History Main / HardWorkFallacy

For example, sometimes ''[[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections whom]]'' [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections you know]] is more important than ''[[EncyclopaedicKnowledge what]]'' [[EncyclopaedicKnowledge you know]]. Or your [[AllLoveIsUnrequited unrequited]] LoveInterest isn't dating ''you'' [[OccamsRazor because they're already dating and satisfied with someone else]]. Or the so-called SelfMadeMan ''did'' indeed have help from other people, even if it wasn't direct or reserved only for him (e.g. parental or public education, housing, healthcare, etc). In addition, it is a fallacy because it is ''unfalsifiable'' i.e no matter how hard you worked if you failed they could just claim however much you worked wasn't "hard enough", and never lay out an explicit definition of how much work is required to do whatever it is.

* A cornerstone of some American politicians' ideals is that anyone can be "rich". This idea is the basis of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream, but is difficult to reconcile with reality, as it ignores multiple factors like where you grew up, whether you had a good support environment or whether or not you were safe in your home or at school, and even pure dumb luck. It also isn't even close to possible for an ''entire society'' to live the life of millionaires since somebody has to clean the toilets, at least until we become advanced enough to develop robotics more cost-effective than cheap labour.[[note]]It's also been argued that toilet-cleaning, trash-collecting, etc. should be high-paying jobs, expressing thanks and esteem to those who do such work.[[/note]]

* A cornerstone of some American politicians' ideals is that anyone can be "rich". This idea is the basis of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream, but is difficult to reconcile with reality, as it ignores multiple factors like where you grew up, whether you had a good support environment or whether or not you were safe in your home or at school, and even pure dumb luck. It also isn't even close to possible for an ''entire society'' to live the life of millionaires since somebody has to clean the toilets, at least until we become advanced enough to develop robotics more cost-effective than cheap labour.

* The fallacy of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias survivorship bias]] thrives on this. To name a few examples, it's all too easy to forget that for every Google and Facebook that become Silicon Valley giants, there are dozens that crashed and burned like Webvan, Pets.com, Boo.com, and Friendster. Much is made of Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates dropping out of university to make it big in the tech sector, with little mention that they already had the affluent family backgrounds and university and business connections, or that the universities they dropped out of were already nearly impossible to get into, such as Zuckerberg getting admitted to ''Harvard''. There's even less mention of the many university dropouts who wind up with [[PerpetualPoverty massive debts]] and [[SoulSuckingRetailJob dead-end jobs]].

ThePerfectionist (real or fictional) may incorporate this into their mindset - "That was good, but it wasn't ''right''. Next time I will try harder and it will finally get there."

This is the argument that states that the outcome is directly proportional to the effort the individual put in. Failure is therefore the result of simply not having put in enough effort. This argument ignores all other relevant factors.

For example, sometimes ''[[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections whom]]'' [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections you know]] is more important than ''[[EncyclopaedicKnowledge what]]'' [[EncyclopaedicKnowledge you know]]. Or your [[AllLoveIsUnrequited unrequited]] LoveInterest isn't dating ''you'' [[OccamsRazor because they're already dating and satisfied with someone else]]. Or the so-called SelfMadeMan ''did'' indeed have help from other people, even if it wasn't direct or reserved only for him (e.g. parental or public education, housing, healthcare etc). In addition, it is a fallacy because it is ''unfalsifiable'' i.e no matter how hard you worked, if you failed they could just claim however much you worked wasn't "hard enough", and never lay out an explicit definition of how much work is required to do whatever it is.

* RagsToRiches: From poor to rich but not necessarily though hard work. [[GoldDigger Marrying someone who was already wealthy]] and winning the lottery are all valid examples for this trope.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

** Osamu's success in Border can be attributed to his connection with powerful figures. Connection allows him to team up with stupidly strong aces, receive top notch mentoring, get promotion off other people's merits, break rules and escape punishments. That said, it is through Osamu's own brave and caring attitude that he earns the respect and support of the said connection. Many other Border agents have talents, works hard, and trains longer than Osamu but cannot progress as fast because of the lack of luck and connection that Osamu has.
** Played with even further over the course of the series. Osamu, and indeed everyone at Border is well aware that his strength comes from his connections. This initially causes problems for him in the B-Rank Tournament as he tends to get targeted first fairly often, due to being seen as an easy target. Without the ability to rapidly increase his power via training in time to effect his plans to advance to A-Rank in time for the next Neighborhood expedition. He instead focuses on working on his strategy and altering his trigger loadout to better support his teammates. This of course only makes him a bigger target, as the other teams, who before only ''wanted'' to take him out first now ''have'' to.

[[folder: Film ]]

* ''Film/MillionDollarBaby'' has a minor character who who wants to become a boxer... never mind that he plain sucks at it.

