While on a brief vacation last week I saw this quote (on the back of an iced tea bottle cap) by Thomas Edison:
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed up in overalls and looks like work”
This immediately made me think of a corollary line that I read read in a book over 20 years ago:
“Life is hard”
That book was “The Road Less Traveled” by M. Scott Peck. It was the first “self-help” book I ever read.
I was in my mid-20s, and wondering why things weren’t coming easier for me in my first years out of college. I was adjusting to the realities of the business world, which were oh so different than the relative utopia of college.
When I mentioned this struggle to one of my friends he suggested the Peck book, I bought it, and then started reading it that same evening.
Grasping what was behind the “life is hard” premise took me a few pages, but it didn’t take me long to realize that life happiness and fulfillment must we worked at. Very diligently. Because there are so many forces out there that pull you the other way (probably generated by people who aren’t working on it very hard).
That message has stayed with me for these many years later, so when I saw the Edison quote I could immediately make a connection – we must always be willing to put on those overalls, roll up the sleeves, and work at our success.
For as I also have learned, the act of staying off that path of least resistance makes the net result that much sweeter, because of the challenge and reward of the journey.
Look at Mr. Edison -he didn’t turn out half bad, did he? Despite a multitude of failures. He loved the road not traveled, even if it hit a dead end.
He achieved the ultimate magic of that approach – the “hard work” melted away, and it simply became a satisfying way of life.
As he ended up saying, “I never did a day’s work in my life. It was all fun”.
Bingo. I need to buy myself a pair of overalls. 
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I can very much relate to the “probably generated by people who aren’t working on it very hard” bit.
Frequently, the challenge seems to be not with working, but working on something meaningful. There are forces, inside and outside of the job, which would have us toil away at familiar but meaningless endeavors. In the end that’s *more* work, for little gain.
rk