The Truth About Hard Work That Makes Hard Work Harder Than You Think
It’s obvious that hard work is hard. What’s not so obvious is why hard work turns into success for some people and for others it doesn’t. The answer is complex, but it boils down to the fact that hard work is harder than you think.
In fact, most people underestimate how much hard work and how hard you must work to reach a measurement of success. This is the problem with New Year’s resolutions. Even though you know a goal will require hard work, it’s still easy to get started pursuing a goal that requires hard work.
The first day of hard work is hard for sure, but it’s doable. The second day is slightly harder, the third day continues to get even harder, and so on and so forth. This compounding difficulty of hard work is what makes hard work harder than you think. For some, it’s just too much to bear when it keeps getting harder to do something that requires more hard work each time you do it. Subsequently, in January the gyms are abnormally full but by July they’re back to normal.
But what about those few people that do keep going? What do they do differently that allows them to persevere? Simply stated, it’s a difference in mindset.
Hard Work Gets Harder When You Have an Outcome Mindset
Hard work only gets harder when you mind is focused only on the outcome. When you complete an act of hard work and you don’t see yourself getting any closer to the outcome, your mind starts playing tricks on you. Your mind tells you that your hard work isn’t paying off and your motivation to achieve the outcome you want decreases. Eventually, as the days go by and the hard work continues to feel harder and harder your motivation goes to zero.
On the other hand, those who persevere with hard work have a process mindset. The work is a way of life regardless of the outcome. People who have a process mindset are willing to work hard even when they know it’s unlikely they will reach their goal. It’s not that they don’t believe they can reach their goal, or they don’t care about reaching their goal. It’s just that the goal is not what’s motivating them. What motivates them is being in control. What’s more, there is no way you can control the outcome. You can only control the process.
This is what psychologist call having an internal locus of control. Correspondingly, psychologist also suggest that having an internal locus of control is a key ingredient for resilience. So, it shouldn’t surprise you that those who are the most resilient are the same people who achieve success by persevering through the drudgery of persistent hard work.