You have heard it said, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” The fact is that your willingness and ability to work hard for many months and years are indispensable to your success in business, life and leadership. Religion hardly emphasizes hard-work, thereby making poor folk out of many people on the continent of Africa. The truth is; without hard-work, forget about becoming successful in business, life and leadership.
In this part of the world, there is a way poor people evaluate rich people. They wrongly think they are lucky. This is 12:52am and I am up writing what you are reading right now. One of the ways to become lucky is staying awake consistently when others are in bed snoring. And as a matter of fact, if you want to become luckier this year than you were last year, then get ready to work harder this year.
I read through a true life story. There was a mentor who was an Olympic gold medalist. One of his distant-mentees followed him to the Olympic and while watching his mentor run, he also desired to become an Olympic gold medalist four years after. He found out about how hard his mentor trained on a daily basis in order to become an Olympic champion. He ended up getting to know that his mentor daily invested 20 hours for four years before winning the Olympic medal in that field of sport.
It was there that it dawned on him that for him to be able to defeat his mentor four years after, he would need to daily invest at 22 hours into preparing for the next Olympic. And because he worked harder than his mentor, he was luckier four years after! He defeated his mentor because he worked harder than him!
Who is the best in your field of business? How many hours does he or she put into what he or she does? Do not just keep wishing in vain to do more than him or her. On the condition that you won’t put more hours into what you are doing, you are not going to surpass your competitors. It is important I let you know this stark naked truth.
When Thomas Stanley and William Danko were doing their interviews for The Millionaire Next Door, they often asked self-made entrepreneurial millionaires the secrets of their success. The answer that they got back, thousands of times, was similar, “I didn’t start off with a fancy background or good education; I was just willing to work harder than anyone else.” This is how to be lucky when it comes to the school of success in the midst of the earth.
Over the years, I have developed what I have chosen to call my “40-Plus Formular” for success. This formula says that, if you only work 40 hours a week, all you do is survive. All you have is a job; all you will ever be is “just over broke.” This should let you know that you can never survive (let alone succeed) as an entrepreneur without being willing to work beyond 40 hours a week. You need to understand this before you “fire your boss” out of ignorance. Remember, entrepreneurship is not for lazy bones.
On the other hand, every hour that you put in over 40 hours each week is an investment in your future success. You can tell with unerring accuracy where you are going to be in the years ahead by how many hours you are putting into your work above and beyond the normal work-week.
The average entrepreneur and self-made millionaire anywhere in the world—works for at least 59 hours a week. At the beginning of their careers and their businesses, they often work 70, 80, and 90 hours per week, seven days a week, sometimes for several years, before they break through! This should let you know that it takes a lot of hard-work before breakthrough occurs, not only in business but in every sphere of life.
There is no substitute for hard work. You need to understand that the harder you work, the luckier you get. By the law of probabilities, if you work longer and harder than the average person, you are going to achieve more, and soon vastly more, than the average person.
This is why it is vital that you love what you do. It is only when you love your work, your products and services, your customers and your staff that you will be able to maintain the energy, drive, and persistence to overcome all obstacles. The question is, are you in love with what you do or you are just doing it because of bills? If you do not love it, then putting 90 hours into it, week in and week out—will be impossible.
One of the great secrets to success you need to understand this year is to do what you love to do and then become very good at doing it. This is the secret of every high-flying folk I have seen and read about in the midst of the earth. Buddy, walking this secret out in shoe-leather will deliver success to you this year and beyond. This is non-negotiable.
Lastly, you must love what you do so much that you are willing to throw your whole heart into it, month after month and year after year. You must believe, from deep in your heart, that your product or service is good and valuable and important for your customers. You must commit totally to doing what you do in an excellent fashion and to continuous personal improvement. Till I come your way again, see you where successful leaders are found!
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