[[folder: Live-Action Television ]]

* ''Series/TheWire'': Deconstructed in the character of 'Bodie', a lowly soldier in The Game who figures that by doing everything he's told and working hard in the drug trade he can eventually advance beyond his station. By the later seasons he's still in the same position if not worse off, and realizes that The Game is rigged.
-->'''Bodie:''' We like them little bitches on the chess board.\\

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' only the strongest and most worthy will emerge from their training group a Sith. [[TrainingFromHell The rest usually all perish]]. This trope's mentality is ingrained within Sith teachings. The problems with this soon become rather self evident. The Sith trials serve the grim purpose of weeding out those who would not last long in [[TheEmpire The Sith Empire]] but if there's more than one capable acolyte, [[ThereCanOnlyBeOne only one can emerge alive]]. So in the long run this means working hard to be strong enough to be a Sith isn't enough if there happens to be a more powerful rival in your group. This is made worse by the fact some individuals are simply ''born'' with a stronger affinity with the Force than many could ever hope to learn. The Sith Warrior's storyline has you play the role of a powerful young acolyte from an ancient [[InTheBlood Sith bloodline]] who has been brought into the Sith trials at the last minute. The strongest member of the group, Vemrin, fought his way up from nothing against Sith snobbery. Unfortunately for Vemrin, this new arrival is one of the most powerful acolytes to ever set foot in the Sith Academy. After the inevitable confrontation, and despite giving everything, Vemrin is slain.

[[folder: Web Original ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]
* Defying this is the above-mentioned mantra of "Work smarter, not harder." When taken as more than just an excuse not to work your hardest, it means that knowing when and where to focus your efforts and resources will be more effective that just plowing through a situation on brute force.

* A cornerstone of some American politicians' ideals is that anyone can be "rich". This idea is the basis of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream, but is difficult to reconcile with reality, as it ignores multiple factors like where you grew up, whether you had a good support environment or whether or not you were safe in your home or at school, and even pure dumb luck. It also isn't even close to possible for an ''entire society'' to live the life of millionaires since somebody has to clean the toilets, at least until we become advanced enough to develop robotics more cost effective than cheap labour.

* The fallacy of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias survivorship bias]] thrives on this. To name a few examples, it's all too easy to forget that for every Google and Facebook that become Silicon Valley giants, there are dozens that crashed and burned like Webvan, Pets.com, Boo.com and Friendster. Much is made of Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates dropping out of university to make it big in the tech sector, with little mention that they already had the affluent family backgrounds and university and business connections, or that the universities they dropped out of were already nearly impossible to get into, such as Zuckerberg getting admitted to ''Harvard''. There's even less mention of the many university dropouts who wind up with [[PerpetualPoverty massive debts]] and [[SoulSuckingRetailJob dead-end jobs]].

* Likewise, the way to improve one's skill or talent at something is not just hard work, but "gainful practice" - in other words, pushing one's own limits and trying to learn new things, rather than just doing the same thing over and over again. This is why someone might spend years working at something without significantly improving, while some newcomer rapidly surpasses them by study and practicing at the right things.
* A cornerstone of some American politicians' ideals is that anyone can be "rich". This idea is the basis of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream, but is difficult to reconcile with reality, as it ignores multiple factors like where you grew up, whether you had a good support environment or whether or not you were safe in your home or at school, and even pure dumb luck. It also isn't even close to possible for an ''entire society'' to live the life of millionaires since somebody has to clean the toilets, unless we become advanced enough to develop robotics more cost effective than cheap labour.

* The fallacy of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias survivorship bias]] thrives on this. To name a few examples, it's all too easy to forget that for every Google and Facebook that become Silicon Valley giants, there are dozens that crashed and burned like Webvan, Pets.com, Boo.com and Friendster. Much is made of Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates dropping out of university to make it big in the tech sector, with little mention that they already had the affluent family backgrounds and university and business connections. There's even less mention of the many university dropouts who wind up with [[PerpetualPoverty massive debts]] and [[SoulSuckingRetailJob dead-end jobs]].

* The 2003 ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' anime series is built on the idea of EquivalentExchange: if you put X in, then you get X out. Yes, it is a Real Life scientific law proven by UsefulNotes/IsaacNewton, but in-universe, it is also treated as a philosophy to live by. The final villain [[{{Deconstruction}} attempts to prove that real life is not so neat or predictable]] in order to [[BreakThemByTalking break the heroes near the final leg of the series]].

For example, sometimes ''[[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections whom]]'' [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections you know]] is more important than ''[[EncyclopaedicKnowledge what]]'' [[EncyclopaedicKnowledge you know]]. Or your [[AllLoveIsUnrequited unrequited]] LoveInterest isn't dating ''you'' [[OccamsRazor because they're already dating and satisfied with someone else]]. Or the so-called SelfMadeMan ''did'' indeed have help from other people, even if it wasn't direct or reserved only for him (e.g. parental or public education, housing, healthcare etc).

