Self-discipline: Work hard

The great secret of life is that there is no great secret. Whatever your goal, it can be reached if you are willing to work. Oprah Winfrey.

Definition of hard work

My definition of hard work is one that challenges you.

And why is the challenge important? Why not make it easier than it is?

Most people will do what is easy and avoid hard work; This is precisely why you should do the opposite. The superficial opportunities of life will be approached by hordes of people who seek what is easy. The toughest challenges are generally going to have much less competition and offer you many more opportunities.

There is a gold mine in Africa two kilometers deep. It cost tens of millions of dollars to build, but it is one of the most lucrative gold mines.

Strong challenges are usually associated with strong results. Sure you can get lucky every now and then and find an easy path to it. <strong>success</strong>. But are you going to be able to maintain that success or is it just a fluke? Will you be able to repeat it? Once other people learn how you did it, you will run into stiff competition.

Work hard to be successful

When you have the discipline to do what is hard, you have access to a world of possibilities that very few know about. The will to do what is difficult is like having Aladdin's lamp.

The good thing about working hard is that it is universal. Hard work can be used to achieve long-term positive results, regardless of the details.

I am using the same philosophy in building this development blog o personal growth. I do a lot of things that are difficult. I try to tackle topics other people don't and I overlook low hanging fruit. I strive to explore topics deeply and go for the gold. I spend many hours reading and researching. I write long articles to give my best ideas for free, so I am constantly forced to do my best. I started this blog in March 2010 (two months ago) and have been working on it full time.

Meanwhile I am doing a course in Construction and Design of Web Pages. I have two beautiful children (boy and girl of three years). I have had to deal with two rheumatic diseases that undermine my health. I help and advise anyone who asks me for it completely free of charge. I try to walk two hours a day. If I had spent all this time watching television and spending idle hours on the couch, my life would not be as productive. It's a lot of hard work. I know that within a year I will begin to reap the fruits of this project. But I am willing to pay whatever price is necessary. I'm not going to take the easy way out of a shallow position. I'm not going to write self-help articles for the sole purpose of earning views and money. That doesn't help anybody. If it takes years, it takes years.

I am taking the same approach to writing ebooks. It's a lot of hard work. But I want them to be ebooks that people will still read 10 years from now. Writing such an ebook is at least 10 times harder than the kind of books I see dominating the psychology section of bookstores today. But most of the books in these bookstores will be forgotten in a year.

Hard work pays off. The greater your work capacity, the greater the rewards that are available to you. The more you can dig, the more treasure you can find.

Being healthy is hard work. Finding and maintaining a successful relationship is hard work. Educating children is hard work. Getting organized is hard work. Setting goals, making plans to achieve them, and staying on top of the wave is hard work. Even being happy is hard work (true happiness that comes from high self-esteem, not false happiness that comes from denial and avoidance).

Hard work goes hand in hand with acceptance. One of the things that you must accept are those areas of your life that you need to change. Maybe you want to lose weight. It may be time to accept that the path to your goal is through a disciplined diet and exercise. Maybe you want to increase your income. Maybe you should accept that the only way to get what you set out to do is to work hard.

Your life will reach a whole new level when you stop avoiding and fearing hard work. Become an ally of him instead of his enemy. It is a powerful tool to have by your side.

This post is the fourth part of a series of 6 articles on self-discipline: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | Step 6 —