What is the key to success? If you do even just a little research, you’ll find plenty of resources.
You’ll find many secrets, principles, elements, steps, factors, and more.
But to be honest, there’s only one thing you must do if you want to succeed in any area of life – work hard.
mastery
by Robert Greene
⏱ 12 minutes reading time
🎧 Audio version available
Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison had 1,093 US patents at the time of his death, plus more in other countries worldwide. He was often credited with creating the first industrial research laboratory.
Edison was never reluctant to work hard.
“I never did anything worth doing totally by accident. Almost none of my inventions were created in that manner. They were accomplished by having trained me to be analytical and to surpass and tolerate hard work.”
Edison was not about working smart, only working hard, as shown in one of his most famous quotes,
“Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.”
But most people don’t realize that that’s part of the quote. There’s more to the passage.
“Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Accordingly, a ‘genius’ is often a bit of talented person who has done all of their homework.”
Oprah
Oprah is an author, humanitarian, multiple Emmy award winner, and has a net worth of around $2.7 billion.
Do what you love, and it won’t feel like work.
“What I know is, is that if you’re doing what you love, and the work fulfills you, the rest will come.”
Oprah works long hours, has a magazine, a TV show, and even a whole TV network! The secret to her success is that she loves what she does, and when she can do so much good for charities, it’s easy to see why she’s happy to work so hard.
Tim Cook
Steve Jobs left enormous shoes for Cook to fill. Well, the man got the top job for a reason. Since taking the crown of the tech giant in 2011, CEO Tim Cook has established himself as a private individual, more concentrated on discussing Apple than his own life. But we still can piece together clues about his daily schedule.
Cook typically wakes up brutally early. He usually gets up at 3:45 a.m. Once he’s up, he gets to work, going through the 700 to 800 emails he gets every day. He’s the first into the office and the last to leave. He used to initiate staff meetings on Sunday night to prepare for Monday.
He once told ABC that he’s “a bit of a workaholic”. Next, Cook goes to the gym around 5 a.m. When was the last time you visited the gym at 5 a.m.?
Michael Jordan
6 time NBA champion, Michael Jordan has prodigious physical gifts. But as his longtime coach, Phil Jackson shares; it was hard work that made him a legend. When Jordan first joined the league, his jump shot wasn’t great. He spent his off seasons practicing jump shots until he nailed it!
Jackson states that Jordan’s defining characteristic wasn’t his talent, but having the humility to know he had to work every day to be the best.
Bill Gates
Bill Gates made the computer a common household appliance. He formed the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, accumulated a net worth of over $50 billion, and was the richest man on planet Earth for quite some time.
However, Bill Gates was never a control freak and regularly solicited ideas from a talented team of employees.
“At Microsoft, there are lots of genius ideas, but the image is that they all come from the top. I’m afraid that’s not how it works.”
A team is only as strong as the sum of its players, and it’s refreshing to see Gates share the credit of Microsoft’s success with his co-workers and employees.
As Gates has said in interviews,
“Bringing together the right information with the right people will drastically improve a company’s ability to develop and act on strategic business opportunities.”
Jeff Bezos
Bezos has always had a ruthless work ethic. A former classmate told Wired that when Bezos made it clear that he intended to be the high school valedictorian,
“everyone else understood they were performing for second place.”
The early days at Amazon looked like working 12-hour days, seven days a week, and up until 3 a.m. to ship books.
Now that Amazon has grown into giant, Bezos, himself, emails teams about customer service issues and has them present personally to him about how they plan to solve them!
Donald Trump
Real estate magnate, casino owner, TV show host, operator of numerous national beauty pageants, and ex-president – you need a lot of hard work to accomplish all of that!
Donald Trump became a questionable figure when he became President. However, we’re not discussing politics today, we’re discussing his totally unbelievable attitude towards work. Trump always saw work as a way to get a rush of adrenaline.
“Deals are my art form. Other people paint superbly on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, willingly big deals. That’s how I get my kicks.”
Trump made his point on workaholics very clear. After a 2007 study found that America was “a nation of workaholics,” Trump shared, “They don’t want to miss what’s going on. Although vacations should be about de-stressing, some people admitted it would be more stressful not being aware of what was going on at work while they were away. And those are the type of people I want working for me.”
It’s easy for someone with Trump’s level of success to love working because he gets a rush from sealing a deal. If work is enjoyable, perhaps even addictive, then it’s no wonder he’s a workaholic.
Working hard is always beneficial, but make sure to play hard, too. While the workaholic lifestyle worked well for these famous faces, it can put a major strain on your health and your personal life. And the last thing you want is to be too invested in your work, like P.T. Barnum. As he lay dying, Barnum’s last words were,
“How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?”
But what do you think? Is it okay to be a workaholic? Or is it dangerous for your health? Share your opinion in the comment section! Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe so you never miss an update, and you can enjoy the excellent content we send your way!
What Is Snapreads?
With the Snapreads app, you get the key insights from the best nonfiction books in minutes, not hours or days. Our experts transform these books into quick, memorable, easy-to-understand insights you can read when you have the time or listen to them on the go.
