The hard work equals success myth

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Why do people continue to perpetrate this obvious fallacy? I find this quite odd.

I'm not even taking a political position on this becuase you could still justify on merit opposing systems without this fallacy.

Obviously, it makes far more sense to say the more efficient you are, the more capable. the better you are at earning, the more influential you have, are some of the primary factors in success.

Hard work on it own doesn't guarantee anything. People are not unsuccessful simply becuase they aren't working hard. Sure, if you have the above you can work harder to build on that success, or perhaps you could just continue as you are and use any extra time for leisure.

Certainly it is better to work less hard for the same reward. Well of course people may be after different rewards than purely financial.

People tell themselves they work hard this may or not be the case, it is all relative of course. So I guess it is more a physiological boost, the idea of earning their keep. However someone who is a skilled entrepreneur wouldn't fall for this fallacy.

Not to mention too much hard work isn't actually good for you...but it sure allows companies to sh*t on their employees since they think if they just keep putting up with it and work harder they'll actually get somewhere, just so long as they're willing to sacrifice the majority of their time to work during their prime years...so maybe at an older more decrepit age they will have some more disposable income.

lol damn that was a pretty grim and negative way to put it, but its not entirely far from the truth.

Of course it's not like that everywhere, so I suppose there is hope that can change.

More like money has to already be present, as in no recession and depression, and luck factors in as well. Hard work can lead to a certain degree of material success under such conditions in a country lithe US.
If the money isn't already circulating through society in some way, hard work might be necessary for survival but it won't bring money.
It can mean success in other ways, like water from a well that's five miles away, no more leaking roof, holes in the wall, food after planting it or tending livestock, clothing after sewing it yourself, weaving cloth, preparing meals, scrubbing the house. All these examples require work with a degree of reward. Depends on your definition of success. Not everyone who works hard their entire life will make a million or more dollars.
That's manual labor. For some, it's a matter of thought working. They rely on networking and mental tasks for survival, and they consider it hard work.

ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo that is true but I'm looking at hard work in isolation.

If you are attempting to obtain water in a desert, hard work may in fact lead to your demise faster if you lack the knowledge and the necessary the tools to succeed.

Therefore hard work on its own isn't a guarantee of anything.

Nothing is guaranteed.

But, to me, it seems silly not to get a college degree if you are lucky enough to get a scholarship or some other way to get it without going into debt. A 4 year degree can open up opportunities otherwise not available.

"Work hard and you will succeed" is nothing more than a platitude.

IMHO it's a combination of things.

The more capitalistic side of our system is nearing natural expiration. A lot of people have commented on how technology will be gradually making the human labor market obsolete. A lot of the people in any particular part of the public opinion and news industry who reckon themselves shapers and movers of human behavior seem to be pushing an 'All hands on deck' approach to make sure as many people as possible are fighting for jobs until that ship goes down. Possibly they might have their own reasons that people will just jump on the dole and avoid the work market, and the more the work world starts looking like Hunger Games and the more rotten the business culture gets in that regard the more the drum would need to be beaten that 'It's your duty' to be employed, to be paying in to the tax system, etc. etc..

That's at least what I think is going on at the propaganda and stigma mill - if you don't Rah-rah-rah the thing people will be less likely to take an irrational charge at it or let it torment their self esteem quite as much if they find themselves permanently pushed out of work.

As for the validity of the assertion itself - it doesn't take into account much of anything in terms of what really happens at companies. A great example is that a lot of degrees, you especially notice this in finance, turn out people who might have gotten straight-A's in college but what they'll be doing in the work world may have almost nothing to do with what they learned; consequently you'll have significant skill mismatches. Most people for example who are accountants aren't particularly great car salesmen nor day care specialists or public enforcers (disciplining other adults) - that can just get thrown on them in lieu of what they went to school for when they get a job either in public accounting or in ground-level finance. It would make way more sense if college and vocational school guidance counselors were sizing people up on the real markers of success in their fields as the job market really works but for whatever reason we don't have that. Also at a lot of companies training amounts to one sentence "You're an adult - you'll figure it out", needless to say a lot of people find themselves either fired or having whatever faith they had in themselves bashed in when that turns into a learning-by-getting-yelled-at regimen.

I actually remember when Woolworth not only had training programs for managers--but folks who washed out and still wanted to be managers often used the training they got to work for competing stores, like Ben Franklin.

Depends. If hard work is part of an efficient strategy then it most likely will work. Working extra hard by shooting in the dark and hoping that one of them hits the jackpot is far from an efficient strategy, if you can call that a strategy at all. Much effort and time will be wasted with fruitless pursuits in the latter case.

Swimming against the tide is hard work but that doesn't necessarily lead to anywhere. You have to have plans in place, and even then, they aren't guaranteed to work. You also have to have the instinct to know how to approach a problem without expending extra time or effort, the kind of stuff that separates skilled entrepreneurs from mediocre ones, I think. Good businesspeople often do work hard as a result of their success, though it might not be hard work that got them there.

Added to all this are the opportunities that arise. Someone who's able to walk through more open doors will most probably be more successful than someone who can't catch a break in life. Knowing how to seize opportunities does not necessarily involve hard work.

One aspect that might make things difficult for a aspie is the networking involved. Sometimes you just might know somebody who has the power or influence to make those golden opportunities happen. For an aspie, networking might be hard work, or at least emotionally draining.

Its just when normies believe in the 'just world' fallacy.

I guess I would rephrase it
Doing hard things pay off.

I've been at the same place almost 17 years.

My offsite boss helps a lot.
My self revelation helped.
My boss has understanding and knows relationships aren't my strong suit. Support from my boss is a blessing.
Asking for help and use of my work phone is easier these days.
Money- I make out OK
Duties include some learned and usually done by folks with more letters after there name

I like to write F. U. D. D. after my name ...Fudd as in Elmer

After work naps help.

calvinist morality. much more stubbornly persistent than the religion itself, as it seems

Please explain Calvin

I'm guessing it isn't the graphic novel Calvin & Hobbes.

I believe we are much more than what we do or don't do as a vocation.
The question What do you do )indicating where do you work(
gets interesting answers at time from this "Reader and Righter"

Interesting.

I suggest to folks I work with to find a job they can adapt and use their passion and skills. I did even with my work "behind the walls"
This "Reader and Righter" doesn't see employment as part of salvation. Don't want to turn this thread. Although in real life that happens.