[[folder: Literature ]]

* {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''Literature/StarshipTroopers''. A teacher points out the fallacy in the notion by pointing out that all the effort one cares to put into a mud pie won't make it edible, while on the other hand, a substandard cook can take valuable ingredients and turn them into a worthless mess. Being that the book was written in the 50s, this was written as a TakeThat against the Labor Theory of Value, which is associated with communism.

[[/folder]]

-> ''"The hideous thing about meritocracy is it tells you that if you've given life your all and haven't gotten to the top you're thick or stupid. Previously, at least, you could always just blame the class system."''
-->-- '''Laurie Taylor'''

[[folder: Fan Works ]]

* In the Marvel fanfic ''Fanfic/TwilightWar'', Thanos has acquired the Infinity Equation which is increasing his power to omnipotence and is heading towards Earth. Earth's heroes watch as a fleet of 150,000 alien warships attempt to intercept Thanos, who promptly wipes them all out without sustaining a single scratch from their combined firepower. One hero asks "He just defeated 150,000 ships. What chance do we have?" Captain America responds by saying "THEY weren't fighting for their planet," insinuating that it wasn't a lack of firepower but a lack of dedication that defeated them and that Earth's heroes will do better at fighting Thanos when he arrives because of their personal stake in it. He might have just been saying this to keep up morale, but still insulting all those aboard those ships who sacrificed their lives for Earth and ignores the fact that Thanos wasn't hurt in the slightest by physical attacks and that they should be concerned by this.

[[/folder]]

* Zig-zagged in ''Film/{{Rudy}}''. The eponymous character works really hard in spite of having no athletic talent or societal advantages and achieves his goal of playing for the Notre Dame football team. ''However'', it's never even presented as a possibility that Rudy will ever become a ''good'' football player. His teammates have to insist on allowing him to suit up for a game simply because his hard work was an inspiration for the truly successful members of TheTeam. ''However'', when he's given the opportunity to play in a real game for two whole downs, he gets a sack.
* ''Film/{{Flashdance}}'': Underprivileged girl is ''finally'' given a chance to prove herself at a prestigious conservatory... and gets in. To do so, she hones her dancing skills and auditions.
* ''Film/EightMile'': The main character (who is in no way an AuthorAvatar of Music/{{Eminem}} himself) seeks to prove himself a great rapper, despite poverty, relationship troubles, and racial issues.

%%[[folder: Music ]]

%%* "Lose Yourself" by Music/{{Eminem}}.

%%[[/folder]]

%%[[folder: Web Original ]]

%%* [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-things-rich-people-need-to-stop-saying/ This]] ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' essay.

%%[[/folder]]

* In real life, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscientiousness conscientiousness]] - the personality trait of being careful, vigilant, and diligent - has almost as large of an impact as intelligence does on life outcomes, including income. It turns out that being a dutiful and disciplined person has a major positive impact on both your earning potential as well as the general stability of your life, and it also helps people get high grades and stick with tough projects and training until the end, when it pays off. Most successful entrepreneurs have very high conscientiousness scores. The most successful people tend to be both more intelligent and more conscientious than the general population on average, though there is a fair bit of variation.
* Studies also show that simply *believing* that hard work pays off is not only associated with success, but is actually predictive of success. If you ask young people whether or not they think hard work pays off, those who reply that it does will earn higher incomes on average and have overall better life outcomes. [[RealityEnsues This isn't very surprising]] - people who work harder at school and work are more likely to succeed than people who don't believe it matters whether or not they try, and being viewed as a dutiful or hard worker is more likely to earn you a raise or a promotion at work.

* A cornerstone of some American politicians' ideals is that anyone can be rich if they try hard enough. This idea is the basis of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream. True in a global sense - American productivity is one of the highest in the world, and work some of the longest hours of any developed country. As a result, the US is also the wealthiest country in the world, and people in the US enjoy an extremely high standard of living by global standards. Indeed, the US is so rich that the poverty line in the US, if it was measured as a separate country, would be in the top 30 *median* incomes in the world, and the median (50th percentile) household income in the US is one of the highest in the world.

* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' is pretty much an extended takedown of what's wrong with this line of thinking. The titular character, Jimmy, has numerous moments where he tries to straighten up and fly right, but he never quite gets there. It's even more explicit in Kim, a great, highly principled lawyer with no criminal past who's been trying advance her career through hard work for years, and has been rewarded with almost nothing for her efforts.

