What Is Hard Work by Alan Stein

Alan Stein narrated the Steph Curry video I posted a few weeks ago. In the video below, Stein talks about what it means to work hard:

Stein says that in order to make it in basketball, you must do three things: 

1. You need to work hard
2. You need to work smart
3. You need to work consistently

He also defines what it means to work hard:

You take yourself to the point of discomfort. That can be physical; that can be mental;
that can be emotional. But you take yourself out of your comfort zone.

He continues:

If you guys want to make it, you have to learn how to be comfortable being uncomfortable. And if you want to be great. If you want to be like a Kevin-Durant-type player, you have to make working hard a habit. Every time you enter the gym to workout or to practice or to play a game, you have a choice to make. You have the choice to work hard. Or you have the choice to not work hard. And most of you don't grasp that not working hard is a conscious choice.

Don't Do What Makes You Happy, Do What Makes You Great

Here's some inspiration from a commencement speech given by Charlie Day, creator of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia:

The section I wanted to highlight begins at 16:41, but there are good stories earlier in the speech as well. Here's the part I especially liked:

People will tell you to do what makes you happy, but all this has been hard work. And I'm not always happy. I don't think you should just do what makes you happy. Do what makes you great. Do what's uncomfortable and scary and hard but pays off in the long run. Be willing to fail. Let yourself fail. Fail in the way and place where you would be proud to fail. Fail and pick yourself up and fail again.

Click here for the full transcript.