learning.  

Maybe, human beings are not meant to work hard. We are meant to think hard and choose smart. And then go at it with all our energy if that’s what we need to do. I have a feeling, success might be ours for the taking.