Hard work is no doubt one of the most important keys to success. No matter what it is that you want to achieve in life, whether personally or professionally, you need to work hard to create the results you want. But here’s the question – is there any way you can make yourself become more hard working?
The answer is YES!
And you’re reading the right guide. I’m going to share with you 3 easy steps on how you can become more hard working so that you can achieve anything you want in your life.
However, before we talk about becoming more hard working to get things done, you may doubt and think “why do I want to work hard when I can work smart?”
Well, here’s my answer… You don’t have to work hard OR smart. You don’t have to choose between the two. You just need to work hard AND smart. Do both! That way, your success is guaranteed.
Related article: Stop Working Hard Unless You Fulfill These 5 Principles
Hence, in this guide, I’m not going to talk about working smart, instead, I’m going to focus on and talk about how to make you become much more hard working. So, here are the 3 simple steps…
1. Find the Optimal Level of Difficulty
According to the Goldilocks Principle, your motivation will peak when you are working on a task with the right level of difficulty. If you want to read more about the Goldilocks Principle, check out this guide here.
Imagine you’re playing a tennis game with a 5-year-old. If you get too serious, the game becomes boring because you can easily win. There’s no fun in it. And guess what, you’ll never have the motivation to play the game all out.
On the contrary, if you play a tennis game with professionals, like Serena Williams or Roger Federer, the game will be too difficult for you. You can’t win no matter how hard you try. And again, that will quickly destroy your level of motivation to want to play tennis.
Now, what if you’re playing with someone who is about your level? You win a few points, and you lose a few points. You can win the game, but only if you play it seriously and go all out.
How do you feel? You’ll be motivated to play. You’ll be driven to want to win because there’s a possibility and you know you can win if you work hard for the game.
That’s how the Goldilocks Principle works. If you want to maintain your motivation and stay motivated throughout your journey, find a goal or create a task that has an optimal level of difficulty.
If you’re earning $5,000 a month and you set your goal to earn $100,000 a month, you’ll subconsciously sabotage your goal because deep inside you, you don’t believe it is possible.
This is why there’s a disadvantage in setting big goals that you don’t believe in.
Just like paying $500 to a $10,000 debt isn’t going to sound motivational. It is better to pay the $500 to an overdue utility bill so you can cross it off your list, which will build up your momentum and encourage you to pay off more of your debt.
Do you get it?
If you want to work hard, the subject/task/project/goal you’re working on must be within your optimal level of difficulty.
Don’t choose a goal that is too far away from your current abilities to accomplish. Make the project or target with difficulty so that you will be challenged to work on it.
That’s how you motivate yourself to become more hard working with what you do.
2. Reframe Work into Play
That’s right, you want to switch your mindset and reframe work into play. The saying, “All work and no play makes jack a dull boy” is truer than ever.
Most people hate their jobs, and they don’t like to work. They dreaded going to the office every morning. Why? Because they treat their work as ‘work’ – something boring and not fun.
This is why you want to reframe that mentality. Change the way you look at your job and work.
In the book, Play It Away: A Workaholic’s Cure for Anxiety, the author, Charlie Hoehn shared a couple of great strategies on how you can turn your work into play. It is a great book I recommend you read.
If you study great people who have gone on to accomplish extraordinary success in life, you’ll discover they all look at what they do as play, not plain and boring work…
“I never did a day’s work in my life. It was all fun.”
Thomas Edison
“Play is the highest form of research.”
Albert Einstein
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
Steve Jobs
“Man is God’s plaything, and that is the best part of him. Therefore, every man and woman should live life accordingly, and play the noblest games… What, then is the right way of living? Life must be lived as play.”
Plato
One of the most respectable entrepreneurs is none other than Richard Branson. He was known to have a lot of fun while running his business. This was what he once said…
“Some 80% of your life is spent working. You want to have fun at home, why shouldn’t you have fun at work?”
But how do you turn your work into play? Here are a few tips to help…
Follow your heart. You should do something that you love doing, without force or restriction. This is why it is always fun to enjoy doing something you WANT than doing something you HAVE to.
Play with others. Work that involves others is more fun. Think about sports and outdoor games. When you get to play with others, the fun level is multifold. Try to get a partner or work in a group to have more fun.
Develop the passion. You don’t have to follow your passion, instead, you can develop a passion. The more you get to learn, understand, and work on a subject, the more passion you will develop. Just like a relationship, the more you put in, the more passionate you will become.
Pour yourself into it. That’s right, if you want to have fun and create something extraordinary, then you must go all in. Don’t hold yourself back. If there’s something you want to achieve, go for it, with 100% of your heart and effort.
Have fun at work. In short, make your work fun. Think about Google’s office. Do you want to work in a fun and hip workplace? Of course, you do. You can also include a gamification factor to turn your work into play. Check out these 26 tips on how to make your work fun.
3. Identify the Right Reward
The last step to becoming a hard worker is to create a reward for yourself. You want to have something to look forward to. You don’t want to spend 16 hours working hard, but at the end of the day, you have nothing to look forward to.
This is why giving yourself the right reward is important.
For example, when you know you can enjoy a movie with your best friends tonight, you will tend to feel happier at work. You will then become more productive and work harder during the day because you have something excited to look forward to.
It’s like dessert after the main course. When you give yourself the right reward, you’ll become more motivated to follow through and take more action.
According to this article, the effect of a vacation can increase performance by 80%, and reaction times of returning vacationers increased by 40%.
Think about it, when you reward yourself, like a 3 days vacation by the end of the month, you’ll be looking forward to it. When you have something fun coming down the pipeline, you’ll become optimistic. Just like this article on HuffPost wrote:
“You’re imagining a new potential future — one with good times and challenges overcome instead of a bleak, powerless tomorrow.”
So, how do you create the right reward for your hard work? Here are some tips to help…
Celebrate your progress. As long as you have done something and have taken some form of action, celebrate. Throw a fist pump and pat yourself on the back. Tell yourself you’ve made progress and are better than where you are. Learn how to celebrate all your wins here.
Give yourself small treats. You don’t have to give yourself a week-long holiday to feel good. You can give yourself small treats along the way. Perhaps, once you have worked hard at a task or a goal, give yourself an hour of playtime to enjoy whatever you love doing.
A reward you’ll look forward to. When you reward yourself, you want to make sure you’ll look forward to getting it. If you choose a reward you don’t like, you’ll never feel the desire for it.
If you want to learn how to reward yourself the right way so that you will work hard, read these 2 guides:
- Why It Is Important to Reward Yourself for Your Hard Work
- How to Reward Yourself for Your Hard Work and Effort
Conclusion
I believe anyone can become hard-working if they want to and no want was born lazy. If you think you’re lazy, think again. I bet there’ll be times when you’re totally motivated, and you worked hard for something.
Therefore, you just need to recreate the feeling within you to become hard working. When the condition is right, you will get the feelings and the results.
Remember, if you want to work hard, apply the Goldilocks Principle, reframe work as play, and give yourself something to look forward to.
[…] Source link […]