Here's a little bit of inspiration from Alex Bogusky that I just rediscovered tonight. It's a comment he posted over a year ago on his article "Why not take a moment and define success before you pursue it?", before he quit advertising and everything.
If I have one tip for you when reading articles it's always read the comments. Sometimes the authors distill and improve on their insights then post to the comments; I know I've stumbled upon some nuggets of wisdom in the comments sections multiple times.
Here's that quote (unedited of course):
You probably dont have to search very far to find a comment from me on the value of hard work. There is no substitute. Yet how is it some poeple seem to have the capacity to work so much harder than others. Would they work that way no matter what they did? in my own case I assure you this is not the case. Having had multiple jobs outside of advertsing I was a fairly lackluster employee and never asked for overtime.This idea of easy vs not easy is interesting and I address it but not head on. I would suggest that if easy means a 9 to 5 approach then it will never be easy. But if easy means having fun and enjoying life as you spend countless hours doing what you love then your own personal definition of success can help make that journey a lot easier.
He also followed up another question with this gem:
Because I found a passion and working hard suddenly gave me the same feeling as playing hard.
I would recommend reading the entire article if you haven't. It was a definite fire under my ass to do whatever it took to get into advertising.
Thanks for reading folks!