Thread by @_svs_

One like is one opinion on hard work. Mad of 100. Go!

Hard work is simultaneously the most over rated and the most under rated thing.

Both of these views are wrong. They are looking at causes, not effects.

I have ever seen anyone achieve anything respect worthy was through hard work. Hard work is necessary to be great at anything.

And yet each person I know who worked that hard seemed to be energized by it. There really doesn't seem to be any way around this.

The problem then isn't the quantity of the work but the quality of it. At some point you're Gandhi and the universe just feeds you energy.

But guess what. Don't count on being Gandhi.

The hard work then is in becoming sufficiently good at something that you can use it to tap energy from the universe. This, my friends, is hard work.

For many of us, this was programming. The best programmers you know seem to be energized by it. Or the best CEOs or the best guitarists or writers.

So work hard. On yourself.

I tell junior programmers at shaadi - you will work 7 days a week. 5 days for shaadi and 2 days on yourself.

DHH works hard. He runs basecamp, makes rails, races cars. He works hard. What he objects to is working hard for someone else, or being made to work hard. And he is also right.

Being able to choose what you work on is a very big freedom. If you have some say in the matter, work hard so you can maximise your outcomes.

But don't work hard for anyone else. Only for yourself.

I've seen men shrivel up and die after retirement. I used to want to be like that - a gentleman of leisure - but I have seen first hand what loss of purpose can do to a human. I took a 3 year long sabbatical once. It nearly killed me. Retirement? No thanks.

Work hard to acquire skills, to make a good name, to build your fortune, to make an impact.

Don't work hard to soothe an ache in your soul. Most workaholism is a coping mechanism. If you're working hard to avoid aspects of your life, please solve those instead.

Hard work *will* burn you out. I wish you a safe burnout ie you come out on the other side with a visceral understanding of how to work. Focussed, intense, appropriate work beats hours at the desk.

If you're burning out, DM me.

The most powerful force in the universe is human attention. One of the most meta works you can do is to work on your mind. This is the hardest work of all.

It's hard work to learn surfing, but surfing itself is not hard work. The wave does all the work.

Surfing, then, has a phase change where it stops being work.

Many skills are like that. Find one and get good at it.

The compounding effect of hard work is unbelievable!

Napoleon said 'Only fools learn from others mistakes'. IMO only a genius can learn from someone else's mistake.

Work hard so you can make a lot of mistakes. If you don't work hard you won't make as many mistakes.

The need for and the desire to work ebb and flow. Recognising the way your energy moves will make your hard work easier. Double down when you're obsessed. Rest when you're tired.

Nothing in nature moves in just one direction. Go with the flow.

Very difficult to work hard on things that don't provide intrinsic motivation.

Much of traditional HR is broken in this regard. Any rule around working hours is an admission of failure to provide intrinsic motivation.

*Life is not a strength game*

Hard work is not a silver bullet. It is but one of many strategies to deploy. Other notable ones are
- random walk, try many different things
- know how to spot an opportunity. ie know when you've gotten lucky.

Work is a reduction of entropy. But there are different kinds of entropy - physical entropy, information entropy and entropy of consciousness.

Industrial revolution solved physical. Digital revolution solved informational. The Consciousness Revolution is just starting.

Each level gives some 10-100x leverage on the lower level. If you're on the wrong level, no amount of hard work will save you.

Much disruption is about solving a problem at a higher level.

Work hard enough but no harder.

https://twitter.com/TomBilyeu/status/1210617078564212737?s=19

No effort is *ever* wasted. Even when it feels like it has been a total waste, every cell in your body carries learnings from it and they show up in your intuition.

Do the work and trust that it is fruitful in its own way.

The ancients say that if you do enough internal work, you will align with the power of the universe and it will work through you.

For this you have to drop your attachment to outcomes. Then you pass through life without accumulating 'karma'.

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन । मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भुर्मा ते संगोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥

Karmanye Vadhikaraste, Ma phaleshou kada chana, Ma Karma Phala Hetur Bhurmatey Sangostva Akarmani

'You have the right to the action but not the fruit of it'

The highest work is work that is done without attachment and offered to the universe without condition, in deep gratitude for the opportunity to be alive and to be able to work - to bring order in the chaos.

Doing nothing is harder than it sounds.

Mind is always doing something. To do nothing is to step out of mind.

Mind is known by its creation of contrasts - manifest as desires or preferences. The hard work is in dropping these.

To step out of mind is hard work.

If you've never experienced flow state, experience it once. Easiest way is to get absorbed in a good book or a puzzle. Flow state prevents burnout.

Keep time in your day for deep work in flow state.

Ask for it at work.

30. Learn to say no.

To clients, to bosses, to your own monkey mind.

Focus is the best friend of hard work.

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