Hard work is not enough

‘It is important that you work hard, but don’t be enamoured of the feeling of working hard. If you are drunk on that feeling, then you care less about the actual work than about how you appear to others to be working hard’

Haemin Sunim

I love this quote as it balances the need for hard work with an understanding of what you are working hard for. We’ve all been there – you spend a day working hard but at the end of it you can’t seem to look back at any achievements.

Having said that, I firmly believe that hard work is an essential part of any worthwhile achievement. By all means look for a life changing purpose but never believe that it is rightfully yours to have.

The model that has consistently worked for me is:

1. Choose a direction,
2. Devise a plan,
3. Take fully committed action.

This has proved true in many areas of my life – from the big stuff like starting a business, sailing the Atlantic, or climbing a mountain to the small things like 1-1 meetings, preparing a talk or writing a blog post.