How Hard is Hard Work?

“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard” is an oft-repeated quote that reinforces the work ethic we have grown up with. Successful performers in different fields have emphasized the idea that there are no shortcuts to success or good life. The only answer is hard work. Ever wondered what drives the ace achievers in every field to work so hard? Is it the desire to achieve? A sort of ‘delayed gratification’?

All animals live by the principle of ‘instant gratification’ but as human beings we have a choice. The famous ‘Marshmallow experiment’ conducted by the Stanford psychology professor Walter Mischel in the late 1960s studied the ability to delay gratification in small children. A child was offered a choice between having one marshmallow immediately or wait for 15 minutes without eating it and get two. Later follow-up studies revealed that children who could wait for their preferred reward of two marshmallows by delaying gratification showed better life outcomes. They were found to do better in terms of educational attainment, career success, healthy body weight and stable relationships as adults. Hence it was concluded that patience or the ability to delay gratification played a key role in life success.

So, as mental health research proves the popular philosophy of ‘Pain today for gain tomorrow’, do we endure the hardships of hard work and missed fun now for that reward of a degree, salary, prize or position later? That’s not a very attractive formula to many. And yet, in any walk of life, we find that only hard working men and women fill the top rungs. Are they hard-wired to suffer in the present so they can taste success and happiness in future?
Or is there more, much more to the story?

In the Bhagwad Geeta Krishna says to Arjun, “Karmanye vadhika raste, Ma phaleshu kadachana” meaning “ Your right is only to work and never to the result thereof ”. So we are gently advised not to focus on the gratifying results of our hard work in future for that is beyond our sphere of influence. The only right we have is over working. So is work that difficult, that ‘hard’?

The question was scientifically studied for the first time by the pioneer of Positive Psychology, Prof. Martin Seligman and team. Their research studies concluded that staying absorbed in an experience in which one fully deploys one’s skills, strengths and attention for a challenging task created a ‘state of engagement’. This state was found to contribute much more to overall happiness and life satisfaction than pleasurable experiences such as entertainment, partying or relationships.

This deeply joyful state of engagement was further studied by psychologist Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi who named it ‘Flow’. Flow is a state characterized by intense concentration and a loss of self-awareness. One feels perfectly challenged and time appears to stop or fly by. It is an intrinsically rewarding state and one need not wait for a reward at the end to feel fulfilled. And yet when one chooses to stay deeply engaged in one’s work losing the track of time and ‘working hard’ in the eyes of others, extrinsic rewards follow as well in the form of grades, money and recognition. Also, while working joyfully in a state of flow, one transcends all pain and suffering. The resulting sense of purpose and productivity add to one’s self-esteem and life satisfaction.

With the right matching of our abilities with the challenge of the task we can achieve a state of Flow in any type of work from washing dishes to performing surgery. So as Krishna said we have the right to work, to work hard and embrace joy and transcend suffering.