The Difference Between Working Hard, and Trying Hard
- A Thread

Working too hard, and trying too hard, are two VERY different things.

Working hard is required.

When you’ve worked hard and achieved something, it’s motivational, and it feels AWESOME...
TRYING too hard, and coming up against challenges in progress, stops ALL motivation dead in its tracks.

It's the equivalent of trying to win a marathon by sprinting the whole race.

What causes this phenomenon?

It's your Ego...
Ego Problems:

When you start ANY project... your ego comes up with an imaginary timeline for exactly how long it will take, to succeed or see visible progress.

It's weird, because you have ZERO experience of ever doing it before.

Why does your ego make this mistake?
Overconfidence & Underestimation

Your ego ALWAYS thinks things are 10x easier than they actually are. It underestimates, due to overconfidence.

In reality, things are ALWAYS 10x HARDER than you initially imagine.

So, you're doomed from the start with the underestimation.
Too Much Enthusiasm Kills Motivation

So you charge at your project, hoping to build a money making blog in 4 weeks. You're gung-ho motivated, and working insane hours trying to get it done.

Your enthusiasm is at an all time high at the start, but soon starts to die off.
By week 4, your enthusiasm has completely murdered all your motivation.

Now you're doomed to fail.

You judge yourself as not being able to achieve what you set out to.

Now your self-limiting beliefs take over your mind...
AGONIZING SELF DOUBT

Now the fear takes over.

The mindset of scarcity has invaded your mind.

You compare yourself to others success, and tell yourself you should never have tried.

Self-doubt wins, and you quit.

I'm a solutions guy, so lets talk about that now....
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

- When planning, increase your timeline by 10X
- Break down the project into 1 week, and 1 month achievement levels
- EXPECT it to be 10X HARDER than you're intending
- Plan to maintain motivation levels
- Understand you have A TON of work ahead of you
When having realistic expectation, understanding the true scope of work, and knowing it will be harder than you imagine...

...you can dig your heels in, scrub up your hands, roll up your sleeves, and get to work.

One more thing...
DON'T CHECK PROGRESS REGULARLY

- Don't look up for the finish line
- Don't look back behind you
- Keep your head down, focused on the task at hand

Only check progress at a checkpoint.

How often SHOULD YOU CHECK?...
MONTHLY / QUARTERLY / YEARLY

Each Month, check progress.

Did you meet goals? If so, how can you get it this month?

Set new goals for THIS month.

Plan work to achieve them.

Check Quarterly for the same things.

Then again, Annually...
ANNUAL PLANNING

In annual plans, you choose directional changes.

Ask what's working, and what's not.

Where are you struggling, where can you improve?

What needs to change?

Change direction quickly, and make the first monthly plan.

ONE MORE THING...
WORK CALM AND CALCULATED

Maintaining motivation daily is important, but getting OVER motivated will destroy the project.

Instead, motivate to encourage yourself, and CELEBRATE EVERY SMALL WIN.

Stay cool, assess, moving forwards, making daily progress.
DON'T LOSE YOUR TEMPER OR YOUR COOL

Work, staying focused, maintaining your attitude and mindset.

If you're frustrated, step away for a second, and come back with a calmer, focused mood.

Maintaining mindset is EVERYTHING
IT'S NOT FAILURE, IT'S PROGRESS

When things go wrong, it's not a failure, it's a lesson.

You're learning, and it's awesome!

Knowing what NOT to do, is important when searching for what TO DO.

You can't win without it.

This is not a failure, this is forward progress.
KNOW WHEN TO QUIT

There's a poisonous rhetoric that quitting is terrible, and that you should NEVER quit.

As a motivational message, this is okay. Because things ARE 10X harder, quitting at the first hurdle, like I'm describing here, is WRONG.

BUT...
THE RIGHT TIME TO QUIT

Sometimes a business or project just doesn't work.

Working your ass off on a business like this, WON'T HELP.

Maybe the project isn't serving you anymore.

Making a calm, calculated, intelligent decision to stop, drop, or pivot, is essential.
SUMMARY

- things are 10X harder, so plan it that way
- stay focused, maintain mindset, action, and progress
- only check progress monthly / quarterly
- yearly decisions change direction
- celebrate small wins
- know when to quit, if you need to
I sincerely hope this thread was useful to you...

...if you found any good takeaways, share it with friends.

Any questions, comment below, or shoot me a DM, and I'll do my best to advise you.

That's about it for today.

Have a good one.

THE Rick Lowe
You can follow @thericklowe.
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