What’s the first thing that pops up in your mind when you hear the word ‘work’?
Most would confess that it makes them upset right away as the picture of dreadful Mondays occurs in their head.
We think of effort and pressure, of a grumpy boss, unpleasant atmosphere, stuff we have to do in a short time, boredom, being average, low salary, etc.
The word has received a quite negative meaning through the years.
But I think that everything can be good or bad, right or wrong. It’s all about the way we look at it and the reasons we have for starting and going on.
I believe that hard work is a must in the life of someone who’s decided to do something big, become someone, create, help and make money.
But it has to be more than just work…
In this post I’m going to write about purpose, passion, dedication, going the extra mile and becoming a hard worker (with the help of some experts in the niche that have already achieved that). Because all these are what you need in order to live a remarkable life and have everything you’ve ever dreamed of.
Be a Hard Worker and Do What You’re Passionate About in 8 Steps
1. Purpose.
You need to know what you want and why you want it.
That’s your deepest desire, dreams and goals, values and beliefs, conviction and understanding of how life works. When combined, these form your purpose.
So you need to figure out what it is.
Here are the only two posts you’ll need to read on the subject:
How to discover your life purpose in about 20 minutes
How to find your life purpose: an unconventional approach
2. Passion.
The only things you’ll ever be good at in life, are the things you’re passionate about. That means that you care about them, they move you, you’re willing to give them your time and love, you’re ready to make sacrifices.
It may be your family – spending time with them as much as you can, keeping them safe, helping them, making them smile.
Or your fitness life – a significant part of your time, energy and money goes to your workout routine, eating clean, staying motivated, connecting with others interested in that, learning more about how your body works, etc.
It may be blogging – if you’re passionate about it, you’ll search for every opportunity to write, post, promote, read or else. You’ll spend hours and hours working on your little online world and will give up on other things in your life that are less important.
Some are most passionate about their looks. They eat in a way that will make them slim and fresh, are crazy about the latest fashion trends, buy cosmetics all the time and so on.
People are individuals and their interests are numerous. But whatever your passion is, you’ll know when you find it.
Then your job is to follow it.
3. Know why it’s necessary to work hard on it.
Tynan answers that question this way in his post about loving the work you do:
“To fall in love with hard work, you must understand why it’s necessary. When I was young I was told that sugar was bad, but I never understood exactly why it was bad, so I kept eating it. Only when I learned how it chemically affected my body did I finally give it up. The same is true of work– if you don’t know why you have to work hard and love it, you’ll probably never actually do it…
Work is your gift to the world. That sounds corny, but it’s true. And believe me, you owe the world a gift or two. Think of all of the various things that millions of people around the world have done for you to enjoy the life you have. They made up languages, invented stuff, procreated at the exact right times to create your ancestry, and managed to not kill each other in the process. We’re lucky to be here, and the high standard of living we all enjoy now is only because of those who came before us. Some, like Einstein, had huge impact, but even people you don’t notice, like the janitors, are making your life better…
And when you do things that are hard and you push through them, you become a better person. So hard stuff is a chance to prove your worth to yourself, and the easy stuff is to give back to the world, to use your gifts and leverage them so that others benefit. There’s a balance to it. When you love work you understand and embrace that balance…”
The point is to find your reasons, to find the ‘why’ that lies deep inside you and to keep reminding yourself of it on your way to becoming a hard worker and improving your lifestyle.
4. Fall in love with what you do.
Do it with all your heart and soul.
Nothing compares to the success of having the chance to make a career out of what you love doing. But before that comes hard work.
5. Go the extra mile
Not only do you have to work, but you need to do it more than others.
Leo from Zen Habits has been writing on his blog while having a full-time job and a family to take care of.
He didn’t have any free time. So he was working on his project early in the morning, during his lunch break, and late in the evening.
And he made it.
There are tens of thousands of examples of hard workers out there who’ve achieved a lot.
Programmers and app developers haven’t slept a lot while working on something new they were passionate about.
