Why “Hard Work” Does More Harm Than Good!

Growing up I had always been taught the importance of hard work, how everything of value had to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, it wasn’t useful.

 Anything you were actually enjoying was bad for you. Anything you hated and found hard and where you pushed yourself beyond your limits was the best thing for real progress in life.

Most parents of kids of the 1990s told stories of how they had crossed mountains to pursue education and swam in crocodile infested waters to go to school, so clearly there were high standards to meet.

We were also told proverbs that basically said if you work hard, you are going to be rich and if you genuinely have fun, you are going to be a failure.

Well after having dedicated more than 15 years of my life to society dictated hard work and suffering physically as well as mentally as a result of it, I am done with doing any work that I don’t enjoy.

I am done with overextending myself doing what I hate, just in the hopes of a reward in the future.

It doesn’t mean I don’t work, there are days sometimes when I can still work on things for 14 hours straight, but it is ONLY and ONLY when I am genuinely involved in the process and completely absorbed in it.

If I am not in zone or not in the mood, I will completely let it go for hours or even days,

And contrary to nonsense advice on hard work, not working way too hard on things, sometimes makes them much better.

Let me share an example from my past.

I am pretty good at singing, although I am absolutely aware I am not going to win Indian/American Idol anytime soon. Still, I am alright.

Back in my college days there was a singing competition. Before this I had never taken part in such competitions and I thought it was about time that the world got to know about that side of me.

So, I found a song that suited the vibe and style I do good with.

Surprisingly, naturally, without much practise, I sung that particular song well, so I decided that this was the song I would sing in the audition.

But then all the advice given in textbooks and by wise people started coming into my head. If I was lazy, I would not perform the song well. I ought to work very hard and practice the song to perfection. So, I practiced it for hours and hours over several days.

My “hard work, effort, dedication, determination, devotion, discipline, persistence, perseverance, willpower, never say die attitude” etc. paid off in the audition! (But IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION)

 I could barely sing the song in the audition as I had lost my voice due to over-practice. When it mattered the most, I flopped! Needless to say, I didn’t make it!

Later, having realized this folly of mine, I avoided over-practising during songs and did manage to rank pretty well in a couple of other college singing competitions. 

However, clearly this hard-work related brainwashing was still drilled deep into my mind and so for 15 years I kept working super hard only to realize that everything good in my life FELT LIKE it came effortlessly, and whatever I worked super hard for, only gave me pain, anxiety and sadness and even a feeling of helplessness.

So, there is an “optimum” amount of hard work, different for each individual and different for each endeavour, beyond which not only do you not get any additional returns, you start doing more harm than good. 

The idiom – “The harder you work, the luckier you get” is ONLY true till that optimum point, not beyond it. And you have to discover that optimum point for yourself.

Let’s take a look at a couple of famous people in history whose hard work, led to a mental breakdown. I am sure there are billions of nameless examples like that in the real world. But let’s focus, for example’s sake, on a couple of well known names.

Friedrich Nietzsche, the philosopher, whose last name I learned to spell only after much effort, didn’t gain much recognition during his lifetime.  In fact, it wasn’t until after his death that his ideas really took off. During his life, he struggled with feelings of isolation and loneliness, which he expressed in poignant letters.

In one, he wrote about the pain of being unnoticed and unloved for fifteen years despite working EXTREMELY HARD.

 In another, he lamented how infrequently he heard a friendly voice, describing his situation as being “absurdly alone.”

These feelings of isolation weren’t just emotionally taxing; they may have had a significant impact on his health.

Otto Binswanger, the director of the mental hospital where Nietzsche spent some time, had a conversation with Nietzsche’s mother where he suggested that the philosopher’s intense intellectual and emotional dedication to his work might have overwhelmed his nervous system.

Binswanger thought that Nietzsche’s relentless pursuit of his philosophical ideas essentially ‘FRIED” his brain to a detrimental extent.

Isaac Newton

Newton, renowned for his groundbreaking contributions to mathematics, physics, and astronomy, reportedly experienced a period of intense mental strain that some have described as insanity. This period was characterized by intense paranoia and erratic behavior.

 It’s often speculated that his mental health issues were partly due to his obsessive focus on his work, coupled with a lack of social interactions and other interests outside his scientific endeavors.

Newton’s life shows the potential risks of over-immersion in intellectual pursuits without sufficient balance.

“One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is
the belief that one’s work is terribly important” – Bertrand Russell

Albert Einstein

Einstein, on the other hand, while equally devoted to his scientific work, maintained various interests outside his research. His love for music, particularly the violin, and his active engagement in social and political discussions, are well-documented. Einstein’s broader set of interests and his social engagements might have contributed to a more balanced life, possibly buffering against the mental health challenges that Newton faced.

Einstein’s lifestyle suggests that having diverse interests and social connections can complement and even enhance one’s primary work, contributing to overall well-being and potentially fostering creativity.

And thus, it is not surprising that Einstein wrote “Play is the highest form of research!”

Implications for Intellectual Pursuits

The comparison between Newton and Einstein supports the idea that engaging in a variety of activities and maintaining social connections can be beneficial, not just for personal well-being, but also for the quality and impact of one’s work.

Einstein’s ability to contribute profoundly to physics while also enjoying music and engaging with the world suggests that these outside interests might have provided him with mental breaks, new perspectives, and creative inspiration that enriched his scientific work.

This does not detract from Newton’s genius or his contributions but rather highlights the potential personal cost of extreme focus and isolation. It suggests that a more balanced approach, as seen in Einstein’s life, can lead to significant achievements without necessarily compromising one’s mental health.

In today’s culture, everyone wants to brag about being the “hardest worker in the room.”

BUT, there is no need to try to be the “hardest worker in the room.”

 First there can only be one hardest worker in the room and second, it doesn’t really matter bro.

“I am the hardest worker in the room, but I am the only one in the room.” – Sir Anubhav Srivastava (Winner of the 2024 Academy Award, for Best Actor, for his role in the Movie, “Hard Work”)