You are currently viewing 48 Quotes About Hard Work Thatโ€™ll Help You Reach Your Goals

48 Quotes About Hard Work Thatโ€™ll Help You Reach Your Goals

Success doesnโ€™t come easy.

Even the most dedicated entrepreneur sometimes finds it tough to stay on track. Youโ€™ll battle things beyond your control and encounter issues you couldnโ€™t have predicted. So, how do you keep your eyes on the prize? How do you make sure the struggle doesnโ€™t divert you from your ultimate goal?

Allow the words of those who have gone before us to motivate you and keep you focused. Learn from others who have walked the same path and share in their hard-fought lessons.

Quotes About Hard Work

Best Quotes About Hard Work

1. โ€œHard work beats talent when talent doesnโ€™t work hard.โ€ โ€” Tim Notke, basketball coach

Most of us agree talent matters. In fact, many experts dispute the notion that hard work overrides talent every time.

The caveat: hard work must be the common factor for anyone seeking to be successful, regardless of talent.

No amount of talent can supersede hard work. If you have natural ability, donโ€™t expect it to automatically generate success. It wonโ€™t.

2. โ€œSuccess is often achieved by those who donโ€™t know that failure is inevitable.โ€ โ€” Coco Chanel, fashion designer

cocoItโ€™s true that your approach to failure dictates its impact on your organization. Do you treat failure as a learning opportunity or a situation to avoid?

Failure is often unpleasant. Your decision to analyze and learn from it will be the difference in your organizationโ€™s trajectory.

3. โ€œDo the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.โ€ โ€” Maya Angelou, American poet, and civil rights activist

mayaOur best efforts are our best efforts until we get more information that helps us improve. Always learn from your best, apply your teachings, and get better.

4. โ€œIf your teacher, coach, or mentor believes you can do something, youโ€™re more likely to do it.โ€ โ€” Gwen Moran, FastCompany

Weโ€™ll never be able to control all the aspects of business, but we can control our response to them.

When challenges threaten to derail your efforts — look to those who have survived similar struggles. Seek motivation in their stories.

5. โ€œSuccess is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.โ€ โ€” Pele, Brazilian soccer player

Unless your experience is unique, hard work and perseverance most often lead to success. If weโ€™re scared of hard work, we likely will have a harder time reaching success.

6. โ€œPeople who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.โ€ โ€” George Bernard Shaw, playwright

shawExperienced business people distinguish between pessimists and defeatists.

Pessimists are more willing to acknowledge red flags and take corrective action than optimists.

Defeatists oppose change of any kind on the grounds it might not work. In any kind of business, itโ€™s an unwelcome viewpoint.

Keep an eye out for defeatist attitudes — refuse to let them infiltrate your organization.

7. “I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near.” โ€” Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister

The recipe for success contains a lot of hard work. Sometimes it can be luck, but itโ€™s primarily hard work.

8. “You can’t get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you’re doing. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover will be yourself.” โ€” Alan Alda, actor

We may set out on our journey to success with an idea of how we want to get there, but sometimes we need to pivot along the way.

Being okay with not knowing what your next step is and allowing yourself to simply be on the journey can be hard, but it pays off and helps us learn more about ourselves.

9. “I am who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday.โ€ โ€” Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the U.S.

eleanor

Entrepreneurs face tough choices. One of the biggest might be quitting your existing job to run your own business.

Many entrepreneurs report making tough decisions that changed their lives for the better. Be willing to make the challenging calls and push through the difficult times.

10. โ€œHard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some donโ€™t turn up at all.โ€ โ€” Sam Ewing, author

Most of us love Cinderella stories about companies that turned into overnight sensations. We love the idea of making a lot of money without working too hard, but we fail to acknowledge that overnight successes usually donโ€™t happen overnight.

sam

Inspirational Quotes About Working Hard

11. โ€œWhatever we believe about ourselves and our ability comes true for us.โ€ โ€” Susan L. Taylor, journalist

Sometimes we base our success and progress on the success and progress that others make, but doing this can hold us back. Weโ€™re better served by believing in ourselves and basing our ideas of success on ourselves because, if we believe we can, we will.

12. โ€œSometimes, you have to give up. Sometimes, knowing when to give up, when to try something else, is genius. Giving up doesnโ€™t mean stopping. Donโ€™t ever stop.โ€ โ€” Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike

What do you do when itโ€™sย time to change courseย because the concept youโ€™re pursuing isnโ€™t working?

