The Harder You Work, the Luckier You Get: An Entrepreneur's Memoir

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Innovation: Hard work fuels innovation. The effort you put into researching, understanding your market, and developing solutions to meet your customers’ needs can lead to novel ideas and products. Additionally, a strong work ethic often involves constantly seeking better ways to do things, pushing you towards innovation. Building Reputation: A strong work ethic can help build your reputation in the industry. Partners, investors, and clients are drawn to entrepreneurs who are known for their dedication and reliability. This can open up numerous opportunities for your business. Sometime after the party, it was discovered that the new bull was diseased. It might have had tuberculosis or hoof-and-mouth, a deadly infection that could spread through a community and ruin all the farmers around. This was before science understood the transmission of the disease, so to make sure it would not pass beyond my grandfather's farm, his entire herd had to be destroyed. Once the vet made his diagnosis, my grandfather had no more say in the matter. The state sent men to dig an enormous hole, drive the animals in, slaughter them all, and fill the hole with dirt. Each of them, I felt, honored me by taking an interest in me. I learned social skills that many other young men, who knew only school and sports, didn’t learn, and that gave me an advantage. They helped to shape me and also, I would realize later, to shape my ideas on how a business owner should treat their employees. It may not work out how you think it will or how you hope it does. But believe me, it will all work out."

He saw me, turned and swung the grease gun toward me. I hit the ground, my .38 in hand. We let fly at the same instant, and my first shot caught him in the chest. When my grandfather saw that the stairway was off a quarter inch, he knew his reputation was at stake. He didn’t want to take that risk. He looked the staircase over, mused for a minute while the men held their breath, and said, “Build it over.” Those who support the statement would argue that hard work is the key to success. Working hard towards reaching a goal requires dedication, discipline, and endurance, all of which are necessary for the achievement of any goal. It is also true that those who are willing to put in the effort are more likely to be successful than those who are not. Furthermore, hard work can open up new opportunities, as it can lead to recognition and increase an individual's chances of promotion or finding better job prospects. GPGD] 2002 October, Golf Digest, My Shot: Gary Player: Interviewed By Guy Yocom, Conde Nast. (Online archive of Golf Digest) linkHGSI] 1981 January 26, Sports Illustrated, “19th Hole: The Readers Take Over” edited by Gary Flood, Time Inc. (SIVault) link But the version that Barber is quoted saying does not contain the word “practice”. Indeed, the version Barber uses invokes “hard work” and that variant appears more than a decade earlier in 1949 as shown further below. It is possible that Barber also used a version of the maxim containing the word “practice”, and Gary Player heard or was told of that version. Downstairs was supply storage and a bathroom. The building had been constructed before running water, so the plumbing was an afterthought. The bathroom was terrible. In this small, unremarkable office, there was nothing physically distinctive or appealing anywhere, but my spirit was soaring. Opportunities come to those who are prepared for them: When you put in the work to improve your skills and knowledge, you become more attractive to potential employers and more likely to seize opportunities when they arise.

For me, it’s the getting there. It’s the competition, the problem-solving. It’s being right when no one thought you were right and winning when the stakes are high. Even after I had more money than I could spend, I went on working forty to sixty hours a week. I still wanted to succeed at business, not for the increased buying power that success would earn me, but for the pleasure of making a business succeed. Taking action is one of the most important steps in achieving your goals. Without action, your goals are nothing more than wishes. Decide what you want to achieve, and then take steps towards making it happen. The more actions you take, the closer you reach your goal. When the penny brokers swindled Jay Gould out of his life savings, he was so impoverished that he had to live in a boarding house and do odd jobs to make ends meet. But he never gave up on his dream of making it big on Wall Street. He kept working hard and taking action, eventually becoming one of the most successful financiers of his time. One Sunday morning, after I’d been working all night on the production line, the sun was coming up, ushering in a bright, beautiful day. We didn’t have any windows we could see out of, but there were windows near the ceiling. Later, I climbed up on some of the huge pans to look out, and I could see young people in convertibles going on picnics or to the beach. They were having a nice, leisurely day. I thought, Boy, you know, that looks fun. I want to make enough money so I don’t have to work on Sunday and I can go to the beach too. I felt what it would be like to get out of that factory and make sure I could have a good job, a house in a nice neighborhood, a car, and some leisure time. Based on my experience at the grocery store, I was then able to get a prime job: clerk at our local Rexall drugstore. With a job like that, you weren’t out in the Nebraska weather, you didn’t have to get dirty, and you were helping people. It was the crème de la crème for a boy in Nebraska City—none of my friends thought so, of course, but I sure did. My friends Jerry Gress and Jerry Schmitz worked for a while in a grocery store, and they recognized that I had a better job situation than they did, but it wasn’t meaningful to them the way it was to me. Jerry Gress remembers my telling them that one day I would like to be a millionaire—a million dollars was, to us, the epitome of rich.

