The only problem I have with this is at the end he suggests that hard work is something you have to "surrender to" and suffer through.
If you are working hard on something you care about it doesn't seem at all like that. It may not seem like it when you are sitting slack-jawed in front of the TV, but if you turn the damn thing off and go work on something, you'll be 10 times happier.
Work sucks in the following cases: if it’s not challenging, if there's not a considerable reward, if it’s something everyone can do (no glory). When you say to yourself, "Wow this is a pretty obscure problem that seems to everyone impossible to solve, but I’ll bet I could solve it." That’s when work reaches its ultimate level.
Oldie, but goodie from Steve Pavlina. He argues that hard work is a competitive advantage. It's an unpopular notion that seems to work well for those that try to stick to it.
If you are working hard on something you care about it doesn't seem at all like that. It may not seem like it when you are sitting slack-jawed in front of the TV, but if you turn the damn thing off and go work on something, you'll be 10 times happier.