Itโ€™s O.K. to acknowledge that something isnโ€™t working. Keep moving, whichever direction you choose.

13. โ€œThe only thing standing between you and outrageous success is continuous progress.โ€ โ€” Dan Waldschmidt, business strategist

danVery often, we fail to act on an idea or a concept because it isnโ€™t perfect. We fail to realize that โ€œimperfectly done is better than perfectly planned.โ€While itโ€™s good to do your best work, itโ€™s worthless to allow the fear of imperfection to paralyze you.

14. โ€œIโ€™m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.โ€ โ€” Thomas Jefferson, American Founding Father

Think of luck as an opportunity. We all have access to it. Humble people capitalize on luck because they remain open to help from others. Their willingness to admit vulnerability invites others to engage with them.

Be vulnerable enough to admit you donโ€™t have all the answers. Seize opportunities when they appear and youโ€™ll likely find that success will follow.

15. If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time. ย โ€” Steve Jobs, co-Founder of Apple Inc.

The media sometimes only show us depictions of success that make it seem as though they happened overnight.

Few of these success stories actually happen overnight, save for freak occurrences.

Instead, success stories come along after periods of significant work. Maybe success did come all at once, but there was likely a period of hard work, a tipping point, and then success happened quickly.

16. โ€œSetting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.โ€ โ€”Tony Robbins, American author, and speaker

It can sometimes seem intimidating to set goals if we donโ€™t know how to achieve them, but goals can help illuminate the path to success as they bring a sense of direction and, when achieved, confirm that weโ€™re on the right path.

17. โ€œOn any given Monday I am one sale closer and one idea away from being a millionaire.โ€ โ€” Larry D. Turner

Florence Chadwick set out to swim from Catalina Island to the coast of California in 1952. After swimming for 15 hours, she was physically and emotionally exhausted. She asked to be taken from the water.

Chadwick didnโ€™t know that she was less than a mile away from her goal, but fog obscured the shoreline and she didnโ€™t realize how close she was.

When you canโ€™t see the shoreline, keep working. Youโ€™re likely closer than you think.

18. “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”โ€” Stephen King, author

Combining natural talent and hard work most often leads to success, or at least more often than simply relying on talent and nothing else.

19. โ€œImpossible is just an opinion.โ€ โ€” Paulo Coelho, Brazilian lyricist, and novelist

paolo

Quotes About Doing Hard Things

20. โ€œHe who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.โ€ โ€” Muhammad Ali, Black professional boxer and activist

Your definition of success is determined by your own individual goals. However, what always holds true is that achieving success involves taking risks. Place yourself out of your comfort zone and discover the benefits it can bring.

21. โ€œThere are no traffic jams on the extra mile.โ€ โ€” Zig Ziglar, author, and motivational speaker

Endurance runner Calum Neff learned a fellow runner was stranded in a flooding house during Hurricane Harvey. The runner had a broken leg and children to care for, so Neff rushed over with a raft and a truck and rescued them.

Neff then set up a command post and organized nearby rescue efforts and resources. Ultimately, his team rescued 600 families from the floodwaters.

Be willing to do extra work — even if it doesnโ€™t benefit you. Few people do it, so youโ€™ll set yourself apart from the crowd.

22. โ€œAll our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.โ€ โ€” Walt Disney, founder of Walt Disney World

waltDoing hard things requires courage. But, having the courage to do hard things can make our dreams come true and bring the success we desire.

Consider yourself courageous for doing hard things every single day.

23. โ€œThe greater the difficulty, the more the glory in surmounting it.โ€ โ€• Epicurus, Greek philosopher

Doing hard things can make us want to give up, but sometimes doing hard things can make achieving our goals feel better, as we know weโ€™ve put in hard work to get there.

24. โ€œYou are your greatest asset. Put your time, effort and money into trainingโ€ โ€” Tom Hopkins, sales leader

People are your greatest resource. You spend money to recruit, hire, and onboard new candidates — but you shouldnโ€™t stop there.

Training helps your employees improve and gain confidence. It increases job satisfaction and elevates your companyโ€™s reputation among customers and potential employees.

Cut costs where you must but refuse to sacrifice training for your team.

25. โ€œThere will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, there are no limits.โ€ โ€” Michael Phelps, Olympic swimmer

phelpsOur tendency toward instant gratification sometimes undermines our best efforts.

Colonel Harland Sanders was old enough to retire when he landed a deal to sell his chicken for a nickel a piece. He then franchised his chicken idea and eventually sold the franchise for $2 million.

