Hard work is overrated & underrated

Hard work.

That puritan ideal that brought us capitalism and many more good things in humanity.

That narrative that pushes the human race forward.

But I’m not always a fan. It depends on the context in which “work hard” is invoked.

Here in Asia, from my ethnic, Confucian Chinese upbringings, hard work is about sacrifice - all sweat, blood and tears. Hard work is about trading off the present for a brighter future. Hard work is studying hard, being really good at math (lol), getting into an Ivy League or equivalent school, getting the highest honours, landing a stable, prestigious job like a doctor or lawyer, and then continue working hard in that job for life. Add on 2 kids, an European car or two, a condominium apartment, and all the usual (old) signals of status. Rinse and repeat till you die. There, that’s a good life.

The key part of this narrative is anyone can do it. As long as you work hard. And the rewards are predictable and directly proportional to the effort.

It’s a simple, linear narrative.

That’s where hard work is overrated.

Because life is never linear. There are no straight lines in Nature. The only straight lines are man-made, a projection of our desires on a chaotic, chance-driven world. Just like the narrative of hard work.

I realised “working hard” are more words of consolation than data from reality. We can’t make sense of chance, so we console ourselves with nifty ideals like hard work to just keep going.

This lesson hit hardest recently when I started on my indie hacker, entrepreneurial journey. No other profession depends that much on chance for success. When I was employed, it was easy to buy into the hard work narrative because it worked to a certain extent, up to a certain ceiling. But once I started working for myself, that belief came crashing down. Entrepreneurship is a game of more chance than we like to give it. And you can get huge upside even if the effort for that occasion is low, and if you know how to play the game, spot opportunities.

But huge caveat here: I’m not saying be lazy, self-entitled and expect good things to come with zero effort

Hard work is underrated exactly because of that - it’s not common. It’s common knowledge but not common practice. We’ve all worked had friends in school who asked to copy your homework, colleagues who cruise on the hard work of the rest of the team and get promoted despite being incompetent. Lazy folks aside, how many of us are really committed to our goal or craft that we’re willing to put ten years into it? Even if you truly believed in your work, do you have patience to last a decade?

Hard work is both overrated and underrated, and both are not in conflict.

Overrated because of expectation of linear rewards.
Underrated because it’s uncommon.

Hard work is… hard.