Hard work, hypothesis or reality?

We all were taught from our childhood, that hard work is the key to success. We have come across a lot of great successful people who have proved many times that the hard word is the only key to success. Also, we have read a lot of success stories in newspapers, the internet, books etc. One thing that is common to all these success stories is HARD WORK. I have listed few quotes on hard work.

“Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds”. – Gordon B. Hinckley.

“There is no substitute for hard work”. – Thomas A. Edison

“Dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination & hard work”.- Colin Powell.

I have a theory that breaks all your misconception about Hard work as the key to success. According to this theory, Hard work is an illusion. There is no such thing called as Hard work. I have listed another few quotes below.

“If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all.”-Michelangelo

“I’m really very self-confident when it comes to my work. When I take on a project, I believe in it 100%. I really put my soul into it. I’d die for it. That’s how I am.” -Michael Jackson

“Ideas do not work. It is YOU who has to do the work..”-Manoj Arora.

The above two sets of quotes give the same meaning & both the set of quotes describes key for success. If you read the first set of quotes, they have used the word “Hard Work” but in the second set of quotes, they have used the word “Work”. After reading the two sets of quotes a question will arise, is it the “Hard Work” or “Work” key for success? I know you still won’t agree with my theory, that Hard work is an illusion. Coming back to my theory, I take few examples to prove my theory.

Let us consider water has to be lifted to an overhead tank.

Case-1 with High power motor.

Case-2 with low power motor.

In both cases, overhead tanks are exactly at the same height, same pipe diameter & same quantity of water. To be very specific in both cases work done is the same. In case-1, due to high power motor work is done say in 1 hour. In case-2, due to low power motor work is done say in 4 hours. In the above example, we don’t say that Low power motor is working hard to lift the water, we just say the motor is working.

Let us consider another example, preparing for an examination.

Case-1 Fast learning student.

Case-2 Slow learning student.

In both cases syllabus for the exam is the same, both the students have learned under the same teacher, both the students refer to the same author & both the students' scores the same marks in the exam. In case-1 student is a fast learner, so he finishes his preparation in a week. In case-2 the student is a slow learner, so he finishes his preparation in 2 weeks. In both, the casework done is the same [scoring same marks] but here we start to compare & say that slow learning students in hard-working compared to the fast learning student though both have scored the same marks.

Now you have seen in above two cases, motor & student, both are working to their capacity, but in the case of humans, we say Hard-working & for machines we say working. Only because we are humans, we use the word “Hard work” just to create sympathy or sometimes to show off. The word “Hard Work” has created a lot of misconceptions in society. The one who has succeeded will start saying that he is a Hard worker just to make himself feel on top of the world & just to look different from others [who have failed to succeed]. He won't know that he was working all these days to develop skills that were needed for success.

The word “Hard work” gives a lot of negative vibrations, when we hear someone saying hard work was his key for success, we start to feel ‘Oh! I can’t do it. It needs a lot of hard work’. When you tell others about your dream that you want to achieve something, people around you will start saying “You need to do a lot of hard work, that is not so easy”. They start to demotivate us or the word “Hard work” itself demotivate us & creates a lot of stress & without trying we give up.

When we fail to succeed, we say “I had done a lot of hard work even though I have failed to succeed” but we don’t understand that we failed to master the skills which were required.

All I want to say is that there is no such thing called as Hard work, it’s just an illusion. If you want to clear civil services, then master the skills required to clear the civil services exam. If you want to become a dancer, then master dancing skills. If you want to score good marks in physics then master those skills required. To achieve your goals, all you need to do is Start working & develop the skills. The more you develop the skill the soon you will be successful.

According to Newton’s 3rd law “Every action has an equal & opposite reaction” likewise, Your success depends on the skills you have mastered.