There comes a time in everyone’s life when normal effort just isn’t enough.
Yes, work-life balance is important and you shouldn’t make an idol out of your work, but sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do.
That’s what this post is about. My goal here is to help you when you actually need to grind.
Certain periods in life require us to produce much more than we’d like, but doing so isn’t as easy as simply trying harder. You need a specific mindset to master this crucial time, and fortunately for you, I know exactly what it takes.
The 6 mindset tips below help me to lock in and do hard work. I promise they’ll help you too when you need to grind.
6 Mindset Tips to Work Harder and Master Your Grind
Tip 1: Accept Sole Responsibility of Your Work
The biggest barrier to hard work isn’t actually a lack of discipline, motivation, or skill. Those 3 traits are important to the grind, but really, they all stem from a greater cause—commitment. And personal commitment happens when you accept sole responsibility of your work.
You can’t expect things to “just happen” in life. You can’t rely on others to finish your tasks. And you can’t use excuses to justify poor quality. You are the main person responsible for action. It doesn’t matter if your friends, family members, or coworkers don’t help.
There is no “we” in running, but there is an “I” in grind.
If you accept the fact that you alone are responsible for what gets done, you’ll have no choice but to commit. And once you’ve fully bought in, you’ll address the 3 traits we discussed:
- You’ll discipline yourself instead of goofing off since your priorities will be defined.
- You won’t rely on fleeting motivation because your choice will already be made.
- And skill won’t be an issue because your commitment will naturally build it.
Everything starts with accepting responsibility.
If you don’t expect a bailout, you’ll do everything possible to not need one.
Tip 2: Weigh the Opportunity Cost of Your Choices
Every choice you make leads to a missed opportunity.
If you choose to doomscroll or watch TV when you could be working, you miss an opportunity to make progress. And if you choose to knock out some work, you miss an opportunity to chill and relax.
Neither of those choices is inherently bad. The only question is, “which opportunity are you willing to lose?”.
This choice is the essence of opportunity cost—a decision-making principle often used in economics. Investors use opportunity cost to consider the gains they forfeit when they choose certain options. As you can see, however, the application goes well beyond financial decisions.
We forgo opportunities every second of day-to-day life, so instead of living off feelings and vibes, step back and think of what you leave on the table.
If you don’t work hard and grind, what will you miss? Is that outcome better or worse than if you do?
Thinking this way is how you get the good kind of FOMO. You start fearing what will happen if you ignore responsibility—which is good.
We all experience gains and losses no matter what we choose, so it’s up to you to invest in choices that’ll make your future-self proud.
Tip 3: Make the Grind as Easy as Possible
You can’t sustain hard work without making that work seem easy.
We’re all wired to choose actions that require less effort, so we need to remove all the resistance we can to make the grind as easy as possible.
Doing this requires foresight—we have to position ourselves well in the following areas before work even starts:
…With Your Body
You will face fatigue and other uncomfortable feelings during the grind. There’s no need to add even more challenge by showing up feeling horrible.
It’s important to take care of yourself, cut your vices, and ensure your body is ready for the work ahead.
Sleep is your most important tool here for preparation and recovery, so don’t forfeit a clear mind tomorrow just to watch Netflix past your bedtime.
A rested body and mind are advantages that are almost entirely dependent on your choices. Give yourself the best chance to work by making sure your body is as strong as possible.
…With Your Preparation
Uncertainty is the biggest killer of productivity.
Everyone thinks they know what they’re doing until it’s time to actually work. Then they realize the error of their “arrogant laziness”.
Arrogant laziness goes beyond an unwillingness to work. It’s overestimating your skills and tendencies to the point where you don’t properly prepare:
- You may not leave early enough for work, for example, if you think you’re a fast driver
- Perhaps you’re a good speaker and an extravert, so you don’t practice your upcoming speech
- Or maybe you’re used to writing essays, so you don’t think you need outlines anymore
Trusting yourself too much like this inevitably causes problems. Clear plans make execution easy, though, regardless of how skilled you are.
…With Your Routine
If possible, do your work at the same time, in the same place, with the same setup.
Having a routine like this is habit-forming. It trains you to see hard work as something you just do. It also gives the added benefit of a clear mind.
You won’t have to search for a quiet spot or look for the tools you need if you have a routine. Those concerns will be addressed already so you can focus on the work ahead.
Tip 4: Push Your Real Limits Instead of Perceived Ones
Stop asking, “Can I do it?”, and start asking, “What will it take?”.
The former question is about capability, but the latter is about investment.
You don’t know what you’re capable of if you haven’t pushed yourself yet. All of us can make an investment, however, if we feel strong enough about a likely result.
Thinking this way is important because your goals will force you to compete with yourself. You’ll need to move past your comfort zone and squeeze the required investment into everyday life.
Sometimes, that means you cut out small commitments that make you feel more restricted than you are. Sometimes, it means working outside your typical 9-to-5 hours too.
No matter how you choose to do it though, pushing your real limits here is a must. Ignore everything you think is a barrier and expand your effort for what’s truly important.
Tip 5: Value Finished Tasks Over Outcomes
One of the most frustrating aspects of hard work is that it’s not always rewarded.
You could do everything right according to the tips above and still find yourself in the same predicament.
That, my friend, is life.
You aren’t guaranteed positive results for any investment you make, so if you want to stay focused when others give up, you need to value finished tasks over outcomes instead.
No one can fully control whether they succeed or not, but you can always control whether the work in front of you gets done.
You don’t need validation to know your path is correct. You shouldn’t need a pat on the back each time you do good work either. That positive feedback is a welcome luxury, but your work may not be noticeable enough initially to warrant praise.
When you’re in this in-between phase, you have to trust your commitment to the grind. You have to believe the work you’re doing is worth it no matter what.
It’s tough to work hard if you’re concerned with feedback, opinions, or results, but if you value your production more than all that noise, you’ll likely make your own “luck” later on.
Tip 6: Remember Discomfort is Temporary
Finally, you need to remember that all this is temporary.
I mentioned earlier that life puts us in positions where we’re forced to give more effort, but the pendulum swings back the other way too.
Contrary to what some people think, grinding is not a lifestyle—it’s a temporary investment that will hopefully bring long-term results.
Hard work wouldn’t be called “hard” if it was fully sustainable. People who act like they can keep this up for years aren’t pushing their actual limits.
If you really push yourself, you will feel fatigue. You’ll probably feel unhappy or dissatisfied at some point too. All those feelings, however, are just as temporary as the grind.
Remember that there is an endpoint to all this extra effort. There is a time coming when you’ll finally get to rest.
“The way things are now is not how they will always be.”
Keep repeating that motto any time you want to quit.
How to Work Hard: A Summary
To summarize, here are the 6 mindset tips you can use to work hard and master your grind:
- Accept Sole Responsibility of Your Work
- Weigh the Opportunity Cost of Your Choices
- Make the Grind as Easy as Possible
- Push Your Real Limits Instead of Perceived Ones
- Value Finished Tasks Over Outcomes
- Remember Discomfort is Temporary
Most of us aren’t truly limited by the hours in our day or the energy we can give. Our mindset is what usually holds us back, but if you follow the tips above, you’ll see that you’re capable of much more than you think.
Remember this article the next time life demands more effort from you than usual.
You’ll surpass even the highest of expectations if you do.
-Drew
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