103 Marbles
Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
Thomas Edison
A Google search of “hard work quotes” displays pages of great minds through the ages who seem to agree that hard work is a prerequisite for getting anything that you desire in life. Two thousand years ago, the Roman poet Horace wrote, “Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.” Thomas Edison was big on pulling up bootstraps and he attributed hard work as crucial in several quotes including, “The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are: Hard work, stick-to-itiveness, and common sense.” Yet is this no-pain-no-gain philosophy something that’s been hard-wired into our psyches without being entirely true?
This morning I woke up and tried to win a trip to Mexico that was being given away by a local radio station. The lines were so jammed that I couldn’t even get a busy signal. Turns out, the woman who won the trip also won the trip last year. How could one woman be so lucky? Contrary to Horace, didn’t life give her something without any hard work, and not once but twice?
I come from a family who prides itself in being “hard workers.” There are tales of my grandmother giving birth and then having to get up and get to work on the farm. A psychic once looked at my palm and said, “Well you’re not lazy” and I’d have to agree that working in a restaurant, going to school/writing, raising three kids, taking care of a home, and finding time to exercise are plenty of plates to be spinning. But I wonder, “What if an idea or a lucky break came my way that didn’t involve the familiar (aka familyr) perspiration?” The response comes quick-as-a-wink, “Then it wouldn’t have value.”
When we get something that we work for we can justify receiving the rewards. It’s give and take, cause and effect, or action and equal opposite reaction. It’s a physical law and a metaphysical law, but is it really? What about people that do little work and receive abundance in their lives? We judge them as lucky. Would I be willing to receive more and not have it related to physical labor? Would I be willing to be more lucky?
From a young age we are steeped in beliefs about hard work including, “If you work hard, you’ll get good grades.” But the rule doesn’t always apply - there are those who work hard and don’t get good grades and there are those who don’t work hard and get good grades anyway. Similarly, I’m amazed by those that don’t buy into this philosophy yet manage to do well. Several years ago, Ex-man hired a young family member to deliver flyers for him. The boy returned after only half the flyers being delivered because he wasn’t enjoying the work. Ex-man was shocked by his lack of “work ethic” saying he wasn’t going to amount to anything if he didn’t have Edison’s stick-to-itiveness (or tenacity). I argued in favor of the boy saying that perhaps he would never have to do a job that he didn’t like. Turns out the latter is true - he is now working in a field that he loves, working long hours but his work is like play, or as a friend calls it “plerk.”
What would it take for me to leave the job that I don’t really like and make money by following my bliss? Part of me feels like it would be betraying my legacy but how much do I have to betray of myself in order to honor my family? More importantly, what legacy do I want to pass on to my own children? What would it take for my own success to be 90% inspiration and 10% perspiration?
What are your beliefs around hard work? Would you be willing to have more luck in your life, even if you were judged for it? Would you be willing to have more ease, less work, and more abundance?
Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
Thomas Edison
A Google search of “hard work quotes” displays pages of great minds through the ages who seem to agree that hard work is a prerequisite for getting anything that you desire in life. Two thousand years ago, the Roman poet Horace wrote, “Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.” Thomas Edison was big on pulling up bootstraps and he attributed hard work as crucial in several quotes including, “The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are: Hard work, stick-to-itiveness, and common sense.” Yet is this no-pain-no-gain philosophy something that’s been hard-wired into our psyches without being entirely true?
This morning I woke up and tried to win a trip to Mexico that was being given away by a local radio station. The lines were so jammed that I couldn’t even get a busy signal. Turns out, the woman who won the trip also won the trip last year. How could one woman be so lucky? Contrary to Horace, didn’t life give her something without any hard work, and not once but twice?
I come from a family who prides itself in being “hard workers.” There are tales of my grandmother giving birth and then having to get up and get to work on the farm. A psychic once looked at my palm and said, “Well you’re not lazy” and I’d have to agree that working in a restaurant, going to school/writing, raising three kids, taking care of a home, and finding time to exercise are plenty of plates to be spinning. But I wonder, “What if an idea or a lucky break came my way that didn’t involve the familiar (aka familyr) perspiration?” The response comes quick-as-a-wink, “Then it wouldn’t have value.”
When we get something that we work for we can justify receiving the rewards. It’s give and take, cause and effect, or action and equal opposite reaction. It’s a physical law and a metaphysical law, but is it really? What about people that do little work and receive abundance in their lives? We judge them as lucky. Would I be willing to receive more and not have it related to physical labor? Would I be willing to be more lucky?
From a young age we are steeped in beliefs about hard work including, “If you work hard, you’ll get good grades.” But the rule doesn’t always apply - there are those who work hard and don’t get good grades and there are those who don’t work hard and get good grades anyway. Similarly, I’m amazed by those that don’t buy into this philosophy yet manage to do well. Several years ago, Ex-man hired a young family member to deliver flyers for him. The boy returned after only half the flyers being delivered because he wasn’t enjoying the work. Ex-man was shocked by his lack of “work ethic” saying he wasn’t going to amount to anything if he didn’t have Edison’s stick-to-itiveness (or tenacity). I argued in favor of the boy saying that perhaps he would never have to do a job that he didn’t like. Turns out the latter is true - he is now working in a field that he loves, working long hours but his work is like play, or as a friend calls it “plerk.”
What would it take for me to leave the job that I don’t really like and make money by following my bliss? Part of me feels like it would be betraying my legacy but how much do I have to betray of myself in order to honor my family? More importantly, what legacy do I want to pass on to my own children? What would it take for my own success to be 90% inspiration and 10% perspiration?
What are your beliefs around hard work? Would you be willing to have more luck in your life, even if you were judged for it? Would you be willing to have more ease, less work, and more abundance?
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