Hard Work: Beyond the Buzzword
Had we been aware of failure, would we still have chosen this path? Had we known that whatever we started would turn its back on us, would we still do the hard work? Had we known of this endless maze turning into a never-ending curve, would it have ever changed our minds? Everything we tried disappears with the results. Since childhood, I have often heard about the value and importance of hard work. However, it truly became significant for me when I noticed how people set different standards for what counts as “hard work.” This made me question: If hard work is simply hard work, why do we believe in certain standards, especially when they seem unreasonable? I am writing today to explore what hard work really means: Is it about effort itself, or is it determined by external validation disguised as expectations?
When we talk of hard work, most of us have heard of it as the key to success, the ultimate gateway to one’s dream life, or maybe the purpose of one’s life. A man’s labor. But when you step into the world, a common observation comes down to how that word is coated with standards as if a backhanded coin that has been lying to us forever. When we talk of hard work, what are we really talking about, because expectations vary. So, is it when someone keeps working until they are burnt out? But isn’t that against our psychological state, and that is not advised? Or is it skipping all plans to focus on your goals? But then aren’t you missing out on the fun in life, and that’s again against living your life to the fullest? Or is it a certain standard of a few hours a day? Or does it simply come down to managing the fun and the work together?
Something all of us may have experienced is the different standards for hard work, and as pernicious as it may sound, it is often measured through the outcome, the result. Hardly is it ever going to get measured in terms of the burnout, the skipped plans, the long hours, or the management. It is simply going to be measured on the scale of your results. That’s where we are lacking as humans. We often forget to tell ourselves of our hard work because of the results, but we forget that a lot of us are putting in equal or more than the sixteen hours of work daily; luck plays an insanely important role because you may have studied all week for a test but the lucky one who opened the book just the night before may do that one important chapter and end up scoring better than you.
It starts to get ugly when we begin measuring our worth through the results. Just because all the efforts are wasted does not mean that they were never put in. That is a reality most of us don’t see. We are not losers; we just ended with wasted efforts, and there is a huge difference. Something I learned shamelessly is that it is good to feel bad for the waste, yet it comes down to basic self-esteem to cut yourself some slack to sigh and say, “At least I put in the effort.”
Do not let anything redefine what hard work means for you. Value the process, the persistence, and the courage to keep going—even when the results don’t show up right away. True hard work is not just about reaching the finish line; it is about refusing to give up when the path gets tough. It is never about the number of burnouts experienced. In the end, the real victory is in showing up every day and giving your best, regardless of what outcome greets you. As different humans, our capacity for effort varies. Our detinies vary. That is the kind of hard work that truly matters—and that is something worth being proud of.