I’ve been conditioned to internalize the phrase: “Hard work pays off.” It’s what my fourth grade math teacher repeated as a thinly veiled attempt to motivate us students: If you spend some time studying – and I mean actually doing the math problems, not just staring at them – you’ll get an A! On a broader level, beyond a “perfect score,” it feels as if hard work is the key to unlocking a world laden with achievement and success. I wish it were that simple. After all, if this notion were true, the world wouldn’t be filled with a plethora of problems, right? Now, I’m not saying that hard work won’t get a person anywhere: cultivating traits of diligence and perseverance are imperative to any endeavor. However, hard work is one piece of a larger puzzle; the other piece – circumstance – tends to be overlooked. 

Our surroundings influence us in a multitude of ways: they not only affect the trajectory of our actions, but also our mindset. For instance, a college student may be studying for an important math exam. Yet, at the same time, she has numerous household responsibilities and must take care of younger siblings and provide for her family. Ultimately, the student performed poorly on the exam. In the short-term, hard work didn’t pay off; the student sought help from professors, reviewed the right concepts, and prepared diligently. It could be argued that if the student’s circumstances were different – allotting her more time to study – she would have performed better. Despite the circumstance, the student’s mindset was unnerved. She remained determined, trying to block out her time in different ways, and resolved to seek out tutoring earlier and develop a mindset of calm and confidence when taking a test. A persevering mindset – not short-lived hard work for a particular goal – will allow one to leap over hurdles. It’s this persevering mindset that would allow us to influence our surroundings as we work with our individual circumstances in order to pursue a unique, personal vision of success. 

This is a simple example, though; the argument can also be applied to education inequity. Someone who goes to an affluent school with dedicated teachers and a range of coursework and extracurriculars will be able to apply their “hard work,” towards a variety of opportunities, allowing them to reap the benefits and push the boundaries of what they thought was possible. On the other hand, going to a school with underfunded extracurriculars and a lack of academic exposure will result in students not even knowing what’s possible. How can one pursue something they don’t know? 

Hence, it’s difficult to say that, “If you work harder you would be on par with…” I’ll leave you to fill in the blank. People cannot be compared to each other – not because apples cannot be compared to oranges, but because everyone has different circumstances. Referring back to the math exam scenario, that college student could have performed at the lowest in her class; yet, her other peers didn’t have the same responsibilities she did. That doesn’t mean that the student’s peers are any more intelligent than she, or that she’s any less intelligent than they. This is merely a reflection of everyone’s distinct backgrounds – something that can never fully be captured. 

With that in mind, could two apples be compared to each other in an impartial way? One apple could have been raised on a nurturing farm while the other may have been tossed away; perhaps that accounts for why one apple appears rotten. Acknowledging that everyone is not cut from the same cloth, perhaps life’s effort should not be about conforming to a particular image or living up to a certain standard, but about making the best out of what’s given. Instead of attempting to participate in other opportunities and competitions that we see others doing, this may involve defining our own path to success and preparing for opportunities that fit that path. 

  If we can control half of what happens to us through our own motives, desires and decisions – our mindset – why dwell over the other half, over what may not be possible at this time. Perhaps the strongest mindsets are the ones that are able to remain resilient despite the circumstance; it’s remaining optimistic despite being surrounded by melancholy, perseverant despite feeling that the hurdle was insurmountable, and resolving to continue in the face of things not working out. In other words, a resilient mindset is one that resists the urge to conform. 

Hard work won’t pay off every single time, but having a determined, adaptable mindset will allow for the maximization of the control that we do exert. It’ll prevent us from developing a fatalistic attitude and succumbing to… circumstance.