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Thanos, the super villain in Marvel series of Infinity wars and Endgame made a statement I will never forget. He said, ‘The hardest choices require the strongest wills’. That statement made me wonder what choices are the hardest for us and what we require. I realized that sometimes, the hardest choice we have to make is choosing to go beyond our conceivable limits. The choice to confront mediocrity and do more than seems necessary is hard, especially when the rewards of achieving such powerful and world-changing feats come with sacrifices (you may already feel pain seeing this word).

In the daring quest of being the best possible version of ourselves, our strongest will is put to the test when we see and hear others ahead of us tell us what they had to do to get there.

Hard work and smart work are the phrases often heard when success and achievement are discussed. It usually seems like a certain rivalry exists between hard work and smart work, and one is forced to ask the salient question, “Do I work hard, or do I work smartly?” Let me dodge this question and give a scenario.

If you were alone at home, feeling hungry. You would remember that there are noodles and proceed to prepare it. You would go through all the processes involved and end up with a hot plate of noodles, with fried egg and sausage. During this ordeal, it doesn’t occur to you how much effort and brain power you put into the meal, because your only cares were the full forks going in the direction of your mouth. You certainly cared less about how much hard or smart work was involved.

The reality is that how hard you work, and how intelligently you approach work is purely a function of how much you want the results.

It seems easy for people who have “made” it to tell you how much you need to work hard or work smart, but the truth is that they didn’t know that what they were doing in the process was hard work. Hard work is not an option you click while working, like the way you choose a dark WhatsApp theme. It is what you do because you want to get a result, not for the sake of it. It is staying up late to finish that program. It is sitting down in front of your mirror to ensure that when you don’t rush, you actually look glam. It is taking yourself to the limit because you cannot afford to miss your expected results.

The tough decision you make is desiring the lofty result and doing every legal (emphasis on legal) thing possible to see its achievement. When you look at your yearly goals as those noodles you need to make, all the talk of how much you have to work won’t matter to you. The only important thing is how much you want those goals to be achieved.

It is very important that before deciding on how hard or smart you want to work, ask yourself how much you want to get that thing you are working for. If the desire is like the full plate of food you just saw on Instagram, you’ll just keep wishing and end up on YouTube with recommendations of diverse 5-minute videos on success, hard work and good habits.

It is the second half of the year. The first half must have been really unexpected. Look at yourself now, what do you want? How badly do you want it? Make the hard choice, bring on your strongest will.

Yours in saving the world,

Elushade Oluwatumininu.