WHAT DO YOU THINK? Is Hard-work REALLY NECESSARY for the attainment of SUCCESS?

Now what do you think; is Hard-work REALLY NECESSARY for the attainment of SUCCESS?

Below are some thoughts on that:

And to the man he said, "Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it...New Living Translation(Genesis 3:17)

Men and women world-wide seem to agree on one thing: "one needs to work hard to make it in life". They want you to "Read Hard" when you're in school, and "Work Hard" to make money, and "Play Hard", when you are off both.

The truth is that all 3 of the above could lead to health complications that arise by doing these things Hard.

But Let's Get Back to the Matter at Hand

Does Success really need Hard Work?

There are those who believe WORKING SMART IS BETTER THAN WORKING HARD.

The following is from John Chow, an online Entrepreneur who makes a lot of money;

Working Hard Vs. Working Smart

I don’t believe that hard work is a key requirement for success. Instead of working hard, I believe in working smart. How is working smart different than working hard? Here are just a few examples.

Working hard is going door to door to sell encyclopedias (assuming encyclopedias are still sold today). Working smart is setting up a Facebook Ad targeting families with school age kids.

Working hard is selling one-on-one on the phone. Working smart is having your own phone team to do the selling for you.

Working hard is digging for gold during the gold rush. Working smart is selling the shovels.

Working hard is working with the 80% that represent 20% of your business. Working smart is firing the 80% and working with the 20% that represents 80% of your business.

Working hard is trying to line up all your ducks so you can get ready to get ready. Working smart is just doing it, ready or not.

Working hard is trying to do everything yourself. Working smart is surrounding yourself with people who can do the stuff that you can’t.

Working hard is trading your hours for dollars to make money. Working smart is creating a system that makes the money for you

And let's compare this to what SCOTT BELSKY says about Hard Work.

Scott Belsky is Adobe's Vice President of Community and Co-Founder & Head of Behance, the leading online platform for creatives to showcase and discover creative work. Scott has been called one of the "100 Most Creative People in Business" by Fast Company, and is the author of the bestselling book, Making Ideas Happen.

"Hard work is always the baseline of great achievements. And I don’t think these successful entrepreneurs-turned-naysayers have defied the odds through casual effort.They have either chosen not to share this part of their past or have forgotten the drive that started it all. Perhaps their new take on work is akin to an adult’s take on grades or playground politics in elementary school – in retrospect, you wonder why you stressed so much"

And let's add one more idea from  Malcolm Gladwell, who teaches us in his book Outliers when he proposes that a true mastery of anything requires 10,000 hours of doing it. There are no shortcuts to lasting success.

I personally believe that work has to be something you find to be fun and interesting for it to be something you do diligently with effort and no level of stress accumulation.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?