Working hard is overrated. So is working smart.

Hard work is overrated.

It alone is not sufficient for success.

So is working smart. It alone isn’t enough either.

You got great product-market fit? Awesome, but you can still fail. Just ask the many awesome Twitter tools that shut down when Twitter increased prices for their API.

Boatloads of capital? Hundreds of millions? Sorry, no gurantee of success.

Got lucky? Good for you, but no saying that the luck will hang around.

Even a combination of those factors—hard work, luck, capital, great product—won’t guarantee success.

It’s necessary, but not sufficient.

In Chinese there’s a saying 天时地利人和 – a harmony of weather, timing, terrain, advantage, people. For sure it’s an interplay of factors – good product, product-mkt fit, right timing/opportunity, resources, skills, cash, luck, etc etc… How much of each depends on your circumstances. And hundreds of other factors that we cannot control. Even if you had it all, there’s still many factors outside of one’s control that brings success. So while it’s necessary to do, it might not be sufficient.

So don’t believe anyone who tries to give you a formula.

Some folks will get annoyed when they are told hard work is overrated. They often misunderstand. Hard work is necessary. You should still work hard. But it’s an illusion that hard work alone will bring you to success – that’s the key point here. Though just because hard work is overrated doesn’t mean you can be lazy and wait for success to land on your lap. It won’t happen either. I think it’s good that people realise there’s a nuance to what “hard work” truly means, and act accordingly. Most hold very simplistic, cause-and-effect notions of hard work. And get frustrated, drop out when it doesn’t go according to that narrative.

I’m still unlearning this reflex after years of conditioning