HARD WORK ALONE DOESN’T GUARANTEE YOU A GOOD LIFE
The other day Mr Hakainde Hichilema was urging Zambians to work hard if they want to live well and be comfortable.
Listening to him I was wondering what my relatives in Eastern Province, who work seven days a week with no rest, would make of his words. The more they work the poorer they become.
They work hard every day growing cotton, tobacco, soybeans, groundnuts and maize, but their lives are not improving. The transnational corporations that deal in cotton and tobacco – and others – are the ones becoming richer and richer from their sweat and hard work.
The lives of these relatives of mine will never improve, no matter how hard they work, unless we deal with the way they are being robbed – and only a socialist revolution can truly end this exploitation.
We have politicians in the ruling party becoming richer and richer without much hard work – all from corruption, crooked fertiliser, oil, and other deals and contracts.
Clearly, when it comes to living a successful life, one of the most common thoughts that most people have is that they need to be extremely hard working. But the truth is that hard work alone is not enough.
There is no point working hard on something that gives you only small rewards. You can spend your entire life working hard on something but have nothing to show for it at the end of the day.
Now, the reason I’m writing this is NOT to tell you not to work hard, but rather, to share with you why hard work alone is insufficient if you want to be successful.
And more importantly, if you are working hard right now but not seeing much by way of results, and have been doing this for some time, you should perhaps spend some time thinking about your work.
Is the effort you have poured into it giving you the best results?
WHEN GREAT EFFORTS COMBINE WITH THE WRONG STRATEGY
While I’m not denying that hard work is important, it is only important when you are working hard at the right thing.
For instance, if you have been jogging and running for years, does that mean you are a good marathon runner and are able to compete at an Olympic level? No. But why is that?
You can work hard and run a marathon three times a week for the next ten years, but that does not make you an Olympian. Why?
The reason is that hard work alone is not enough. You need to follow a blueprint or the right strategy to get you where you want to go. If you keep running to the west, there is no way you can catch up with the sunrise, no matter how fast or how hard you run.
We were conditioned to work hard at whatever job we get and to believe that things will work out. This is false. Working hard at the wrong thing will not produce much for you.
In fact, working hard itself alone will exhaust you and shorten your life. Ronald Reagan has a famous quote: “It’s true hard work never killed anybody, but, I figure, why take the chance?”
If you want to earn a million dollars a year, merely working and earning $5,000 a month will not make you reach your target. You need to do something else. You need something extra.
By saying that you need to do something extra, I’m not referring to working harder or spending more time doing it. Even if you are hard working and you work an additional five hours a day, and your boss doubles your salary to $10,000 a month, there is still no way you can reach the million-dollar mark.
Unless you leverage a system, you can never hit that goal, no matter how hard you work. This is why you need to learn how to leverage other financial vehicles, such as real estate, compound interest, business, and so on.
HOW DO YOU DEFINE HARD WORK?
The problem with working hard is that most people define “hard work” in the wrong way. They think that working long hours equals hard work which, I believe, is only partially true.
If you are working hard in the construction industry under the hot sun, then yes, you are working hard. However, if your work is all about sitting in a comfortable chair and typing and reading website after website, that is not really hard work in the same way, right?
You see, it all depends on how you define it. To me, there are two parts to the definition of hard work.
The first is what most of us already know, which is to work hard on a goal, diligently. But the second part is one that most people miss out on. It involves improving your strategy to make sure you are getting the right results.
In “hard work”, the first word “hard” is what we commonly know as working longer hours and putting in more effort. The second word, “work”, is all about something that WORKS. Yes, you need to be hard working, and work on something that works.
If you are at work right now, take a few minutes to think about the investment of time and energy you are making. Is your energy and effort well spent? Are you doing something that will pay off handsomely or will all your efforts go down the drain?
Things will become clearer if you think about working in a fixed-salary job. You will never see much economic benefit from pouring your energy into that job. Yes, you can be promoted and receive a pay raise, but you are sacrificing your life (time) with money.
Your boss may be grateful for all the hard work you have poured in, but it is impossible for him or her to give you a pay raise every month just because you work more.
Fred M’membe
President of the Socialist Party
Very true Fred. People like Trump have never done any hard work but they are rich. From inherited money. Cecil Rhodes was rich but he made his money from cheap labour in Africa. You at times need to either fix things by hook or by crook or just be lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time.
A person that made hundreds of millions of Dollars on the back of tax payers money is not the best person to advice poor citizens to work hard. Kutumfya uko. Kutumpa uko.
DO NOT BE FOOLED.
DO NOT BE A FOOL.
Reject tribalism, corruption and oppression.
God bless Captain Ibrahim Traore.
VOTE FOR CHANGE IN 2026.
Heeiii! Uyu muntu kanshi no bwino bwino mu brain. Alaa kanshi kaliblacka. Surely at your age and for the position you are dreaming of, can contradict yourself on a straight foward issue, sure babaa?. Yabaaa! Chachine ukukwata amano koma Lesa umwine akupela otherwise i see a complete empty tin that can’t hold water because it has holes all over.
Kwena Mmumembe, are you living in your mind or dead. In everything, hard work pays no matter what you lie, cheat the status quo remains the same. Hard work pays,
1. I have seen people who were hard working in schools paying much attention to their studies are succeding in life both in formal employment and informal. Hard work
2.i have seen people who started small in business but have become big names in society. Hard work
3. I habe seen people, who are hard working on their farms live well. They don’t even complain of mealie meal prices they have enough for themselves and surplus for sale. Hardwork.
There’s nothing to justify and substitute real hard work with your fake imaginable lies. There’s JUST completely none. Speak the truth and be honest with yourself. There is a reward in that than just tiktok tiktok with no substance.No No No
In your Case it is hard working and evading taxes
On this Article, I totally agree with you, Fred. This is brilliant, commensurate with your “Dr” title that you hold, not the toxin which you spew and excrete daily.
Failing Advanced Financial Management must taught this man a valuable lesson. What it did not teach him was that tax evasion and socialism dont pay either.
So iwe Fred, you would rather people don’t work hard? You want to be president and you say such things about hard work? Don’t bring such analysis in real life. You want to seem to be too intelligent with your mature entry correspondence qualifications…..shaaaa
So Fred, laziness pays or being a thief and corrupt.
You are the epitome of stupidity, a case study indeed.
Only a tax evader and corrupt man like you would say such a thing, assh0le
It is a combination of hypocrisy and jealousy, along with delusions, that leads Fred M’membe to continue misleading himself. Common sense dictates that in any endeavour be it education, formal or informal work, business, or agriculture those who genuinely put in the effort will achieve success, and their hard work will yield the fruits of their labour.
To claim that hard work cannot sustain a person or enhance people’s lives reflects a mindset that is fundamentally flawed.
When a person’s thoughts are driven by impulse, hatred, and jealousy, they will struggle to articulate issues with intellectual depth, which is precisely what is occurring with Fred M’membe. He believes he is clever enough to outsmart President Hakainde Hichilema, but this is a misguided belief. Fred M’membe, you cannot compare or compete with President Hakainde Hichilema in terms of wisdom, intellect, integrity, leadership, Christianity, charity, or the desire to improve the well-being of Zambians; your standing, Fred M’membe, would be considered below average.
Fred M’membe of course knows that producing primary goods does not make anyone richer. It was true during Ken Kaunda’s time and remains true even now. His buddies in the Socialist Party such as Chris Mwikisa and Cosmas Musumali also know it.
Incidentally, it’s also true in Nicholas Maduro’s Venezuela, Xi Jinping’s China and also India.