Hard Work Isn’t Enough (What to Do Instead to Succeed)
I remember in my third year of going to the gym, my progress plateaued.
I wasn’t losing body fat, nor was I gaining any substantial amount of muscle. I noticed that no matter how much more cardio I would try squeezing into the day, I was still the same weight for 6 weeks straight.
After 6 weeks, I thought the solution was EVEN MORE cardio. I needed to work out EVEN HARDER.
So I bought a walking treadmill (which goes under your desk) and started spending twice the amount at the gym.
The result? Barely any change.
My experiences in the gym probably align with the experience you have as well.
Maybe you thought spending more time on the business would make it successful, but it didn’t.
Maybe you thought putting more hours into studying would lead to higher grades, but it didn’t.
Whatever your situation may be, it’s clear that there’s ONE major problem that none of us seem to be public about.
Hard work alone isn’t enough. This is the biggest problem.
If it was:
The entrepreneur that stays up 19 hours a day would be the most successful.
The student who spends 20 hours a day studying would be the top ranker.
But we know that more time and effort don’t always lead to a better result.
So how do you achieve your goals if working hard isn’t good enough?
Working smart.
Yes, you’ve probably heard this a gazillion times, but working smarter is the way to go.
Imagine if you knew how to work HARD and SMART.
You would BLOW the competition out of the water.
Imagine if you were a farmer.
Your neighbour was working 18 hours a day, but he was using manual labour and doing all the work himself.
You’re working 18 hours a day, but you’ve got the best farming technology and equipment.
You would not only WIN, but you would OWN the competition.
The question no one seems to ask is, “How does one work smart?”
Let’s go through how you can start working smart.
Step 1: Identify your end goal
Is it earning $10K a month? Is it reaching a certain physique? List down and actualise your goal. Be specific. This step is pretty easy.
Step 2: List steps you are taking to achieve the goal
What are the steps you are taking to achieve this goal?
For example, if you wanted to get down from 90kg to 75kg, your steps might look like this:
Go to the gym 5 times a week. Spending 2 hours at each gym session
In each gym session, I’ve followed the same push-pull split for 3 years.
Doing cardio each gym session for 30 minutes
Coming back home, I just eat whatever my parents cook for convenience
Step 3: Determine where you can improve through mentorship
From Step 2, SHARE your list with experts.
An expert can give you insights you would have never thought of.
From the list in Step 2, it’s clear that you’re not tracking calories, you’re probably not consuming enough protein, so therefore it would make sense you are not making a lot of progress.
But because you ARE NOT an expert when it comes to fitness, you would have NEVER found that out.
INVEST in quality mentorship. Look for other creators on X or other communities.
I find that self-education here isn’t sustainable. Although yes, you could learn how to fix up your progress for the gym, it’ll take you days, weeks or even years. Getting an expert to help you here will allow you to fix your problems in SECONDS.
”If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” - Henry Ford
In the story I told you about plateauing in the gym, I would’ve wanted a faster horse (Faster horse)
But I would’ve never thought about changing my diet, changing the style of exercise (Making a car)
Step 4: Take action
Take the guidance given to you by your mentor and implement it. This step should be easier if you have a mentor to keep you accountable.
Call to action (What you need to do now as the reader):
These 4 steps are actionable, and I made sure to make them actionable.
I’ve worked with thousands of professionals and students who’ve been able to use these 4 steps alone and concur with their goals and learning needs.
I didn’t sell these professionals and students the “work harder” pill.
I sold them these 4 steps to work smarter.
If you go through the entirety of this newsletter and do nothing, that’s your fault, not mine. If you need clarification or have any questions, hit me up here.
See you next week ;)