Legend claims he was rejected 1,009 times before he found success. Sanders’ restaurant career started when he was 40, and more than 20 years passed before he found financial success.

Do not impose limits on yourself.

26. “I can say the willingness to get dirty has always defined us as a nation, and it’s a hallmark of hard work and a hallmark of fun, and dirt is not the enemy.” โ€” Mike Rowe, actor, and producer

Perhaps weโ€™ve become too comfortable in our jobs and less confident in our own abilities. Donโ€™t be afraid to get dirty.

27. โ€œItโ€™s hard to beat a person who never gives up.โ€ โ€” Babe Ruth, former professional baseball player

babeThe path to success can make us feel as though weโ€™re being beaten, especially if the path comes with failures.

In reality, the only thing that can have us beat is giving up. We can stand to learn something from our failures, and when we donโ€™t give up, they instead become stepping stones to future success.

Motivational Quotes About Hard Work

28. Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment. ย โ€” Oprah Winfrey, media mogul

oprah-1Sometimes doing the best we can, even if not perfect, is what sets us up for success in our next venture.

29. โ€œIf something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it.โ€ โ€” Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX

Entrepreneurship is important. Entrepreneurs create new businesses, introduce new jobs, develop communities, and start social change. Smartphones, for example, have revolutionized the world economy.

They’ve even spread to countries not considered wealthy by world standards. And they’ve empowered entrepreneurs in underdeveloped countries to wade into the marketplace.

Never stop doing important work.

30. โ€œIโ€™ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. Iโ€™ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times Iโ€™ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. Iโ€™ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.โ€ โ€” Michael Jordan, Black professional basketball player

Michael Jordan is a basketball player, well known throughout his career for being a successful shooting guard.

However, even though he achieved success, it still came along with missed shots and lost games โ€” which he credits as the reasons why he succeeded.

31. โ€œThere is no royal flower-strewn path to success. And if there is, I have not found it, for whatever success I have attained has been the result of much hard work and many sleepless nights.โ€ โ€” Madam C.J. Walker, Black entrepreneur, philanthropist, and activist

The road to success isnโ€™t a diamond-pleated catwalk, despite how nice that would be. It requires hard work, and sometimes sleepless nights.

32. “The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses — behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.” โ€” Muhammad Ali, Black professional boxer and activist

Every conversation has the potential to be a career-changing opportunity. No matter what industry youโ€™re in, there are likely parts of your process you donโ€™t enjoy.

Itโ€™s easy to motivate yourself to work hard on the parts of your job that naturally lend themselves to a payday. Itโ€™s also easy to forget the less-important parts of your job also contribute to your organizationโ€™s earning potential.

Donโ€™t overlook the behind-the-scenes work in pursuit of the high-profile stuff. Itโ€™s all-important.

33. โ€œIf we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant. If we did not sometimes taste adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.โ€ โ€” Josh Billings, humorist

Over time, many entrepreneurs find their passion for the business fades. Long hours, demanding schedules, and work-life imbalance likely contribute to a sense of loss.

Expect your passion to wane, but donโ€™t ignore the situation. The moments of doubt will make you appreciate the moments of unbridled joy even more.

34. โ€œWe need to accept that we wonโ€™t always make the right decisions, that weโ€™ll screw up royally sometimes โ€“ understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, itโ€™s part of success.โ€ โ€” Arianna Huffington, author, and co-founder of The Huffington Post

Sometimes we work really hard at something and find that weโ€™ve made a wrong decision. Itโ€™s disheartening, but itโ€™s not the end of the world. As Huffington says, we should view wrong decisions and failures as key pillars of our journey towards making the right decisions.

35. โ€œObstacles can’t stop you. Problems can’t stop you. Most of all, other people can’t stop you. Only you can stop you.โ€ โ€” Jeffrey Gitomer, author, speaker, and business trainer

Most of us are painfully unaware of the self-limiting thoughts we harbor. Once we adopt a negative belief about ourselves, we tend to ignore evidence that itโ€™s incorrect and embrace evidence that suggests itโ€™s true. In other words, we double down on negative thoughts.

When you identify a self-limiting thought, use the โ€œFive Whysโ€ practice to drill down to the source of the belief. Refuse to be your own worst enemy.

