Nothing beats hard work

Well that’s my motto at least “Nothing beats hard work”. You may be talented, brilliant, innovative etc. BUT if you are not willing to do hard work, you are not going to achieve much – not in your studies, career, personal life, habits, hobbies, relationships – anything that you can name. Being consistent and being willing to work hard will beat every other quality almost consistently. In fact all these traits can be summed up in just one word ‘Conscientiousness‘. I like the Wikipedia explanation –

Conscientiousness is the trait of being painstaking and careful, or the quality of acting according to the dictates of one’s conscience. It includes such elements as self-discipline, carefulness, thoroughness, self-organization, deliberation (the tendency to think carefully before acting), and need for achievement. It is an aspect of what has traditionally been called character. Conscientious individuals are generally hard-working and reliable. When taken to an extreme, they may also be “workaholics”, perfectionists, and compulsive in their behavior. People who are low on conscientiousness are not necessarily lazy or immoral, but they tend to be more laid back, less goal-oriented, and less driven by success.

 While Steve Tobak (one of my favorite writers) has not exactly listed conscientiousness as one of the “10 characteristics of highly successful people“, personally I believe that everything else would fall by the wayside if not for this ‘glue’ so to speak. I highly recommend stopping by his article, it is a very interesting read.

Another article that I had read earlier today of the same author was all about how it has taken successful people years to get where they are now – years of consistency in pursuing their dreams. He had even triumphantly declared that “the geek will inherit the earth”. I do certainly think so.  If you are up for reading, stop by here ” How ordinary people become extraordinary”.

The rabbit might have looked like it was going to win the race for the way it started but how can we ever forget that it was the turtle who ultimately won because he just kept going and didn’t stop to rest?