I agree -- my point is that everything else being equal working harder pays off. Once you have determined what to do and if it is what you like to do, putting in more hours will do harm to no one but probably increase your chances of success.
Honestly, I don't know where to begin, but suffice it to say, everything else is NEVER equal in the real world.
1. You're assuming "success" is zero-sum-game.
2. There's no opportunity cost for working towards a different goal.
3. There is some sort of equitable measure of "success" across all participants in "the game".
4. The effort/reward curve is averages positive for your given set of stratagems.
5. You are the ONLY vested participant in the game (e.g. no ancillary costs for increased efforts to other parties (e.g. family, friends, partners, investors etc.).
It's only hard to know where to begin because you're seriously expanding the topic. Let's take point 5:
"You are the ONLY vested participant in the game [...]"
The point of the post was that working harder is one of the few resources under your control for working toward a goal for which there is competition. Whether there are other vested participants is irrelevant to that point. Whether there are costs to your family is a quality-of-life choice and a moral choice, but doesn't say a single thing about whether working harder makes you more likely to achieve your goal.
Sorry, dude, I don't know why you're getting all the defensive responses in this forum. Your advice is obviously inarguably correct.
If you want to achieve goals that normally are only available to smarter and richer people, working harder is a factor that's always under your control.
Another factor under your control, and a little different, is focus. Commitment to a well-defined goal and persistence can take you a long way. Most people, even hard workers, get distracted and take detours.
