Monthly Archives: September 2020

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“Hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work ” Kevin Durant

According to Oxford’s English Dictionary, hard work is a great deal of effort or endurance. It is also the constant, regular, or habitually engagement in earnest and energetic work to achieve a particular goal or the energy and time channeled into a task. Colin Powell once said, “A dream does not become a reality through magic. It takes sweat, determination, and hard work”. Success is more a matter of work than luck or magic. A student has an 80% chance of succeeding with hard work and a 100% chance of succeeding with smart work. Hard work separates the successful and unsuccessful, and we must not only work but also work hard.

 

HARD WORK LEADS TO SUCCESS

All successful people have the same story to say: almost 60% of their success is attributable to hard work. Everyone can succeed, but without hard work, this would be impossible. Hard work is what makes people stand out and achieve what seemed impossible. Most people who fail initially end up achieving success only if they are consistent with their work. Colin Powell said, “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”

 

HARD WORK BREEDS CONFIDENCE

Hard work increases the belief we have in ourselves. For example, when you dedicate yourself to learning a difficult topic in Mathematics or any other subject, you will find that your level of confidence increases the next time you come across a problem on the same issue. The knowledge and experience you got from learning the complex topic and getting those smaller exercises right will serve as the bedrock on which your confidence to handle any future problem is based.

 

HARD WORK HELPS US SURPASS OUR LIMITATIONS

One of the factors that limit us in life is our ignorance. You will be surprised at how things seem easy to you once you are familiar with them. For instance, a student who has the mindset that Mathematics is complicated, but suddenly began to dedicate his time and effort into studying it, will realize that Mathematics is not as tricky, hence, overcoming his limitation. When you have a mindset that something is too difficult, you are already limiting yourself. If you want to overcome your boundaries, you have no other option than to work hard.

 

HARD WORK BRINGS OPPORTUNITIES

There are opportunities everywhere around us, but only hard work can unlock. Hard work serves as an opportunity magnet. If you want to win a scholarship, for example, there will be some requirements. You may need to write an essay or be involved in a project. The scholarship has a fixed reward. You have to put in your hard work to be able to access it. Let’s say there is a prize of 1 million Naira to be won for participating in a marathon race of 20 kilometers. No matter how much you desire the reward, the only thing that will most likely stop you is your inability to put in hard work. If you can put in the many hours of practice and discipline, you have the opportunity to win the prize.

 

HARD WORK BRINGS RESPECT

Hard work always draws attention in a crowd. Think about all the people you respect. What makes them stand out? Probably the fact that they worked hard, which made them stand taller with their accomplishments from the rest. If you want to be respected, you must work hard on achieving your goals. Lazy people are not respected because they have nothing to offer. Hardworking people, on the other hand, are respected and promoted everywhere around the world. Examples of people like these are Ben Carson, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, etc.

There is no success before hard work. If we desire something, we should not sit still and wait for it to come; that is laziness. We should work towards achieving it; it is called hard work.

We love to hear your thoughts, questions, and comments about this article. Please feel free to drop your comments and questions in the comments section below.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Timothy, Victoria, and Omole are secondary school students in Nigeria dedicated to success in their chosen fields. They are members of the B2SL Success Hub.

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“Success is the child of drudgery and perseverance; it cannot be bribed or coaxed. Pay the price, and it’s yours.”  O.S Marden

I looked up the meaning of drudgery in the dictionary, which meant hard, menial, or dull work! Simply put, you have to engage in hard work for you to be successful, which can also likely be uninteresting to you. There is no short cut irrespective of the path you want to choose in life. All the great inventors or successful people we admire worked or work very hard. Think about any successful person and imagine if they would have succeeded if they were lazy. Not sure you can find one. The rule is simple, it is either you work hard and succeed or be lazy and fail!

The thought of hard work itself scares people. Most people do not want to get into an activity that will stress them physically or mentally. Most people will rather sit and watch TV all day than engage in hard work, including me! But we all know that this is unrealistic, especially if we want to succeed. So how do we approach hard work so that we are not bored to death? Below are some tips that may help you have a better perspective or approach.

 

APPRECIATE THE VALUE OF HARD WORK

Success is not easy, but it is achievable. Have you seen people building a house? Do you see the machines and human efforts that are involved? People put in these efforts because they know that their labour will pay off at the end of the day. The student who studies in secret continuously to pass examinations knows that Success will be the reward at the end of the day. Even if people do not realize immediately, they will begin to see your worth because of your hard work with time. Do not be deceived by short cuts. Hard work has excellent value and is appreciated worldwide. Try to envision a time when you worked hard to achieve something, and you got the reward for it? How did it make you feel?

 

BREAK HARD TASKS INTO SMALLER CHUNKS

If you ever face a difficult but necessary task, try breaking the task into smaller chunks. It is difficult and sometimes discouraging when you think about the big things you have to do. Let’s assume you want to read a book of 350 pages. It might look big initially, but if you decide to read 50 pages a day, you will discover that you have finished the book in a week. If you try to read the whole book at a go, it might be challenging for you. Remember the old saying, “A journey of a thousand miles starts with a step.

 

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH OTHER HARD WORKERS

Honestly, this is one tip that can make you less frustrated in completing demanding and tedious tasks. However, when you surround yourself with other hard workers, you will find the motivation to hang on. There is no use in hanging out with lazy people who cannot inspire or challenge you. The simple rule is if your friends or close associates are not encouraging you to do better than you are now, it is time to change them! Some people are already working hard in your field, look for them, and seek their help. These people may be in your neighbourhood or school, or on the internet. Just find them out, and they will make your tasks look simpler than you could imagine. I am not talking about your regular duties, like copying notes and reading; I am talking about the things beyond you, such as understanding a complex topic.

