How to work hard
Essay on how to work hard that is sustainable and not hurting your health
At some point in your life, you might want to work hard because you have a goal. Or perhaps you have an idea that you want to work on. At that moment, a few questions might arise: How can I work hard effectively? How to make it sustainable?
The cost of grinding is usually your health. Staying up all night accumulates stress and strain on your body. You'll hit a limit where your body can't handle the stress. This is not a sustainable way to work hard.
Fundamentally, I believe working hard is critical if you want to make great things. When I work with someone who is not working hard, I can feel they're not putting effort into the work. They're not paying attention to the details. In building software, this can lead to subpar software with many bugs and bad designs around the corner.
This begs the question: How can we work hard without risking our health and life?
First, you should work on the right thing. I call this a targeted effort. In practice, you put most of your time and energy into one project. A project that you believe will lead you to your goal.
If you work in a company as an employee, you might make a bet to put your 100% effort into the company you work for. Or perhaps you put 50% effort into your side project to quit your job one day.
That sounds straightforward, but it's often difficult to decide on what to work on. It's critical to take your time to find this. My approach is to pick something and try it out, dropping it when I don't feel it's the right thing. Every day is a prototype.
Once you have chosen a project, the next step is to design your life to be efficient. Develop a schedule where you can dedicate at least 3 hours of deep work to the project. For me, waking up in the morning to do the work is usually the most productive time, so I would protect it. I find discussing my schedule with my wife helpful, as it allows us to schedule time together.
After experimenting with the schedule, you will slowly develop a routine. Many great people have routines. For example, Haruki Murakami's routine allows him to work hard in the morning, exercise, and then he would listen to some music or read a bit.
Another thing to watch out for is distraction. There are many kinds of distractions. Your phone is the biggest one, and maybe your social life. If you want to work hard, it's critical to curate how you use your time. Sometimes, you have to say no to people. Find what makes sense for you because, after all, it's your life.
Along the way, you will experience stress, and your body will feel tired from working super hard. The wise move here is to understand your limit. Keep track of how many hours in a day you can work. During those hours, you should be able to stay focused. Incorporate breaks in between those times so your brain has a chance to decompress.
If your body lacks the stamina to keep working, this will eventually affect your efficiency in the long term. You can consider going to the gym or doing some exercise. Take a few days off to learn how to build muscle and cardio strength. I like to measure the percentage of muscle mass and fat in my body to see progress along the way.
Another thing is sleep. Getting enough sleep is critical if you want to work hard. Usually, when you work hard, you must learn new things. Sleep actually helps your brain learn. Try to sleep 7-8 hours a day. For me, I use WHOOP to help me keep track of my sleep. It's a band that I put on my wrist that tracks my heart rate and sleep efficiency.
Finally, while working hard toward your goal, self-doubt will creep in. You will question yourself. This is a healthy part of the creative work. Even the most successful game designer of Stardew Valley constantly questions himself if the game is good enough throughout the process. Stardew Valley has sold over 30 million copies.
When I face doubts, I see paper and pen as my friends. I can list my concerns.
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