Here's Why Hard Work Won't Cut It
“Work hard” and “do your best”?
How often do you hear that the key to success is hard work, plain and simple? Better yet, how often did you hear it growing up?
“Work hard” and “do your best” was standard advice for many of us whether at school, in sports, or in our first jobs. More than advice, it was a commandment. Were you ever accused of not doing your best? Do you remember the shame?! If you’ve ever had that accusation you know the enormous weight that it carries. You know the looming cloud of disappointment speeding towards you on the horizon, and you know the internal panic of trying to push back on that storm. It’s “do your best, or don’t do anything at all.” Sometimes it’s “do your best…or else!”
If you heard any of that in your formative years, chances are that persistent command is now a fully integrated part of your inner voice. No matter whose mouth they came out of in the beginning, those words have moved inside you and are living in there rent free. And it can feel like they aren’t going anywhere any time soon. Here’s the bad news: that advice doesn’t work! Working hard is not enough, and it never was.
Without trying too hard, come up with a short list of well known innovators in this country. How many are white and male? How many have had the benefit of generational wealth? You see, success is not magic! Now, I’m not here to tell you to put it all on faith, or throw caution to the wind. I know first hand that for many of us facing racism and sexism in the workplace, that just isn’t a real option. Beyond the issue of representation, we have to reconcile with the fact that the material resources available to some makes the seemingly massive risk-taking (and potential failure) actually pretty safe. So if like me, you’re a person of color without the safety of generational wealth to cushion your fall, you’re living with a totally different (and very real) level of risk. So I’ll go out on a limb here and say that whoever first told you to work hard and keep your head down was not out to trick you, sabotage your efforts, or pull the wind out of your sails. Chances are, they were trying to keep you safe.
Consider your list of innovators: Were their “mistakes” met with support and resources? Was their “development” and “potential” defended? Was their rule breaking rewarded? By contrast, consider whose creativity or excitement gets labelled as “acting out”? Who supposedly “needs help” getting “brought in line” (and why is that just another euphemism for punishment)? Take the time you need to sit with that and see what comes up for you. In that light, keeping your head down and doing your best work seems like good advice for staying “in line” and out of trouble. Doesn’t it?
But avoiding trouble isn’t the same as meeting your goals. By now, you probably know the feeling of sharing a great idea only to have it ignored. Then, maybe just minutes later, a colleague speaks up with your idea. Suddenly, it’s well received! Celebrated! Impressive! Hard work is not going to address that dynamic. Even with fantastic results, hard work does not guarantee your own advancement, promotion, or access to greater opportunities. Hard work alone is still going to leave you overlooked, frustrated — and worse— stuck.
If you’re starting to think you’re in a trap, you’re right! But there is a way to get out of that trap and move purposefully towards your goals. To get out of that trap you need two things: Strategy and Self Advocacy. In an environment (and a broader culture) that does not honor you or uplift your work as its default, you must take the steps to protect, amplify, and advocate for your own value. Rather than hoping your work will speak for itself, or waiting for your employer to give you your day in the sun, you have to speak up for your work — and you have to speak up for yourself. The good news: you don’t have to start from scratch, and you don’t have to do it alone.
Step up for yourself now and let's discuss how I can support you. You’ll be in good company.
