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Your work is canvas, and your effort is the brush. With this brush, you paint the portrait of your dream life.

You start with a blank canvas. Everyone does. When we begin, we have no idea of what we are doing or going to do. But then — deep inside our brains — neurons fire. We don't know what happens, but our brains do something, and we have an idea.

Pablo Picasso believed ideas come when you are working. If you are standing in front of your canvas, you'll have an idea of what to do next.

The question is not how you'll do your work — required to reach your dreams — but to find the reason to stand in front of the easel.

Let's consider these two scenarios in detail:

1. To not stand in front of your canvas

No one works hard without a good reason. Why would you work your a** off to do something that no one has done yet? This question bothers every working person.

I am thinking about this question while I am writing these words. What disturbs me is not my resolve to write well but an event that shakes my confidence. I feel my success is not in my control — that I can not succeed, no matter what I do. So I stop sitting in front of my canvas — the blank screen of my word editor.

When you are not working hard, the problem may not be with you. It may exist outside you — and then it becomes your problem when you let it affect you negatively. That is what happened to me.

"Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, shift your energy to what you can create." ~ Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

23rd March 2021. I didn't write anything in April. The writing platform announced its first bonus for writers in April. I failed to convince myself to write in May as well. They distributed the second bonus in May — and I missed it too.

Something similar may happen to you in your work. When you are not working hard, you don't believe your efforts will bring you success.

Case study: Your father is serving a sentence for burglary. You are living and studying in a neighborhood where most of the people are ex-convicts. You believe your studies do not matter, and no matter what you do, you will end up in jail like all the other people. You stop believing that the system works. You stop believing your work is going to do anything good for you. Is there anything to convince you to attend the classes? Why would you finish your homework?

"Do one thing every day that scares you." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

2. To stand in front of your canvas

I lost hope that I could succeed by working hard — by standing in front of my canvas.

Showing up for work is challenging. Your job may feel dull when you cannot write a single sensible sentence for hours.

Why work so hard if your success is doubtful?

My doubts overpowered me this spring. I allowed an external factor to influence my decision-making process. I know external challenges make me move away from my comfort zone and reveal my more vulnerable side. When you feel like quitting in front of your canvas — and you stand there nevertheless — you believe you can succeed by working hard. To think you'll succeed or fail is your inner decision. As Henry Ford said, "Whether you think you can, or you think you can't — you're right."

What if I had not lost hope? What if I had believed I would succeed — by standing in front of my canvas.

It would have rewarded me — I would have earned a thousand bucks in April and May. Medium — the writing platform — wants to encourage writers like me to keep writing and believing in themselves.

If you believe that your work can make you successful, a chain reaction begins. Your small successes boost your confidence. And one day, you firmly believe in trying to do your work. On that day, standing in front of your canvas will feel like an obvious thing to do.

Case study: You are the son or daughter of a professor. You are studying at your father's college. You know your academic success and your father's connections will land you somewhere secure. If you ever got stuck, your father and his circle of friends will help you get unstuck. In other words, you are sure that your studies will make you successful. Will you ever bunk a class or not study at home?

"When we work hard to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too." ~ Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

How numerous choices waste your time

When you are working hard, you have no room for distractions. You have to have a routine. You have to develop strict discipline, both mental and social.

Working hard, you can not visit places or think about the things happening around you. You don't have time for all that sh*t.

But if you are not working hard, you lose your focus or never develop it. You pay attention to nothing — and everything. You can listen to the news, follow any trend, and be worried about a million things the media wants you to know.

When you don't devote a portion of your day — say 8 hours — to your work, you have eight more hours to visit sites, scroll social media feeds, and read everything that pops up on your screen.

If you are working hard, you need relaxation and quality entertainment. If you are not working hard, anything will do. You can watch 1001 remedies to brighten your clothes as well as see the latest failed scientific experiments.

Little or no work converts your day into a marathon of making numerous small decisions. If this habit continues, your mind refuses to make any decision — or the decision fatigue. Then you become a mindless zombie ready to consume anything the media suggests.

On the other hand, hard work promotes comfortable sleep patterns that make you fresher every day.

Final thoughts

If you are not working hard, you no longer believe you'll succeed.

Why would anybody stop working if they were sure of their success? Or why would anybody start anything if they knew of their failure?

Your belief that you'll succeed or fail is your inner decision. It does not depend on external factors — though it can be influenced by many factors if you are not paying attention.

Also, think about these points related to working hard or living an easy life:

1. Is an easy life of any use to you? When we face difficult situations, we grow as human beings. Anne Frank says, " Laziness may seem attractive, but hard work gives satisfaction."
2. Facing a problem allows you to think, plan, and act. Running away from things teaches you to fear obstacles. Remember, fear is a mind-killer.
3. Working hard allows you to excel at what you do. Excellence leads to effortless work you enjoy even while you are doing it. Easy life never creates self-worth.
4. When you have overcome tough challenges, you don't give up easily. For example, if you solve all the questions in a math exercise but one, you won't quit until you have solved it. But the easy way would have been to give up or never try.
5. Excellent work and persistence make you confident. When you see good results, you try even more. For example, David Goggins tells to callus your brain — through pain and suffering — to push yourself beyond the possible.

On the way to success, you may think you are an imposter — that you are pretending to be what you are not. Kurt Vonnegut said, "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." It's better to pretend to be good at what you do than do nothing at all.

What matters is your inner dialogue. How you tell yourself that you deserve to succeed matters. How you enjoy your daily successes or ignore your failures is more important than anything else.

Not working hard destroys your faith in your ability. But working hard makes you believe in yourself. As the Mandolorian says: this is the way¹.

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1. From the Mandalorian.