Why You Aren’t Successful Despite Working Damn Hard

Sometimes working hard just isn’t enough for success

Some people say they tirelessly work hard and yet don’t succeed at whatever it is they’re doing.

Others work the fraction of the previous group and yet are successful apparently in their endeavor.

Why’s this discrepancy? What causes this vast difference in the outcome?

Some people just work hard. The emphasis is not on “work hard” but on the word “just”. They don’t have any systemic approach or a strategy even when they’re on a lifelong journey to success.

You Are Not Learning From Your Mistakes

Remember Thanos from Marvel’s Avengers Endgame movie? Turned out he wasn’t inevitable. But mistakes are for us.

The tougher your journey to success, the more prone you will be to making mistakes.

You will make mistakes. You can’t dodge it altogether. The best you can do is to keep your mistakes to a minimum.

Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. If you want to be afraid of anything, be afraid of going on in life learning nothing from the mistakes you’ve made.

Take lessons from your mistakes and also from the mistakes others have made.

Learning from your mistakes is great. But learning from others’ mistakes is better.

If you make sure you won’t let any of your mistakes go by learning nothing from it, your hard work won’t go in vain.

Work Hard the Way It Counts

There’s the right way and there’s the wrong way of doing things. Make sure you’re working the right way.

But what’s the right way of doing your work?

The right way to work for your goal comprises three core traits — discipline, focus, consistency.

Discipline

Discipline is the touchstone you need to become successful. You can never become successful at anything without discipline.

But they say discipline is boring. Who are they? Those who didn’t experience success and never will. It’s the losers talk.

Discipline is, you will do what you’re supposed to do irrespective of whether your mind wants you to do it.

Your mind wouldn’t want to do the work necessary. It’ll search for a shortcut to success. But there’s no shortcut to success.

The journey to success is tedious. You’ll get bored easily. You’d want to stop doing the work you’re supposed to be doing because it’s too tough to build a habit.

You’d want to leave behind your dream because you aren’t getting any inspiration. You can’t wait for the inspiration to hit you to get down to work.

You’ll have inspiration overload the first few days of starting something new. But when the honeymoon is over, inspiration will nowhere be found. You’ll need discipline then.

Make sure you’re disciplined. Discipline will then ensure you do the work whether inspiration hits you.

Focus

It’s too easy to lose your attention nowadays.

Our attention span is biologically small. You now have competitions from the tech giants all working hard for your attention with distracting notifications and all.

We have hundreds of distracting things to attend to, including the very thing we’re supposed to do. Most of these attentions seeking works are irrelevant to your success and yet demand much of your daily time.

The only way you can fight them is by being focused on your goal.

Focus plays the most important role in every success. When you have focus, everything else falls into place.

Know what you want. Get your priorities straight. Block many distractions while doing your work.

Keep your focus intact when you’re working. Let nothing get in your way of doing what you’re supposed to be doing. That way you’ll make success inevitable.

Consistency

Few things need high intelligence. You can become successful at almost any endeavor with the average intelligence.

You know what you need instead? Consistency.

Be consistent in your work and you will surely outsmart the smartest of the smart people.

Consistency is a rare trait. But not for successful people.

Successful people swear by consistency. They are consistent with whatever they’re doing.

They don’t do it one day if the inspiration hits them and again months later. That’s not how you become successful.

Success demands your consistent effort. It needs you to be regular in your work.

Work regularly. If you’re serious about being successful, do your work every single day.

Doing something every day builds your muscle memory. It makes you come to know your mistakes firsthand and thus allows you to learn from them.

Make sure you are constantly improving

The easiest way to go somewhere is to follow the footsteps of the people who have already been there. To become successful, emulate successful people.

Successful people strive to make themselves better every day. They’re lifelong learners.

Go to bed with a better self than when you woke up. Don’t make a day go by without improving yourself.

Take the challenge to make yourself better than you were yesterday. This way you’ll always improve yourself.

Learn from every challenge life throws at you every single day. Don’t be upset that you have to face problems every day. Feel lucky that you have this opportunity to learn every day of your life.

When life throws lemons at you, it’s up to you what to do with them. Some people duck. Some keep the lemons as is.

You have the option to make your life the way you want it to be. Only you have the power to make lemonade from the lemons life threw at you.

In conclusion

Don’t just work hard. Work systematically.

Fix your goal. Strategize your work. Work in a way that counts. Make success inevitable.

If you don’t become successful after working hard the right way, I don’t know who will.