Hard Work Beats Talent

Hard Work Beats Talent

“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” ― Tim Notke

There are plenty of people with talent. There are people born with some innate talents naturally over others. As someone enters higher levels of competition whether in sports, business, academics, or investing, talent is not enough. All your competition has some level of skills and abilities.  In the long term though in the race to success it’s the work that wins out.

You may not be smarter, faster, better looking, or more talented than others but you can certainly outwork them. It is hard to beat someone with the passion to get up every morning and work for hours on their goals every day. No matter how they feel, they do the work, it doesn’t matter what the weather is outside, they work. They don’t let failure slow them down, it inspires them to work harder. People’s doubts and negativity doesn’t make them quit it lights a fire in them to prove the naysayers wrong. They don’t quit when they’re tired they never stop.

When you invest in doing the work day after day that moves you toward your goals and you will start to benefit from the compounding of efforts. If you get 1% better every day or week that compounds into exponential growth over time. Momentum starts to move you toward your goals faster and faster as you create a positive feedback loop. Winning and improving can give you the motivation to want more of it. 

The ultimate winners in any field not only work hard but they put their effort into doing the right things that lead them to their goals. They learn from other’s successes and failures on what to do and what not to do. Work hard at not only doing both the right things and also at not doing the wrong things. Self control and self discipline also take work and are the primary skills in a winners tool box that keep them on their path. Seeing their ultimate goal is what lights their path and the reward that gives them energy to do the work. 

  1. Your biggest edge over your competition is the amount of work you do. 
  2. Many times it is the person that wants it the most that wins. 
  3. The ability to manage mental and physical pain and keep going is a skill. 
  4. You have to invest the right amount of time if you hope to achieve your goal. 
  5. Talent just means you are in the race, you have to work hard if you want to win it. 
  6. At the highest levels of competition it is the amount of work that decides the winner. 
  7. Understand the amount of work that will be required before you start a journey. 
  8. Talent may give you a headstart but it is your work that develops your skills and abilities. 
  9. For maximum results work smart and hard. 
  10. You have to believe you are likely to succeed before you will be able to commit to the work involved. 

The first step to accomplishing anything is to understand the cost of accomplishing your goal and then be willing to pay the price in effort, research, time, and work. 

“Here’s how I’m going to beat you. I’m going to outwork you. That’s it. That’s all there is to it.” – Pat Summitt

Hard Work Beats Talent
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