Work Hard

If working hard is not working long hours nor performing extenuating tasks, then what is it?

Working hard is working with purpose and care.

We often relate the following conditions to hard work but they're not part of its essence:

Working long hours.
Not taking breaks/days off.
Performing physically extenuating activities.
Toxic work environment.
Away from friends and family.
Repetitive and boring tasks.

Those properties are part of any job, but none of them are actually necessary to doing hard work.

An example from my own work as a Software Engineer is that when I try to solve a problem I never stop working, my mind is always connected to the topic and trying to draw inspiration from the environment.

I had plenty of epiphany moments on how to solve a problem or improve a system while doing something completely different: jogging, watching a movie, walking around the city, talking with friends.

This happens when you're tasked with something challenging that sparks your creativity, and you care about the result.

The more you care, the more you engage that creative side that is working on the background all the time. But then it has to be followed with the discipline to deliver what you have envisioned.

Being creative is what makes us human and in the age of AI is more important than ever.

Try to put yourself in the line of work where you care about what you do, that let's you work towards a purpose that you find valuable and express your creativity. That will make you work hard, and then you'll not mind working longer hours or during weekends.

What is caring?

In a workplace it can mean different things:

Solve a problem.
Improve some part of the system.
Being brave to speak up and challenge the current status quo.
Respect others opinions even if you think they're wrong.
Engage in dialogue.

To summarize

For me working hard can be summarized into 3 words:

Care
Purpose
Responsibility

If those things are part of your work then you're working hard.