Just stumbled on a quote, made it a meditation and been thinking about it since morning.
"If hard work is the key to success, most people would rather pick the lock"
How true is this? Well first we have to understand exactly what the quote meant.
Everyone wants to have a certain position in life, a position of success and power, but not everyone is willing to do the pushing, the sweating and the failing along the way to get to that position. There are so many people that look for shortcuts with the hope that they will be able to skip the mess and end up at the finish line just like those that are already there who flaunt their achievements online. I would say the pressure mostly comes from those people and also our perception of comparison and competition.
Working hard is not something that you can do in a short period of time, hard work will wear you down. And when that moment arrives, most people stop doing what they are supposed to be doing because it is starting to look unpleasant. They say follow your passion, but don't forget that regardless of whether you love what you do or not, if it's going to be successful or even work standard you'll have to put in the work.
For some people, failing looks to them like the proof that they shouldn't even try again. And yes, sometimes taking a shortcut is a good idea, if you'll make it and you won't broke the laws.
But reality is that, most of the time it leaves you with. something empty. You may achieve the goal, but you are not in the part of the story where you actually develop yourself. And if you reach your goal but haven't gone through the price to be paid to get there because of all the shortcuts you took, you'll eventually expose yourself for being inadequate to handle the success.
It's like someone who got rich from learning the principles of wealth and applying them with patience and discipline and someone who got it from winning the lottery.
The two might have the same networth but they are not the same. There's a higher chance of the one who got there with luck losing control of the wealth because they lack understanding and discipline to manage what they have.
Hard work is the most effective teacher. When you stumble and mess up trying to achieve a goal, gradually, you will understand things. You become tougher, a bit smarter and a bit more stubborn with succeeding that you never give up regardless of what happens.
It is for this reason that, when the goal is finally achived, you value it more because it is the result of all the scrapes along the way. You know what you went through to get it so you handle it with more care.
Always reconsider your position. Are you really doing the work or are you only looking for the easy route? Making work easier is a good thing for efficiency and the results should lead to more production. That's different from trying to take a shortcut like gambling your way to wealth.
Success is not something that comes your way without you having to do anything. You can't rely on luck. Effort is the one that creates those things, even if it stings, it's necessary. The person you are in the middle of the journey to greatness is much more important than what you get at the end.
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