Keys to Successful Business and Life
Success Key #3: Work Hard

"Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits." (Thomas Edison, "The Wizard of Menlo Park," considered the world's most prolific inventor, with 1,093 inventions, an average of one invention every 12 days of his adult life!) 

I know; I know. You didn't want to hear this. Most of us wish we could win the lottery and not have to hear the word "work" - ever again. But oddly, this might not be much fun. The leisure life is highly overrated. Lots of people retire each year with plenty of money, only to go back to work to have something to do, something bigger to live for than TV, video games and popcorn. 

If plenty of money and a life of leisure would make everyone happy, why do you think that Bill Gates (net worth as I write of $51 Billion) and Warren Buffett (75 years old and worth $40 Billion), the first and second wealthiest people in America, don't just retire with their billions? Apparently, they love their work. 

The great Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy grew up in a wealthy class of Russians, while the poorer people did most of the work. But he observed something strange: the people who worked seemed happier than the privileged class. He renounced his class to work among the peasants and decided that "work, and not idleness, is the indispensable condition of happiness for every human being." (1)

Hmmm. So maybe work isn't so bad, especially if we can find work that we like. The super-successful seem to agree. They like what they do. About 9 out of 10 of the super-successful businessmen that professor Stanley surveyed said it was important that they "worked harder than most people." When it's tough, they relish the challenge. There's something intoxicating and addicting about looking back and seeing a job well-done. 

According to Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novelist James Michener, 

"The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does., leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both."  (2)

 Here's what some successful people say about hard work:

Kemmons Wilson, Sr., founder of Holiday Inns, at a high school commencement: ''I really don't know why I'm here. I never got a degree, and I've only worked half days my entire life. I guess my advice to you is to do the same. Work half days every day. And it doesn't matter which half. The first twelve hours or the second twelve hours.'' (3) 

Steve Vai (in picture) and Yngwie Malmsteen, Rock Guitar Maestros:

The question: "Steve, on average how long did you practice in your teens?" 

Vai's answer: "It varied. I enjoyed a social life with my friends but I had a schedule that was no less than 9 hours a day and tried to stick to it. I was anal. It helped me stay on target." 

Malmsteen's comment to Vai: "That's why you're good. There's no shortcut.... I sacrificed everything." 

Final comment by Vai: "To be either a shredder or virtuoso you have to practice a lot and perfectly." (4) 

Pat Riley, one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time: ''The most profound basic of all is simple hard work.'' (5) 

Former U.S. President Harry S. Truman: ''I studied the lives of great men and famous women, and I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work.'' 

P.T. Barnum, of Barnum and Bailey's Circus: "Whatever you do, do it with all your might. Work at it, early and late, in season and out of season, not leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour that which can be done just as well now.'' 

Andrew Carnegie of Bethlehem Steel: ''The average person puts only 25 percent of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50 percent of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100 percent.'' (Andrew Carnegie)

Today's Tips:

• Would those closest to you consider you lazy, a hard worker, or somewhere in between? How do you consider yourself?  
• What goals are important to you - To own a totally fixed-up muscle car? Get really good at an instrument? Own a decent house? Purchase a great amp and guitar? How much will you have to work to make one of these goals? Is the goal worthy of some hard work? 
• Ultimately, we want a balance between work and play, relationships and making a living. How much of your day is spent working and studying? How much in play? At this stage of life, In order to be successful, how much of each day should be devoted to work?
• How can your time at work be spent more profitably?

End Notes

(1) Dan Miller, 48 Days to the Work You Love, p. 9.
(2) Ibid., p. 7.
(3) Joe Griffith, Speaker's Library of Business Quotes.
(4) From interview, Feb 23 '03, MSN Chat Transcript, MSN Live.
(5) The Winner Within, by Pat Riley, p. 86.
(6) Picture of Steve Vai. According to Wikipedia: "Steve Vai at G3 in Milan, Italy, June 2004 (photo taken by Enrico Frangi). This file has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. This applies worldwide."