4 ms·

I decided, 6 years, ago, that to succeed in my field, above everyone else, it would be necessary work 4x harder to get 2x ahead (not "work 4x more" - "work 4x h

I decided, 6 years, ago, that to succeed in my field, above everyone else, it would be necessary work 4x harder to get 2x ahead (not "work 4x more" - "work 4x harder"). That's what I told myself. And I think this is the case in most lines of work. If you want to get ahead, you have to work a great deal harder than everyone else around you. Unless you happen to be exceptionally gifted and able to accomplish more than anyone else simply by showing up, it means that you really have to bust your ass continuously. Generally this strategy and form of motivation has worked. I may not be the best at anything I'm doing, but I have accomplished a lot.

thirdtruck 14y ago
The research in "So Good They Can't Ignore You" by Cal Newport factors into this observation. If we want to get ahead in a field, we have to seek out the hard problems, those that put us great mental strain to tease apart and comprehend. This might not require 80 hours of effort a month, but even 20 hours of such deep effort will feel like 80. In other words, we have to do the weight-lifting equivalent of several reps every day that go just beyond our weight limit. Many others exhaust themselves on a hundred reps of a comfortable weight, but that will never increase their strength.