Industriousness? In plain language- you have to work and work hard. There is no substitute for work. None. Worthwhile things come only from real work.
Tiger Woods? Payton Manning? As important as their physical abilities are, they have work to correct and improve their skills. They are legendary for their hard work, their industriousness. And so is anyone else who has achieved personal success and competitive greatness- Michael Jordan. Jack Nicklaus. Lance Armstrong.
Businessperson, clergy, doctor, lawyer, plumber, artist, writer, coach or athlete, all share a fundamental trait if they achieve competitive greatness. They work very hard. It is essential and only you know if you’re really giving everything you’ve got.
Grantland Rice understood this when he wrote “How to Be a Champion”:
You wonder how they do it,
You look to see the knack
You watch the foot in action,
Or the shoulder or the back.
But when you spot the answer
Where the higher glamor lurk,
You’ll find in moving higher
Up the laurel-covered spire,
That most of it is practice,
And the rest of it is work.
So, industriousness is the first of the cornerstones in the foundation of the Pyramid of Success. It involves more than just showing up and going through the motions. Many people who tell you they worked all day weren’t actually working very hard at all, certainly not to the fullest extent of their ability.
You can work without being industrious, but you not be industrious without work.
