Although there are almost always benefits to working hard, we rarely pay attention to the costs. Time is the only resource that once spent cannot be returned, so if you're going to work hard and pay the price, you better be aiming for something significant.
You don't want to be the one climbing your ladder of success only to realise it was leaning on the wrong wall.
When you work at something that's meaningful to you, even if you fail in the traditional sense of the word, you have won in all the other areas of life that are significant. And with that frame of mind, the lessons you have learned will drive you to try again.
Don't get it twisted; I'm a believer in hard work. It's just that over the years, I've seen far too many examples of how blind adherence to hard work can be dangerous.
Hard work is just part of the story.
"If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe."
A quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln and so true.
Take the time to find your purpose before you start talking about doing the hard work.
"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honourable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well."
I see my purpose from Ralph Waldo Emerson's point of view.
No one comes with a predefined purpose in life; you've got to find it.
Read, listen, dance, make friends, travel, make love, build, volunteer and experience the world in as many positive ways as you can. Start small. Don't get discouraged if things don't fall into place right away. Keep going. And if you feel a little, tiny spark, if something feels different about what you just did, then you're headed in the right direction. I can't promise how long it will take but prepare for some glorious, life-changing hard work once you find
your purpose.
Good luck.
