I’m obsessed with what means to work hard. It’s a big reason why I ask so many people about how they define it, and another big reason I use athletics as the perfect was to illustrate and measure hard work.
For example, if you’re a competent high school baseball player, maybe doing 100 swings a day on a tee in your basement is hard work. That will separate you from most other high school players and you will likely succeed if you have some talent too.
But what happens when you start playing college ball? Well, now you’re in a mix of all the best high school players who put in those 100 swings a day. So now you might have to do 200 a day to create separation. You need to level up to keep pace and succeed.
And should you be lucky enough to graduate to the next level? Guess what? You need to put in more reps. It gets that much harder and the fine line between good and great gets that much narrower, so you need to keep putting in more reps.
So what might have been hard work a few years ago, might not cut it anymore.
I’ll leave it up to you to measure what hard work means, but the fact is if you want to level up, you have to put in more reps.
This is how we create separation and rise to the top. Because you have to work harder now even with a better set of skills, doesn’t mean you’ve somehow regressed. It means you’re leveling up. It means you get to keep playing the game. What worked five years ago worked five years ago. You need to step up now. You know you can do it. Don’t be scared. Put in the reps.