The new meaning of hard work

Hard work used to mean plowing a field or chopping wood for 8 hours, but now it’s taking on a different meaning with creative endeavors.

Hard work can be staring at a bunch of post-its for an hour, trying to see the connections.

Hard work can be finally overcoming a fear of video editing or coding and learning something new.

Hard work can be having a difficult conversation with a colleague or a boss.

Hard work can be not giving up on an idea and testing a different variation.

Hard work can be taking a long walk to try to figure out a problem or make a decision.

None of these things are physically hard, but they are emotionally hard.

Let’s be clear about this so that the next time we hear the advice about hard work, we don’t do a task for 16 hours straight to feel heroic, when what we actually need is an hour with a pen and a blank sheet of paper.

If our important work is hard, work hard. But don’t work hard for the sake of working hard.