Too Much Hard Work

"Hard work is the key to success." Yes, I know, how original I am. Think of all the posters, ads, and quotes that have ingrained this idea! Success being linked to hard work has been a common theme throughout the history. All of the greatest musicians, scientists, philosophers, and politicians that this world has seen have had humungous work ethics. If you want to succeed, there is no way around it; you must work hard.

However, I'd like to make a ridiculous proposal: too much hard work is bad thing. Yes, I know this goes against the highly romanticized idea of the direct correlation between hard work and success; but, I think that this issue has been simplified to a fault. There are many more factors to success than just hard work, and how much work someone should put in to something entirely depends on the context. To reconcile this misconception, I'm going to provide an analogy. Yes- you guessed it- that analogy involves fitness! 

So in our analogy, let's examine a fictional character Julia. Julia is a healthy 21 year-old female who regularly engages in cardiovascular exercise. However, Julia's friend Dave had always talked about how much he loves lifting, so Julia decided to give it a try. After about a month of lifting 2-3 times a week, Julia was hooked. She decided that she'd like to compete in strength-training events, so she immediately upper her frequency: she began lifting 4-5 times a week, spending about 2 hours in the gym trip. While she still loved strength-training, she sometimes had to force herself to come to the gym. Workouts were becoming more of a chore and less of something to look forward to. But, after a year of lifting, Julia competed in a powerlifting meet and placed second. Great job Julia! 

At the same time Julia began lifting, another woman named Denise (also a healthy 21 year-old female) also began lifting. Like Julia, Denise quickly fell in love with strength training. Denise was lifting about 2-3 times a week. She wanted to go to the gym more frequently, but her work schedule didn't allow her to. For Denise the gym served as an oasis from the nagging worries that normally just wouldn't leave her alone. As a result, she looked forward to every gym trip. After a year of lifting (like Julia), Denise competed in a powerlifting meet and placed 1st, just above Julia!

What these examples demonstrate directly contradicts the "hard work = success" ideology. Julia worked harder than Denise, but still achieved roughly the same results. Denise's trips to the gym didn't feel like hard work, but Julia's did. From these examples, we learn that after a certain point (especially in the fitness considering the limits of the human body), hard work becomes futile. There is a limit to how much hard work someone can put in before whatever they're working on simply can't grow or progress. This is especially true with the human body. A 30 minute workout can grow just as much muscle as 3-hour workout. In fact, some of the world's best powerlifters only train once a week! From these examples we also learn that sometimes, putting in less work can make the work itself more enjoyable. This will allow for sustainability, and less of a chance of the person wanting to quit.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't work hard. I still think that success requires hard work. However, people (especially those in the fitness industry) need to step back and examine the situation they're in. They need to make sure that their hard work is being applied in the most efficient way possible and that most importantly, they're having fun. Unfortunately, most problems have a complex solution, and this misconception that "hard work = success" convinces people that the path to achieving their goals is simple and clear-cut. This is simply not the case. But, if someone is willing to embrace the complexity and the importance of context of any situation they're in, they will be much more likely to succeed.