Hard Work — Are You Prepared?

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

“Beware of the man who does not translate his words into deeds.” Theodore Roosevelt

Have you ever been around someone who seemed to understand every last detail about everything but had never truly achieved anything?

There was no hard work to back up the talk!

They constantly have an opinion on how a thing should be completed and if your opinion differs, it’s totally wrong! When it comes to accomplishing anything, though, absolutely nothing appears to happen.

These are the guys that will talk all day, but no one actually listens simply because there’s no fruit on the tree, no worthwhile results.

I knew a person exactly like this while I was in college. He usually “knew” the best teachers to take, courses to enroll in and best methods of getting passing grades. However, by the end of the year, he was the one that had flunked out of school. The problem was that even with all of his “supposed knowledge” he never went to class, did the homework or took the tests. He spent pretty much everyday sitting in his dorm room working on models. The crazy part was that he was totally shocked when he learned he couldn’t return to school!

Don’t Be That Guy! 

 The Reality of Hard Work 

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that anything worthwhile is going to come easily or without the need of getting your butt off the couch and pursuing it. Understand that hard and persistent work will need to be invested into any venture that you want quality results from.

Did you see that word “invest“? Your time and work are an investment!

You’ve to think of it that way or you won’t do what’s necessary to excel. It can’t be a mindset of just logging hours or putting in time. It has to become an investment since you know you are going to reap the rewards later, in the future.

This is particularly true once you apply your investment of hard work to a system that re-produces itself!

Did you know that the common denominator for mastery of a proficiency, no matter the activity, is a time commitment or practice of 10,000 hours. When that level has been accomplished, wouldn’t it make sense that mastery has occurred and results are bound to occur.

One example of this, was when the Beatles were working through the musical ranks. As they started playing, they scheduled gigs wherever they could. Many of the places they played were not in England and required playing all night instead of just several hours or sets, like the clubs close to their home. They also had to become comfortable playing many different styles of music. Consequently, there degree of mastery occurred quickly along with their own musical growth.

Have You Invested Consistent, Hard Work

How About You?

• Have you devoted the time needed to attain any semblance of mastery?
• Have you invested the necessary hard work?
• Are you currently willing to?

A quote by an unknown author states,

“Sitting still and wishing makes no person great, the good Lord sends the fishing , but you must dig the bait.”

We in fact must get out and get our hands dirty, this might be figurative or literal. We have to be participating within the arena and take the knocks and lumps that come with learning. It’s just as important for other people to view us undergo the trials because it is for us to experience them.

When other individuals see us strive and work, it provides us several rewards:

1. Higher credibility as we move toward knowledge.
2. Others will learn to trust us by watching us.
3. It enables you to earn respect from yourself and from others.
4. Demonstrates that good results didn’t miraculously appear.
5. Then you have the platform to teach others.

“Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.” David Bly

Almost everything Begins having a Dream

The dream is your launching point.
Progressive goals are the necessary steps for your dream.

These are the steps along the way that point you in the appropriate direction and keep you moving toward the dream. But it’s the work that makes all of those steps take place.

**Take that work and implement a system that allows for successful duplication.**

Without “hard work” invested, a dream is just a wish!

The goals don’t matter when nothing is being done.

• Be willing to do the work!
• Enjoy what you do and the work becomes a labor of love.
• Your destiny is within your hands.
• Take control and make the most of it.
• Control the work to control the results.

“Opportunity usually shows up disguised in overalls.” Anonymous

HARD WORK is the key but a system provides the push!

Enjoy the Journey!