Hard work is not easy, but it pays if you cultivate the habit. Every time you want to be lazy, remember that the reward for laziness is failure. You don’t want to fail, so cultivate a mindset of working hard always.

Please post your questions or comments in the comment section below as I will love to hear from you. If you have any questions or need any help, please contact our team on info@b2sl.org and we’ll reach out to you ASAP.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bessy Ebule is the Project Director at B2SL, where he works to encourage personal development and building success networks. You can reach him at bessy.ebule@b2sl.org

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[vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1599554235883{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]“If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my axe.” Abraham Lincoln.

Let’s try to put ourselves in Lincoln’s shoes. Why does he need to sharpen his axe for six hours when he has just eight hours to complete the task? He is probably wanting to ensure that the axe is sharp enough to allow him finish chopping the tree in two hours. It would be a tragedy to spend eight hours on the task and still not finish it because the axe is dull. That sounds like smart work. Let’s try to make an analogy between hard work and smart or intelligent work.

Before the invention of modern means of transportation, people would travel on foot for hundreds of kilometers to get to where they are going or travel very far to the stream or river to get water. Today, the same journey that would have taken two days to complete on foot, can now take just one hour or fifteen minutes, depending on the means of transportation you choose. You can also have water running from the tap in your bathroom. Unless you are doing a charity walk, it would be ridiculous to embark on a foot journey for two days when you can go in a car, or travel to the stream to fetch water when you have it running from the tap in your bathroom. When you use less effort to accomplish a task with more efficiency, you are working smart.

If you want to be successful, you have to work both hard and smart. For example, it takes a lot of effort to study a topic until you master it. Ever wondered why the highest paid people are people who do the most thinking? Sue Grafton gives us the answer in this quote, “Thinking is hard work, which is why you don’t see many people doing it.” However, if you can muster the mental discipline to think very deeply about things, you will surely succeed. Please do not run away from stressing your brain to find solutions to problems because it is hard work. Remember, all hard work pays.

When you work smart, you will save a lot of time. Again, you may have heard that “time is money.” People will pay you money if you can help them save time. Think about why you have to pay for transport fare. It is because the driver is saving you time. For example, if you are struggling with a particular topic, you can pay someone to explain to you, saving you time. Recently, I bought a software, but I did not know how to use it. I spent almost a week on Youtube trying to figure out how to use the software. Then I thought that I could quickly pay someone to teach me. I paid the person, and within 30 minutes, I had known what I could not in a whole week.

You also have to remember the goal you are trying to achieve as you work both hard and smart. The best principle I can recommend is work hard until you know enough to be able to work smarter. At the initial stages of taking up any task, you are going to find it difficult. As time goes on, you will find that it becomes more comfortable for you. If you have learned how to play any musical instrument, you will easily relate to this. You start as a complete novice, no matter how smart you are. If you work hard practicing, you will soon find that you can play well. Always look at the goal in front of you to motivate you to work both hard and smart. 

If you apply this principle, there is no way you will not succeed. If you have any issues, please reach out to us on info@b2sl.org and we’ll be there to support you. 

I will love to hear from you. So, please drop your questions or comments in the comment section below. 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alero Babine is a writer, professional photographer, and Secretary of B2SL, where she works to empower teenagers to succeed. You can reach her on alero@b2sl.org

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“The harder I work, the luckier I get.” Samuel Goldwyn

Some people do not like to work, and adding hard to work makes life more complicated. However, if you want to succeed, you not only have to work, you must work hard because success does not come by luck!

A hardworking person is committed to work and puts remarkable effort into doing and completing tasks. Hard work is different from regular work. Attending class, copying notes, or being punctual cannot be hard work; they are statutory responsibilities for any student. Routine work is something we must do to survive or maintain the status of belonging. However, if you put in another two hours of study to understand a difficult topic after school, that is hard work!

People who succeed in their field always go the extra mile from sports to academics, medicine, sales, politics, entertainment, etc. Novak Djokovic, the world number-1 tennis player for men, does 90 minutes of practicing tennis every morning, and another 90 minutes in the afternoon. That is three hours of practicing tennis daily. The three hours are not inclusive of the time he spends meditating or stretching.

Ash Barty is the world number-1 tennis player for women. She attributes her success to a lot of hard work on and off the court. Barty does 45 minutes of body preparation work in the morning and then another round of movement sessions before training for two hours. She has a little rest before going to the gym to work out or back to the court for more practice.

What do these two guys have in common? The amount of hard work and time they put into their profession! Their hard work off the court is what translates into those spectacular shots on the courts. Is there any wonder why they are at the top? You may not be Djokovic or Barty, who are tennis players, but you must work hard if you want to succeed in anything. For you, it may be becoming better in Maths, English, Physics, etc. or improving your communication skills, or becoming better at some sport or music. Whatever it is, you must decide to start working hard today.

I love to hear from you. Please drop your comments and feedback in the comments section below. You can reach out to our team at info@b2sl.org if you require any assistance.

Catch you soon!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Henry Ibrahim is the Content Creator at B2SL. He loves working with young people to help them discover their purpose in life. You can reach him on ibrahim@b2sl.org.

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