Step 2: Persevere by continuing to move through failures

J. J. Lerner, owner of the stores bearing his name, met a great admirer of his playwright-son, Alan Jay, who auth’d such delights as “Brigadoon,”“Day Before Spring” and “Love Life.” In 1955 a version in the family of maxims is used by a popular actress and singer in musical theatre. Beyond the world of sports the expression is embraced by some in the world of show business [EMS]: She never worried about me all day long because everyone in town knew who I was, and there were eyes everywhere, watching me. Every once in a while, somebody in town would call her because they saw me doing something I shouldn’t, like tipping over somebody’s garbage cans. We always had that awareness: Gee, no matter what I do wrong, I might get in trouble here. It was nice from a parent’s point of view, and it was nice from a kid’s point of view because it allowed for a lot of exercise in judgment and character development.

I could claim that at that moment it all became clear. “That’s what I want someday! And I want my kids to have that too.” I could say that this vision inspired me for all I achieved later. It would make a great story, but the truth is that with all the money I earned later on, I never bought myself a convertible. My son Todd eventually gave me one, a Mercedes 280 SL, a beautiful classic car. He said, “You’re never going to buy it for yourself, so I bought it for you.” I enjoyed that he bought it for me, and I enjoyed driving it, but did I drive it to the beach like I imagined that morning in the factory? Never. I’ve been to the beach once or twice, but the truth is that to me, things like cars and seaside vacations are pleasant, fun now and then, but not deeply satisfying.Dear Quote Investigator: I am a fan of the golfing legend Gary Player, and the Wikipedia article about him says he: “Coined one of the most quoted aphorisms of post-War sport”: You know how they say that 'youth is wasted on the young'? Well, I say don't let the wisdom of age be wasted on you.”

Taking on a challenge is a lot like riding a horse, isn't it? If you're comfortable while you're doing it, you're probably doing it wrong." These jobs became a kind of parallel schooling for me, not in knowledge but in responsibility. I was fortunate to work for people who honored me by taking an interest in the character of a young man. My boss on the paper route was Mrs. Enright. She saw her role as teaching young boys to understand what it meant to do the job well. She gave us reasons: You have to be here by four in the afternoon and here is the reason why. You have to count your papers, and this is the reason why. You have to remember your bicycle or wagon, and these are the reasons why. She was a caring person who was teaching us responsibility with love and with explanations. In 1966 the expression is used by the golfer Billy Casper after he has played a round of golf with his nine-year-old son Billy Jr. while preparing for a tournament [BCS]: In 1960 Jerry Barber does use a version of the maxim during a golf tournament in Yorba Linda, California [JBS]: But on the day I’m thinking of, there was something new. My father’s construction company had been able to buy a new tool called a buzz saw. I watched the men lay a board across the sawhorses they used to hold it still, put a mark on it, and then switch on the new electric circular saw. It really did buzz. And that was it—in a moment, the board was cut to the length they needed.

My mother didn't tell their story all at once. There were many different parts and versions, and they would come out while she was cleaning the house or painting, home all day with us kids and thirsty for someone to talk to. I can picture her with her sleeves rolled and her hair tied up in a scarf—she reminded me of the wartime poster of Rosie the Riveter, with the slogan "We Can Do It!" Like my father, she was a person resigned to adversity, but she could not talk about her family history without emotion. Senior year, though, they needed a fifth man for the school basketball team, and I had gotten tall. I quit my job and joined the team, but I was never a good athlete. There was only one guy bigger than me, but I was not a good basketball player, and I didn’t really care for it. I never seemed to have that physical gift that athletic kids have. One summer, I tried to work for my dad as a carpenter’s apprentice, but I was no good at it. He fired me.