Does Hard Work Actually Pay Off?
Why you are not seeing results in the GYM and LIFE.
You know the phrase: "Hard work pays off"? While it is a fun motivator to say, there is a slight caveat to consider.
Hard work only pays off if it's the right kind of work.
Learning to speak Chinese will not help you if you plan on moving to Mexico.
Before you work hard, you need to get specific and accurate. Then it is about being intentional. Let me bust another popular saying: 10,000 hours to become a master at anything.
This was popularized by Malcolm Gladwell. The concept is that to become professional at anything you need 10,000 hours of practice. While this seems appropriate, how do we account for child prodigys?
The answer lies in the concept of: Deliberate Practice
Deliberate Practice is hyper focused intentional practice. By using deliberate practice you can actually improve skill with less time.
For example you could get 10,000 hours of swinging a golf club, but if you are not swinging with proper technique you will never get better.
The same is true for hitting the gym and other areas of your life.
Just because you workout 5 days a week does not mean that you will improve your fitness.
If you want to get better at communication then talking more is not the solution.
Once you stop moving for the sake of just moving and take some time to figure out what type of work you should be doing you will be amazed at how the progress rolls in.
Being able to run faster does not help if you are running in the right direction.