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I don't know how you got from the fact that hard work doesn't guarantee more money, to the proposition that hard work does not correlate with more money. I thi

I don't know how you got from the fact that hard work doesn't guarantee more money, to the proposition that hard work does not correlate with more money. I think hard work correlates heavily with money - the people who both work hard and work smart are the ones who make the biggest waves in history. Showing up early and staying late are part of the winning equation, for founders at least. And even if you have all the luck, smarts, and connections, hard work is going to give you a better financial outcome. pg said, "Economically, you can think of a startup as a way to compress your whole working life into a few years. Instead of working at a low intensity for forty years, you work as hard as you possibly can for four. This pays especially well in technology, where you earn a premium for working fast." http://paulgraham.com/wealth.html http://paulgraham.com/wealth.html

asolove 13y ago
I think the point is that while hard work has a strong positive correlation with success in most circumstances, the scale of that correlation is dwarfed by other factors like where you were born, how you were raised, and who you have access to. Working hard is like going uphill: anyone who does it is getting higher, but some people are busting their ass just to climb up a trash heap and others are getting to the top of Everest by helicopter.
pekk 13y ago
Most of the millions of people who are grinding their lives away on really hard work, like hard physical labor, are really not making any significant amount of money. Only some of us are lucky enough to be in a spot where we get good return on their work. On the other hand, it isn't really hard to find people who ended up with a fortune or a cushy spot because they won the birth lottery or had connections. Undeniable observations like these are what weaken the correlation of hard work with money, if we can be honest about it for just a minute or two. Similar observations show that showing up early and staying late do not necessarily lead to a lot more things being accomplished.
georgemcbay 13y ago
While the two can be correlated, they aren't always. Sometimes you just happen to catch lightning in a bottle and create a fart app before everyone else does and make a ton of money without doing much work at all. And sometimes you work 80 hour weeks for a few years and your company crashes and burns anyway.
jwatte 13y ago
Except the startup worker has a 1:20 chance of any pay-off, and much less chance of a meaningful event that compares to "the rest of your life."

asolove 13y ago

I think the point is that while hard work has a strong positive correlation with success in most circumstances, the scale of that correlation is dwarfed by other factors like where you were born, how you were raised, and who you have access to. Working hard is like going uphill: anyone who does it is getting higher, but some people are busting their ass just to climb up a trash heap and others are getting to the top of Everest by helicopter.

pekk 13y ago

Most of the millions of people who are grinding their lives away on really hard work, like hard physical labor, are really not making any significant amount of money. Only some of us are lucky enough to be in a spot where we get good return on their work. On the other hand, it isn't really hard to find people who ended up with a fortune or a cushy spot because they won the birth lottery or had connections. Undeniable observations like these are what weaken the correlation of hard work with money, if we can be honest about it for just a minute or two. Similar observations show that showing up early and staying late do not necessarily lead to a lot more things being accomplished.

georgemcbay 13y ago

While the two can be correlated, they aren't always. Sometimes you just happen to catch lightning in a bottle and create a fart app before everyone else does and make a ton of money without doing much work at all. And sometimes you work 80 hour weeks for a few years and your company crashes and burns anyway.

jwatte 13y ago

Except the startup worker has a 1:20 chance of any pay-off, and much less chance of a meaningful event that compares to "the rest of your life."