I think of myself a pretty successful. Certainly I am by any global standard. But I'm not known for being the world's hardest worker. I make up for that with sa

I think of myself a pretty successful. Certainly I am by any global standard. But I'm not known for being the world's hardest worker. I make up for that with savvy. I know when to push really, really hard, but that's not the gear I live most of my life in. I've spent significant time with people that run the gamut of the socioeconomic spectrum. In my anecdotal observation, hard work and success are only loosely correlated. But I guess that depends on how you define success. One place where the hard work vs. success dilemma really plays out is in athletics. What's more evidence of success than winning a championship in sports or being in the Hall of Fame? And yet, even amongst elite players in a given sport, you'll hear about vastly different reputations for hard work and discipline. Take the tennis rivals Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, for example.