Quotes About Hard Work and Success

36. โ€œNever be limited by other peopleโ€™s limited imaginations.โ€ โ€” Dr. Mae Jemison, first Black female astronaut

mae-1The work you do should be based on you and how you want to be successful. Donโ€™t quantify your abilities based on what others do โ€” set your own limits and expectations, and go from there.

37. โ€œMost of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.โ€ โ€” Dale Carnegie, author, and lecturer

A recent study byย Statistic Brainย revealed 50% of U.S. companies fail after five years and 70% fail after 10 years.

Why do some businesses succeed while others fail? Successful companies have leaders who stay the course despite struggles — leaders who value patience and persistence.

38. โ€œYouโ€™re not obligated to win. Youโ€™re obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day.โ€ โ€” Marian Wright Edelman, Black activist for children’s rights

Consider this: weโ€™re not always obligated to win. Instead, we should feel like weโ€™re succeeding based on the fact that we get up every day and do the best we can do.

39. “Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.โ€ โ€” Dwayne โ€œThe Rockโ€ Johnson, actor

dwayneConsistency allows you to measure your progress. It allows you to create accountability and spread your message.

Donโ€™t give up on an idea or a process before youโ€™ve had time to practice it consistently. Many entrepreneurs allow six months to determine whether a concept is effective.

Pursue consistency before greatness.

40.”The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” โ€” Thomas Paine, American Founding Father

Conflict occurs when you employ different people with unique personalities and ideas. Contrary to popular belief, it doesnโ€™t have to be bad.

When you address conflict, you help people feel as though their concerns are heard. Consensus increases, communication improves, and relationships grow. Donโ€™t avoid conflict. Address it quickly and fairly to see its benefits.

41. โ€œWhen you do more than youโ€™ paid for, eventually youโ€™ll be paid for more than you do.โ€ โ€” Zig Ziglar, author and motivational speaker

A baseball coach I know once told his players to โ€œalways be looking for work.โ€ Never stand flat-footed while the ball is in play. Instead, find a way to contribute to the team.

Create a culture that encourages people to prioritize team success. When someone else has a good idea, do everything you can to promote and support it. Seek ways to contribute to the concept even if it isnโ€™t your responsibility.

Your leadership will appreciate your initiative. And your coworkers will likely respond in kind when itโ€™s your project.

42. “Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” โ€” Winston S. Churchill, former Prime Minister

Success doesnโ€™t have to be our final stage. We can always continue innovating, learning, and discovering new things, but this takes courage, whether youโ€™ve experienced failure or already succeeded.

43. The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. โ€” Vidal Sassoon, hairdressing business tycoon

vidalGoals donโ€™t self-actualize on their own. Entrepreneurs have to work hard to achieve their success โ€” unless youโ€™re living in a dictionary.

44. “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, `Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” โ€” Martin Luther King, Jr., Black Baptist minister, and activist

Businesses live and die on the backs of the people who work there. Celebrate the people in your company who do the tasks that are often overlooked. The administrative assistants, janitorial staff, and mailroom people, to name a few.

When you acknowledge their importance, you inspire them to work hard for the good of the team. Do this for everyone who works in your organization.

45. โ€œDevelop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.โ€ โ€” Dale Carnegie, author and lecturer

Reaching success sometimes means climbing over rocks. If youโ€™re discouraged by these rocks, try viewing them as stepping stones that will help you reach the top of the mountain.

46. “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” โ€” Colin Powell, first Black Secretary of State

โ€œThe secret to success,โ€ is an oft-mentioned phrase. While some may claim to have the answer, the only secret is, as Colin Powell says, that it takes preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.

47. “If you start thinking you are good at something, that’s often the day you stop trying to be better and open the back door for someone to come after you. That’s why we always aim higher. We never feel like we’re done.” โ€” Drew Houston, co-founder and CEO of Dropbox

Kodak was founded in 1880 and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2012. The move was likely a result of the companyโ€™s failure to acknowledge the move toward digital photography.

Oprah Winfreyโ€™s television channel — launched in 2012 — has yet to produce significant ratings and is struggling to stay afloat.

No one is immune from the evolving marketplace. There are plenty of people out there who will gladly take your place if you choose to stop evolving.

Never stop improving.

48. โ€œSuccess is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.โ€ โ€” Booker T. Washington, Black author and educator

booker

Start Achieving Your Goals Now

Success doesnโ€™t come easy, but itโ€™ll be so much sweeter when it comes. In the future, your own story of overcoming obstacles might encourage other entrepreneurs. Your hard-fought wisdom will benefit someone else.

company culture template