Don't Make Hard Work Optional
If you want to be successful in life, it is going to take hard work. A rewarding career, a fulfilling romantic relationship, raising children…it all takes commitment and dedication. It changed my life when I realized that I would have to fight for the things in life that are worth having. From that point forward, I shifted my mind set. I went from doing everything I can to avoid hard work to leaning in and expecting a challenge around every corner. In my mind hard work is the rule, not the exception.
It may sound like a subtle shift, but there is a marked difference between the way someone with my mindset approaches life and the way someone with an avoidant personality approaches life. Let’s take a work issue as an example. Let’s say that your product is not selling enough units. Your profits are lower than projected, and overall things are not growing the way they should. Someone with an avoidant personality is likely to come up with excuses. They will blame the time of year, the economy, their own marketing team, and even the marketplace itself. They are the people most likely to say “Well we did not anticipate this market reaction but this is what we are working with,” as if nothing can be done. In contrast, the person who embraces hard work will do just that...start working. They will analyze their pricing models, purchasing behaviors, and marketing impact. They will develop buyer personas and survey customers who both did and did not buy. They will then make changes based on the information they collect. This approach is way more difficult than simply finding an excuse for poor performance, but it is the only approach that will turn poor performance around.
The key is to not treat hard work like it is optional. Recognize your excuses as excuses and stop treating them like legitimate reasons to take the easy path. When I first started shifting my mind set I would pause every time I tried to avoid doing something and remind myself that excuses only set me back. Every time I thought “I’ll deal with this tomorrow” I paused and asked myself why. If I didn’t have a good enough reason (FYI, there are very few reasons that are good enough) then I sat down and made myself finish the work. Today, I don’t have to pause. I jump right into the work headfirst since I know it is the only path to success.
Put in the work and enjoy the spoils. There is no other option and no other way.