Hard Work Alone Won't Define Your Success: Lessons Learned
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Chapter 1: Understanding the Value of Results
It's essential to move past the notion that effort alone merits recognition. What truly earns you accolades are the outcomes you achieve.
Achieving Fulfillment in Your Work
What constitutes genuine hard work, and who are the two individuals (or rather, one individual and one collective) you should use for self-comparison? This discussion continues our examination of the insights gained from both judging and being judged, including the broader context of giving and receiving feedback.
Last week, we covered how to pinpoint the most valuable feedback types and why relying solely on how hard you perceive your work can be misleading (refer to "What I Learned from Judging and Being Judged"). Today, we’ll explore how to genuinely evaluate your hard work and whom you should benchmark against.
Work Isn't the Sole Arena for Your Efforts
To be candid, it still troubles me, but I’ve come to realize that hard work does not equate to heroism. For a significant portion of my career, I believed I distinguished myself by working harder than those around me. I was dedicated to working mornings, evenings, weekends, and even holidays. I pushed through when I felt great and when I was unwell, often logging 100-hour weeks.
However, over time, I learned that hard work is not only insufficient for achieving success, but it may not even be the best investment of your energy. Why is this the case? There’s a complex philosophy at play, which I’ll gradually share. For now, let’s focus on two key reasons:
- The mere fact that you're busy does not clarify the reasons behind that busyness.
- The amount of work you do does not inherently reflect the outcomes you produce.
Some individuals may appear busy due to organizational inefficiencies. For instance, they may work in understaffed departments, taking on multiple roles, or their companies may have redundant processes, such as unnecessary weekly meetings or drafting memos that go unread. Additionally, some people may create crises by missing deadlines, leading to last-minute pressure.
While this certainly creates stress and demands hard work, should we consider those grappling with such structural issues to be superior performers simply because they are busy?
Now, let’s think about instances when we exert ourselves without yielding any results, or worse, when our efforts lead to negative outcomes. We may work tirelessly without finalizing a deal, winning a lawsuit, or signing a contract. It’s tempting to want recognition for our effort, but if we’re honest, effort alone doesn’t hold much value. In fact, the individual who achieves results with minimal effort is often the one to watch.
An obvious exception includes those who take shortcuts to achieve their goals. In the business realm, the ends never justify the means; achieving results through improper methods is far worse than failing at a project.
I once managed a significant initiative outside my primary legal work. The CEO entrusted this task to me as an opportunity for growth and to test my capabilities in new areas. Despite my hard work on the project, I received several poor performance reviews, which I rightly earned. Why? Because, despite my dedicated efforts, we did not achieve our goals within the desired timeframe. My results didn’t align with my hard work.
As you progress in your career, let go of the belief that effort alone entitles you to praise. What truly counts are the results you deliver.
The Only Two Comparisons That Matter
If you aspire to find happiness in life, there is only one benchmark worth considering: compare who you are today to who you were yesterday. Your aim should be to make gradual improvements in a direction that resonates with you. As long as you're making consistent progress, the pace at which you advance is irrelevant.
Learning to evaluate yourself against your own past is one of the essential principles Stoic philosophy offers. It empowers you to be your own best critic regarding your performance. Moreover, if you are committed to self-improvement, the likelihood of enhancing your work performance increases significantly.
Assuming you desire success in your career alongside happiness, here’s a secret for your second comparison: you can greatly improve your chances of success by choosing to compare yourself to the highest achievers. Measure your performance against the best in the organization, not merely your colleagues within the legal team.
Throughout my in-house career, I reported to three strict evaluators. What benefited me most was being compared to the top performers across the entire company—those individuals who were significantly contributing to value creation.
What actions am I taking that align with theirs? Not in terms of perceived effort, hours logged, or even in comparison to other lawyers, but in relation to the exceptional outcomes our superstars were achieving.
During my journey, I faced years of challenging reviews, but it pushed me to maintain high standards and develop accordingly. I can confidently say that the finalists for the ACC Top 10 30-Somethings were all exceptional candidates. However, it was evident that those who understood their true comparison group were not just their fellow lawyers, but the best in-house lawyers globally.
In the next discussion, I’ll delve into the lessons we can learn from extraordinary circumstances, the value of your convictions, and what sets you apart.
Take care.
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An earlier version of this article was published in the ACC Docket, the global magazine for the Association of Corporate Counsel.
Chapter 2: Learning from Others
The second video explores the dynamic between hard work and talent in the context of anime, providing insights into where individuals fit within these categories.