Monday Motivation – Work Insanely Hard, Right at the Beginning

Does the idea of working “insanely hard” sound fun to you? Probably not. It didn’t to me. But I wish it did, because working insanely hard is a vital piece to the “success puzzle.”

You may not be aware of this, but in college, I was studying to be a computer engineer (yes, an Indian guy getting a computer engineering degree. It would only be more stereotypical if I periodically busted out into song and dance to express my deepest emotions)

One year I signed up for a class that sounded interesting, but had a professor who had received some reviews for being tough and assigning a lot of work (“tough” and “a lot of work” were not two things that I was looking for in my college classes. “Interesting,” and “Light enough to allow me to do the many other things I enjoyed,” were high my list, but they were very tough to find…). The first day of class, the professor explained his educational theory:

“In a lot of classes, you will start slow, then work really hard for a bit, then slack off, then work hard, then slack, and so on. In this class, you’ll work insanely hard up front, but then things will get easier over time and you can kind of coast.”

He drew a comparison to a space shuttle launch. The initial take off burns a tremendous amount of fuel, but once it’s in space, it just floats. His theory was to have us burn that much energy up front, as opposed to doing repeated take-offs and landings over the semester.

Two weeks later, I was no longer enrolled in that class…

Yup, the whole, “work insanely hard” right at the beginning thing wasn’t doing it for me. In retrospect, this was a shame because it was a class around a topic that, at the time, I seriously thought would have been a potential career choice (“Avish Parashar, Software Engineer.” It almost happened)

In further retrospect though, it’s not that big of a shame because I am pretty sure I would much rather be doing what I do now (speaking, training, and writing) than being a “software engineer.”

In further, further retrospect though, it is shame, because I missed out on learning an incredibly valuable lesson that would have helped me over the years, regardless of the field or industry I was in:

There is tremendous value in working insanely hard, right at the beginning.

“Insanely hard” is not a precise term, and may scare you off. But the point is, many people drop their goals because they are unwilling to point in the crazy hard work up front, before the rewards start setting in. The people who do push through that discomfort end up enjoying success and reaching heights that others only dream of.

Here are a few benefits of working insanely hard, right at the beginning:

1. Be the First to Market – I’m guessing that over the course of your life so far, you have seen companies come out with a product of service and said to yourself, “Damn! I thought of that two years ago!” I myself, along with a friend, started working on an Evite style website two years before Evite came out. But “started working on” doesn’t count for much. Work hard right at the beginning, get it done, and get your idea out before the next guy.
2. Leverage Your Motivation – Your motivation tends to be the highest right at the  start of a new project. Take advantage of that and got a ton done right away! Save moderation for later, once the initial motivation has started to wane.
3. Push Past Resistance – On the flip side of motivation is resistance. As you prepare to start something new, a little voice in your head may tell you to, “this is stupid, why are you wasting your time with this? It’s too hard!” By jumping in and working insanely hard right at the beginning, you smack resistance in the face and show yourself, “yes, I can do this!”
4. Create Commitment – I have attempted to write a novel many times over my life. The moderation approach led me to working 30-60 minutes a night, a few nights a week. Every time I employed this plan, I eventually lost momentum and the project withered and eventually died. Since I hadn’t done that much work yet, I wasn’t all that committed. On the other hand, last November I participated in National Novel Writing Month, where the goal was to write 50,000 words in one month. I successfully did that, and let me tell you, after committing that many hours and that many words to the page, there was no way I was just going to let it wither and die. I am continuing to work on the novel, even though the contest is over. That insane work, right at the start, created commitment.
5. Separation – Think of it this way: hard work is a barrier to keep other people from achieving truly magnificent things. If it was easy, every one would do it and it would be devalued. To separate yourself from the pack, you have to work insanely hard. As I heard someone once say, “Success is easy; just be willing to do the things that other people aren’t willing to do.”

Here are some situations where a lot of hard work, right up front, pays off big time in the long run:

• Building habits. As I talk about in my, Resolution #1: No More Resolutions!,  post, habit building involves burning a lot of energy up front to reap long term benefits. Once the habit is installed, you enjoy the result of the habit forever.
• Getting a degree or certification. Put in a lot of time, energy, and (potentially) money now, and you’ll gain long term benefits by being more qualified for higher paying jobs.
• Learning a new skill. Once you learn it, it’s yours forever. I am jealous of my friends who were forced to learn how to type growing up. I never did, and, while I type at an ok speed, I am still limited by my “three finger style” of typing.
• Writing a book, recording an audio, creating a product – Obviously not for everyone, but once you have created something, it’s created forever. Writing my book, Improvise to Success! took time and effort, but I finished it four years ago and have been able to see financial and marketing gains from it ever since with almost no additional effort.

Anything worth doing is going to involve hard work and sacrifice. Usually that work and sacrifice will happen at the beginning, before you see any rewards. Work hard during this stage, even insanely hard, to push through and finish what you need to finish. Once it’s done you will be able to coast . Well, maybe you won’t coast, but thing will be easier and you will enjoy rewards that most others never see.

Questions: What areas in your life are you employing a “coast-burn-coast” model? How can you focus yourself to put in hard, consistent work right now, up front, to reap long term rewards?

Do you need help figuring out what you need to work insanelt hard on, how to do it, and staying on track? Then sign up for some Smart Ass Mentoring now!

About

By Avish Parashar. As the world's only Motivational Improviser, Avish uses techniques from the world of improv comedy to engage, entertain, and educate audiences on ideas around change, creativity, and motivation. Connect with Avish on Google+

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