Hard work is not enough for success you need a clear strategy, the right direction, and supportive networks.
Naval Ravikant believes that hard work is essential for building massive wealth, but it must come third after choosing what to work on and who to work with.
“Hard work is absolutely no substitute for who you work with and what you work on. They’re like three legs of a stool. You short change any one of them, the whole stool is going to fall down.”
“What you choose to work on, and who you choose to work with, are far more important than how hard you work.” Naval Ravikant
It’s like playing on a Basketball team. You can work as hard as you want, but without the right strategy and teammates plus coaches we cannot win a championship.
Even if you are an athlete in a solo sport like boxing. If you don’t have the right strategy to beat your opponent, the right coach, you can’t become a world class fighter.
For me, hard work has been something ingrained in me since a young age.
My parents immigrated from Nepal working 16 to 18 back breaking hours per day.
My coaches all preached hard work as the key to success.
My mentors said you got to want success as bad as you want to breathe.
And so I thought hard work was all I need to succeed.
But then I grew up and realized hard work is not enough.
Yes, I still need to work hard, however I also need to have a clear strategy and the right mentors, team and/or network to help me achieve my goals.
For example, having a clear strategy may be what is the most viable market for me that fit my unique strengths, abilities and interests. Or understanding how someone has dominated an industry before and stealing and applying that exact same framework into my business.
The second pillar is having the right mentors, team and/or network.
You know the saying, “if you want to go fast go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
That saying rings true, since you cannot see your own blindspots.
Or said differently, you cannot see the light when you are shrouded in darkness.
Someone 100 chapters ahead or who has achieved your goal already has the map.
It’s like you walking around in circles for years in one spot, when all you had to do was follow a map and the treasure would have been all yours.
That is what having mentor, coach or right team can do for you.
It’s like what Steve Jobs said, “You can only connect the dots looking back.” Find someone who has achieved what you want and will look back to help you connect the dots. Steve also had a coach. Steve’s most famous and influential mentor and advisor was Bill Campbell, widely known as the “Trillion Dollar Coach” of Silicon Valley. In 2010, Jobs also briefly worked with executive coach John Mattone.
So, remember the 3 pillars of success: clear strategy, right team, and hard work.
