“Successful people are not gifted; they just work hard,
then succeed on purpose.” – G.K. Nielson
***
In one of the 1932 issues of Harper’s Monthly, Thomas Alva Edison was quoted as saying, “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
What the American inventor was telling us is that genius is not just about being intelligent but also it entails hard work.
Ignace Jan Paderewski relates that a gushing listener once said to him, “Paderewski, you are truly a genius.” The Polish pianist answered, “Yes, madam, I am a genius; but before that I was for many years a drudge.”
And Albert Einstein was once asked how he worked. “I grope,” was his reply.
Yes, even geniuses work. No one is spared from working. Without work, what would human beings be doing? As French philosopher Voltaire pointed out, “Work saves us from three great evils: boredom, vice and need.”
All of us are urged to work – whether we like it or not. “Whenever it is in any way possible, every boy and girl should choose as his life work some occupation which he should like to do anyhow, even if he did not need the money,” said William Lyon Phelps.
“Do all the work you can; that is the whole philosophy of the good way of life,” Eugene Delacroix reminded. And choose the work you like best. Johnny Carson said, “Never continue in a job you don’t enjoy. If you’re happy in what you’re doing, you’ll like yourself, you’ll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined.”
“Love your job, but never fall in love with your company because you never know when your company stops loving you,” advised Narayana Murthy, who founded Infosys in 1981 along with six software professionals.
Murthy is known not just for building the biggest information technology empire in India but also for his simplicity. Almost every important dignitary visits Infosys campus in Karnataka. The beauty about his family is that they believe in sharing their wealth with the needy.
Murthy believes in work. But doing overtime to accomplish the work, well, that’s a philosophy which he doesn’t seem to subscribe to. This was the gist of a speech he delivered during an employee session with another information technology company in India. Here is an excerpt of what he told the group:
“I know people who work 12 hours a day, six days a week, or more. Some people do so because of a work emergency where the long hours are only temporary. Other people I know have put in these hours for years. I don’t know if they are working all these hours, but I do know they are in the office this long. Others put in long office hours because they are addicted to the workplace. Whatever the reason for putting in overtime, working long hours over the long term is harmful to the person and to the organization.
“There are things managers can do to change this for everyone’s benefit. Being in the office for long hours, over long periods of time, makes way for potential errors. My colleagues who are in the office long hours frequently make mistakes caused by fatigue. Correcting these mistakes requires their time as well as the time and energy of others. I have seen people work Tuesday through Friday to correct mistakes made after 5 p.m. on Monday.
“Another problem is that people who are in the office long hours are not pleasant company. They often complain about other people (who aren’t working as hard); they are irritable, or cranky, or even angry. Other people avoid them. Such behavior poses problems, where work goes much better when people work together instead of avoiding one another.”
What should managers do, then? “There are things we can do to help people leave the office,” Murthy said in his speech. “First and foremost is to set an example and go home ourselves. I work with a manager who chides people for working long hours. His words quickly lose their meaning when he sends these chiding group e-mails with a time-stamp of 2 a.m., Sunday.
“Second is to encourage people to put some balance in their lives. For instance, here is a guideline I find helpful: (1) Wake up, eat a good breakfast, and go to work. (2) Work hard and smart for eight or nine hours. (3) Go home. (4) Read books or comics, watch a funny movie, dig in the dirt, play with your kids, etc. (5) Eat well and sleep well.”
Murthy called the guideline as recreating. “Doing steps 1, 3, 4, and 5 enable step 2,” he pointed out.
“Working regular hours and recreating daily are simple concepts. They are hard for some of us because that requires ‘personal change.’ They are possible since we all have the power to choose to do them.”
Remember what Bette Davis said in 1962’s The Lonely Life? She declared, “It has been my experience that one cannot, in any shape or form, depend on human relations for lasting reward. It is only work that truly satisfies.”
It is fitting to quote John Ruskin to end this piece: “In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: They must be fit for it. They must not do too much of it. And they must have a sense of success in it.”