-->-- ''Laurie Taylor''

[[folder: Videogames ]]

* In ''StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' only the strongest and most worthy will emerge from their training group a Sith. [[TrainingFromHell The rest usually all perish]]. This trope's mentality is ingrained within Sith teachings. The problems with this soon become rather self evident. The Sith trials serve the grim purpose of weeding out those who would not last long in [[TheEmpire The Sith Empire]] but if there's more than one capable acolyte, [[ThereCanOnlyBeOne only one can emerge alive]]. So in the long run this means working hard to be strong enough to be a Sith isn't enough if there happens to be a more powerful rival in your group. This is made worse by the fact some individuals are simply ''born'' with a stronger affinity with the Force than many could ever hope to learn.
** The Sith Warrior's storyline has you play the role of a powerful young acolyte from an ancient [[InTheBlood Sith bloodline]] who has been brought into the Sith trials at the last minute. The strongest member of the group, Vemrin, fought his way up from nothing against Sith snobbery. Unfortunately for Vemrin, this new arrival is one of the most powerful acolytes to ever set foot in the Sith Academy. After the inevitable confrontation, and despite giving everything, Vemrin is slain.

[[/folder]]

Common corollaries are the GamblersFallacy and the SunkCostFallacy: "If I keep doing A/B/C, or put a little more work into it, I'll get what I want!", and the SurvivorshipBias, which overemphasizes a small number of successes and downplays a large number of failures.

--> "The hideous thing about meritocracy is it tells you that if you've given life your all and haven't gotten to the top you're thick or stupid. Previously, at least, you could always just blame the class system."
-->-- Laurie Taylor

* A cornerstone of some American politicians' ideals is that anyone can be "rich". This idea is the basis of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream, but is difficult to reconcile with reality, as it ignores multiple factors like where you grew up, whether you had a good support environment or whether or not you were safe in your home or at school, and even pure dumb luck. It also isn't even close to possible for an ''entire society'' to live the life of millionaires since somebody has to clean the toilets, unless we become advanced enough to develop robotics more cost effective than cheap labour.

* One of the cornerstones of the sales industry is that ''anyone'' can be an effective salesman as long as he works hard at selling. Never mind things like market fluctuation, the economy, the fact that some people just plain don't want what you're selling or the fact that there is a personality type that goes along with being geared toward sales, and not everyone has that personality type. Of course, all of the above is usually dismissed by career salespeople as "excuses", "bad attitude" or "a refusal to put in the hard work." A famous example of this attitude [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9XW6P0tiVc here]].
* The fallacy of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias survivorship bias]] thrives on this. To name a few examples, it's all too easy to forget that for every Google and Facebook that become Silicon Valley giants, there are dozens that crashed and burned like Webvan, Pets.com, Boo.com and Friendster. Much is made of Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates dropping out of university to make it big in the tech sector, with little mention that they already had the affluent family backgrounds and university and business connections. There's even less mention of the many university dropouts who wind up with [[PerpetualPoverty massive debts]] and [[SoulSuckingRetailJob dead-end jobs]].
* During TheSeventies when Creator/BruceLee and kung fu movies were popular, a number of martial arts tournaments had [[BruceLeeClone Bruce Lee imitators]] competing. These imitators would dress like Bruce, execute fancy moves or even yell like Bruce did in his movies. Few would make it to the final rounds, let alone win. Some believed copying Bruce's techniques and training regimen or outright imitating him would produce the same success he had.

For example, sometimes ''[[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections who]]'' [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections you know]] is more important than ''[[EncyclopaedicKnowledge what]]'' [[EncyclopaedicKnowledge you know]]. Or your [[AllLoveIsUnrequited unrequited]] LoveInterest isn't dating ''you'' [[OccamsRazor because they're already dating and satisfied with someone else]]. Or the so-called SelfMadeMan ''did'' indeed have help from other people, even if it wasn't direct or reserved only for him (e.g. parental or public education, housing, healthcare etc).

For example, sometimes ''[[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections who]]'' [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections you know]] is more important than ''[[EncyclopaedicKnowledge what]]'' [[EncyclopaedicKnowledge you know]]. Or that your [[AllLoveIsUnrequited unrequited]] LoveInterest isn't dating ''you'' [[OccamsRazor because they're already dating and satisfied with someone else]]. Or that the so-called SelfMadeMan ''did'' indeed have help from other people, even if it wasn't direct or reserved only for him (e.g. parental or public education, housing, healthcare etc).

* TheAmericanDream: Work really hard, [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn a decent life]], settle down with a spouse and some children.

* TheAmericanDream: Work really hard, [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn a decent life, settle down with a spouse and some children.

Common corollaries are the GamblersFallacy and the SunkCostFallacy: "If I keep doing A/B/C, or put a little more work into it, I'll get what I want!"

* SurvivorshipBias: Overemphasizing a small number of successes while downplaying a large number of failures.