Dilemma
Work will continue effortlessly in 2026. You have to get up while you are still tired because you went to sleep too late yesterday again. Finished one more email, updated that document, quickly looked something up. That’s called hard work. Give everything, go the extra mile, don’t complain. But why are you working so hard? All those burnouts, those things that you can never afford. How wonderful would it be if someone said: hard work is pointless?
More than working long hours
Almost one in five employees in the Netherlands suffer from burnout complaints and 59 percent of workers feels constant pressure to perform. Yet hard work has a good name. Research shows that many people believe it leads to success, especially when people are already successful. Those who earn a lot like to attribute it to hard work; those who have a lower salary are more likely to indicate bad luck and circumstances. Also Parents still tell their children that hard work is the way to get far.
In order to determine whether confidence in hard work is justified, a good definition is first needed, says philosopher Menno de Bree. It’s more than working long hours. “You work hard when you put an important part of your energy and time into your work. Such as working at the best part of the day, with the most attention, concentration and use of your talents.” Being on autopilot for a long time doesn’t count, but neither does putting energy into something briefly and intensely.
Those who put more time, attention and effort into work get paid more. It’s that simple
Philosopher and columnist of the It Financial Daily Sebastien Valkenberg is someone who has great faith in hard work. “It is rewarding for several reasons. First of all, because it provides more income. Those who put more time, attention and effort into work get paid more. It’s that simple.”
But is that really the case? Maybe not for everyone, he acknowledges. There are situations in which working harder hardly yields anything financially: because of low wages or the benefits system, for example. “But that is due to our system, not to the hard work itself.”
The sentence comes naturally
It seems obvious, but money is also the number one reason to work hard, according to philosopher De Bree. Not because money is that important, but happiness is. “Anyone who is permanently concerned with surviving does not get around to living well. Only when the groceries have been done and the bills have been paid, will there be room for a meaningful existence.” Hard work is no guarantee of happiness, but it can help you rise above financial barriers more quickly.
Even without money, hard work pays off. For example, when you want to achieve something. Valkenberg: “If I want to finish my book, I really have to work during the weekend.” But it also makes sense without a goal. In fact, it creates meaning. According to Aristotle, says De Bree, happiness rides on the back of activity. “Happiness is not a by-product that only comes afterwards, but lies in the doing itself. The more complex and demanding the work, the greater the satisfaction.”
And that satisfaction does not come after the hard work, but during it. Imagine your boss suddenly asks you to develop an AI vision for the organization, says Valkenberg. “Did you want that? Maybe not. But because it comes your way and you dive into it, it becomes interesting. Things become fun because you work hard at it.”
An organization does not exist to make you happy. If burnout occurs, the employer will point the finger at you. You said you wanted this, right?
According to Valkenberg, hard work does not necessarily always have to be experienced as ‘fun’. “If work is only allowed to exist if it is fun, it becomes complicated. Sometimes you just have to do it.”
Self-exploitation
Those who work hard must also be vigilant, says De Bree. The Korean-German philosopher Byung-Chul Han describes the performance society as a system in which no one has to force you anymore: you already do it yourself. “That leads to an ethic of self-exploitation,” says De Bree. “Nothing works better than someone who is intrinsically motivated and makes hard work part of their identity.” That feels like your own choice, but it makes you terribly vulnerable, De Bree warns. “An organization does not exist to make you happy, but to achieve its own goals. When burnout occurs, the employer points the finger at you. Didn’t you say that you wanted this? That you could handle it?”
Hard work also triggers our vanity and greed: a bigger house, nicer holidays, more status. While that doesn’t bring real happiness. So what? Friendship and valuable relationships, says De Bree, who refers to the Greek philosopher Epicurus. “Perhaps that is the biggest disadvantage of hard work: it is a golden cage that takes up a huge amount of time, time that we can no longer give to the people around us.”
Conclusion
It’s complicated. Hard work can give life meaning, but working too hard, or working for the wrong organization, also destroys more than you would like. The question is not whether we should work harder, but how often we dare to think about what work brings us and what it costs us in the meantime. Thinking about hard work certainly makes sense. Do you want to know why you try so hard? Then read Aristotle (or Valkenberg). Do you need reassurance that things can be a little less? Then especially look at Epicurus.
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