>I've always thought that you got ahead by hard work,
One gets ahead by providing things of value that others are willing to pay for. You can work hard at digging a hole and filling it back in again, but since that has no value for others, you won't get ahead no matter how hard you work at that. You can also work very little and get ahead if you are very good at creating things others value.
I.e. hard work is neither necessary nor sufficient in order to get ahead. It's being able to provide something that others value that matters.
>hard work is neither necessary nor sufficient in order to get ahead. It's being able to provide something that others value that matters.
While nominally true, this falls apart in the real world. Creating value is great, but if you aren't working hard at it then you will likely be outcompeted by someone who creates similar value per work unit, but works much harder than you. There are caveats and exceptions to this, but one cannot take the statement "hard work is not a necessary condition" to mean anything other than "hard work is a necessary condition" if one is to have any expectation of success.
One gets ahead by providing things of value that others are willing to pay for. You can work hard at digging a hole and filling it back in again, but since that has no value for others, you won't get ahead no matter how hard you work at that. You can also work very little and get ahead if you are very good at creating things others value.
I.e. hard work is neither necessary nor sufficient in order to get ahead. It's being able to provide something that others value that matters.