Hard work is not enough

Have you ever sacrificed so many hours to studying for a final exam, only to be underwhelmed by the grades you received? Perhaps you rehearsed for that interview, only for it to not go as planned.

We say that with hard work, we can achieve anything. But is that enough?

Not entirely.

This is the harsh truth for a lot of people, whether you are just entering the work force or are currently in school. It's not to say that hard work won't grant you access to your goal as the more work we put into something, the more progress we make and therefore we have a higher chance at succeeding. However, life is not always going to be a linear, straightforward path to success. There will come a time whereby no matter how much work we put into our goal, we end up "failing" at it. This may be a jarring experience, especially if we 100% believed that this goal would come into fruition.

When we want to strive to accomplish something, hard work is not the only thing that will grant us our goals. I will dive into more specific examples that has helped me reach my end goal.

Determination

With any objective, being determined to achieve it is a given. Reminding yourself why you started this journey towards success is important in order to feel determined all throughout the process.

When I was trying to incorporate exercises in my routine, I reminded myself why I chose to do this every time I had a planned workout. My reasoning was because I wanted to watch my progress and to see how far I was able to go. These small reminders were significant because it motivated me even more to push myself and to complete the workout without making excuses.

It is completely normal to feel "uninspired" after a while, especially if we are not seeing the desired results we had hoped for. Seeing your goal as a "long term" journey instead of a short fix can aid you to stay on track and maintain your work ethic, which leads us to our next point...

Consistency

If I had to choose which trait was more important in order to achieve your objective, it would have to be consistency. You can dedicate so much time towards a project but without being consistent about the work you put in, you won't get anywhere. It's like the turtle and the rabbit race; yes, the turtle may be slower than the rabbit, but it is moving at a consistent rate. And who won the race?

It's not about how fast you can do something, it's about how often you commit to doing a certain task over a period of time. Every time you work on your project, that is 1 step closer towards building a solid routine. Let's say you spend 15 minutes per day writing... that's 1hr and 30 minutes per week of just writing! Not only does those 15 minutes add up in the long run, you are building the habit of writing consistently. After a while, this will become second nature to you and you won't even have to think about it.

Building consistency is like working out. You have to train yourself to build a routine that is tailored to you. As much as getting towards your goal is vital, you also need to factor in how feasible this routine is in the long run. Working out 2 hours a day may be a shortcut to achieve your dream body, but can you realistically sustain this routine? If you push yourself too much or if you set habits that work against you, the chances you'll burn out and quit is significantly higher. It is therefore important to ensure that you are building a system that is manageable to follow so you can keep up with your workload.

And by being consistent, not only are you actively working towards your goal, but you are also training your mind to become the person you want to be. If your goal is to become a writer and you write everyday, it will be much easier to present yourself as a writer. If your goal is to be more studious so you study every night for 30 minutes, how will you perceive yourself after a month of this continuous habit? Wouldn't it be logical for you to conclude to yourself that you are a studious person because you have been studying consistently?

The more times you repeat a habit, the easier it gets to associate yourself with an identity that aligns with those habits. Therefore, if we want to succeed at something, we need to build a consistent routine centred around good habits that will help us get towards our end goal.

Be real with yourself (hold yourself accountable)

Sometimes we need to sit ourselves down, take a good look in the mirror and have that one-on-one conversation with yourself... I like to call this my daily dose of reality check (because sometimes we be living in "delulu land" if you know what I mean). Are your current habits interfering with your goals? You may be allocating so many hours towards studying, but if you are not sleeping enough or eating well, this can impact your overall performance.

To put it simply, your habits need to align with your goals. This is the most effective way to reaching your goal while minimizing major set backs. Imagine how much easier your journey to success would be if your habits worked in your favour instead of against you? Most of the times, it's just minor habits that make a big difference in the long run.

Take doom scrolling on social media as an example: Let's say you spend 20 minutes per day on Instagram. That's 2 hours and 20 minutes per week. Unless you have a lot of time on your hands, those 2 hours and 20 minutes could be spent on something more important. Additionally, if your goal requires you to remain focused on one task for a good amount of time, meanwhile, you are endlessly scrolling on TikTok, how do you think this will affect your attention span? Though there may be people who can do both of these actions simultaneously, I personally find it hard to focus on a project when I have developed this habit of consuming a copious amount of media in a short amount of time.

Holding yourself accountable towards these habits will do you good in the long run. Not only does it prevent you from repeating the same mistakes (thus increasing your chance at achieving your goal), but this is also a form of self care. You are protecting yourself from negative habits, you are looking after yourself and putting your priorities first because you want to succeed. You care for your well being and you trust yourself that you will be able to get to wherever you want to be by making those changes in your habits.

With the right tools and mindset, you can succeed.

You may be a hard worker and allocate a lot of time towards a project, but if you go into something with the sole expectation of achieving success on the first try, you may be quickly disappointed if your vision does not go as planned. What you do from this point on is exceptionally crucial and will distinguish yourself from the majority of people: Will you sulk into this "failure" and give up on all of the work you've put into, or would you rather accept this "defeat" and try again?

Some of our journeys won't be easy, and that's okay. It's an important moment to come to terms with our priorities and really take inventory over the things that matters. Is this goal that you are trying to achieve something you've been dreaming of for a while? Have you been yearning for a life changing event to occur, and achieving this goal will do just that?

Ask yourself, "Is this dream of mine worth fighting for? "

If so, you have to be ready to not only put in the work necessary to make progress, but you also need to be consistent, no matter how many times you have to get back up. Those who keep pushing forward are the ones who end up achieving what they want because they never gave up.

Become that person and you can build the life you've always dreamed of.