Hard Work Doesn’t Matter, Shovel Does

We all have heard about the idiom hard work paves the road success. An age old expression that is long past its expiry date, some might call me cynic but the reality is hard work by itself will never ever give you success. In order to covey my point, let me tell you a story. A long lost saga of men’s dream for fool’s gold and how it ended.

A Brief History of California Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a period in American history which began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The broadcast of gold carried out mostly by sailing ships and covered wagons some 3, 00,000 gold-seekers to California. While most of the new arrivals were Americans, the Gold Rush also attracted some tens of thousands from Latin America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

The ripple effect of the Gold Rush were substantial. At first, loose gold nuggets could be picked up off the ground, and since there was no law regarding property rights in the goldfields, a system of "staking claims" was developed. In 1849, a state constitution, governorship, and legislature were established, and as part of the Compromise of 1850, California officially became a US state. Agriculture and ranching expanded throughout the state to meet the needs of the settlers. Roads and other towns were built throughout the new state, and new methods of transportation developed as steamships came into regular service. By 1869, railroads were built across the country from California to the eastern United States.

My Point

As told in the story mentioned above 3, 00,000 desperate souls rushed in to get a bight of the alluring gold, or so they thought. Out of those lakhs of people how many of them found gold, forget finding gold how many people out there do you think were even able to make the ends meet. What the history does not tell you is that the  gold diggers were exploited by the house renters the equipment dealers and all forms of establishment set up to provide services. The cost of living in that smoldering cesspool of greed was too high. The people lived a hard life, they did back braking labor all in the hope that someday they would be rich by finding mound of gold.

So now you know the truth, out of those lakhs of people only a handful of people made any real money.so we have established hard work does not equate to success. Do you know for every single person out there digging for gold who made a profit? The person who sold them shovels. The person who sold shovel earned money whether the masses found gold or not, sitting comfortably in his shop he had a steady stream customer and hence an unending stream of revenue. He was one of the many who profited off other people dreams.

The important lesson I want to impart through this story is that people who cater for other dreams and aspirations will always be successful irrespective of the fact that the dreams have been fulfilled or not. Therefore Hard Work Doesn’t Matter, Shovel Does i.e. is the person who sells the shovels instead of being the donkey who does all the hard work.