We glorify hard work, treating it as if it’s sacred. And yes while effort does matter, somewhere along the line of motivational quotes and 6am gym selfies we seem to have forgotten to ask an important question, if grinding was enough then why doesn’t the donkey own the farm?
The donkey works and God knows it works hard. It works hard every day and night, it has no complaint about it, and it works many more hours a day than everyone else in that yard combined. It has no farm to call its own. It has no equity. There is nothing with its name on it. If you are willing to look properly, you could find grief in that. You might argue that it's just an animal but at the fundamental level, aren't we all? And some people live like that. The hardest workers with the least rewards.
We have been conditioned to believe that sweat is the currency of success, when the real currency of success lies in, strategy, leverage and knowing when and where to push which door. None of those things get added to the caption of a motivational quote about perseverance.
There are thousands, if not millions of people throughout Africa who work as hard as or harder than anyone else. Market traders who are up long before the sun rises. Welders who work through the afternoon heat of the sun, who carry a sense of seriousness in their work which would embarrass most executives. And yet the structure that determines who benefits from those years of hard work does not correlate to the structure that determines who labors.
That's why I'll tell you to work hard but be very intentional about the direction you are taking your hard work in. It is very important to know what game you are playing. Because without direction, your hard work will simply leave you as a donkey sitting on his own in front of a barn with no way to go home.