No. 36 - The Importance of A Prodigious Work Ethic

Of course, there are no certainties in life. Many decent and hard-working people never achieve their full potential. The truth is there are many variables involved in the equation for ultimate success.

No one can control all the factors. That's just life. But one factor you can control is your work ethic.

Here are four lessons to remember about work ethic:

1. Each person must decide his/her own definition of 'prodigious.'

Life is a balancing game. When you work, you don't do something else. You need to decide what objectives - personal and professional - to pursue and how to allocate your hours accordingly.

2. Do not fool yourself.

There is a correlation between input and output. The more you commit yourself, the more likely you will achieve your goals.

3. Working smart is more important than working hard.

A woodcutter chopping a tree with a unsharpened axe is working hard, no doubt. But he's certainly not working smart. If he took 15 minutes to sharpen his axe, his efforts would be much less.

Of course, the metaphor rings true. But in today's competitive world, players work both smart and hard. Don't assume you work smarter than the next guy and are therefore entitled to work less hard. That's mentality simply spells disaster.

4. Ignore those who belittle your efforts

'Workaholic' is a derogatory term - it means a person works just for the sake of working. But in fact, this kind of name calling usually belies jealousy or an unwillingness to compete. Expend your hours as you see fit. Don't let someone else set (or limit) your dreamscape.

"The harder I worked, the luckier I got." - Leo Durocher, famous baseball manager

Read more on how to achieve personal success, or check out the work-in-progress book 'Street Smarts 101: Lessons Textbooks Miss.'

Click here to learn more about the book The Skinny On Success.

Comments

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