Sometime Hard work doesn’t pay you back

I learned this couple of weeks ago; eventually I leaned in a hard manner.

“I was sitting in a cafeteria.  It was past noon, late July, and I was listening to the desperate sounds of a life-or-death struggle going on a few feet away. There was a small fly burning out all energies in a pointless attempt to fly through the glass. 

But it’s not working.

The frenzied effort offers no hope for survival.  Ironically, the struggle is part of the trap.  It is impossible for the fly to try hard enough to succeed at breaking through the glass.  Nevertheless, this little insect has staked its life on reaching its goal through raw effort and determination. This fly is doomed.  It will die there on the windowsill.

Across the room, ten steps away the door is open.  Ten seconds of flying time and this small creature could reach the outside world it seeks.  With only a fraction of the effort now being wasted, it could be free of this self-imposed trap.   The breakthrough possibility is there.  It would be so easy.

Why doesn’t the fly try another approach, something dramatically different?  How did it get so locked in on the idea that this particular route, and determined effort, offers the most promise for success?  What logic is there in continuing, until death, to seek a breakthrough with ‘more of the same’?

No doubt this approach makes sense to the fly.  Regrettably, it’s an idea that will kill.

‘Working harder’ isn’t necessarily the solution to achieving more.  It may not offer any real promise for getting what you want out of life.  Sometimes, in fact, it’s a big part of the problem. If you take your hopes for a breakthrough on trying harder than ever, you may kill your chances for success.

This incident is normal isn’t it? But it resembles many of us in one or another way. I remember I was trying harder for something which I don’t deserve but someone from inside was saying go for it one more time. At the end, I realized “Sometimes trying harder doesn’t pay you back” but it surely adds a lesson in your life.