Top musicians didn’t get there in a year, it took them countless hours of practice.
You need to realize that hard work is the only way. And you shouldn’t fear it.
Instead, learn to work with it. To always have in mind your vision and why you’re doing all that.
Here is what Tynan says about that:
“Equally important is realizing that you will not reach your goals if you don’t work harder than you currently know is possible. When I was twenty or so, I was cocky. I told plenty of people that I’d be a millionaire by twenty-five. It was so set in stone that I would be a millionaire that I didn’t really even try. I was special, and people like me became millionaires. Special or not, I didn’t become a millionaire because I didn’t work hard enough at it…
Your mind must accept a very absolute truth: if you work extremely hard, you’ll probably get most of what you want, but if you work an average amount or less, you will not get what you want.”
And Napoleon Hill summarizes it this way:
“An important principle of success in all walks of life and in all occupations is a willingness to ” Go The Extra Mile “; which means the rendering of more and better service than that for which one is paid, and giving it in a positive mental attitude.
Search wherever you will for a single sound argument against this principle and you will not find it, nor will you find a single instance of enduring success, which was not attained in part by its application.”
6. Dedication
Sacrifices have to be made.
It may be your free time, your savings, hobbies, nightlife, energy, sleep, or else. But it’s inevitable.
In order to have the body you want, you’ll need to give up on the food you’ve always loved.
If your dream is to be a writer, you’ll need to write all the time, every single day.
And when they’re not writing, most of the successful people in the niche are reading or coming up with ideas.
Tynan continues:
“Work seven days a week. Weekends are for suckers. Are you REALLY telling me that you’re not going to work on weekends just because everyone else takes those days off? Are you really THAT bound to the whims of the masses?
Work as many hours as you possibly can each day. Again, 9-5 is for suckers. Wake up when you want to (same time every day), go to sleep when you want to (eight hours earlier), and plan on working for almost all of the hours in between. I recommend one or two hours of reading every night because I’ve found it helps me sleep better, inspires me, and teaches me stuff that helps with my work. This is part of working smart.
But this doesn’t give you much time to do anything else, right? Yeah, that’s the point. The default should be working all the time. When you start off, this is especially true, but once you love work you can give yourself a lot more leeway, because work will be your favorite activity. Once you get there, you’ll effortlessly maximize your time, because your innate priority will be for production.
Can you take breaks? Yes. But NEVER for low-quality consumption.”
That’s how people do it. At least those who make something big out of their lives. And I believe anyone has the potential to do it.
7. Make it a habit
The best way to enjoy the fruits of your hard work is to make it a daily habit. Only this way will you stay consistent and see results.
After all, it won’t matter if you do the thing you love and go the extra mile only for a few days. Even a few weeks won’t take you anywhere.
What precedes success is discipline and learning how to get up every day and do the same thing – work on what you believe in.
Soon you’ll get used to it. And when it becomes a part of your lifestyle, you’re on your way to mastering it.
8. Productivity
Another thing I need to mention is some people’s ability to spend hours on something without actually doing any work.
They lack focus, they’re thinking about completely different things and that’s why they get nowhere.
Being productive means working smart. Doing only the things that are important and eliminating everything else.
And nothing here works better than the way Tim Ferriss uses the 80/20 rule.
After figuring out the things that need to stay on your list and the activities that bring you the biggest results, you’ll no longer feel overwhelmed.
Conclusion
I tried to cover the main things you need to know about being a hard worker.
Never forget that it’s all worth it because you’re working on something that matters, that has a future, that can change your life and have an impact on others.
Start working hard now. And make it your lifestyle.
That’s when you’ll feel more accomplished than ever, will find meaning in times and places where you thought it didn’t exist, and when you’ll feel happy, contented and proud of yourself.
And the best of all, is that eventually you’ll realize you’ve never worked a day in your life. As doing what you love can never be considered work.
Stock Photo from Andrei Mayatnik @ Shutterstock