8 January 2026 · 1 min
When I was younger, in my 20s, I assumed that everyone was working “hard,” meaning a solid 35 hours of work a week. Especially, say, university professors and professional engineers. I’d feel terribly guilty when I would be messing around, playing video games on a workday.
Today I realize that most people become very adept at avoiding actual work. And the people you think are working really hard are often just very good at focusing on what is externally visible. They show up to the right meetings but unashamedly avoid the hard work.
It ends up being visible to the people “who know.” Why? Because working hard is how you acquire actual expertise. And lack of actual expertise ends up being visible… but only to those who have the relevant expertise.
And the effect compounds. The difference between someone who has honed their skills for 20 years and someone who has merely showed up to the right meetings becomes enormous. And so, we end up with huge competency gaps between people who are in their 30s, 40s, 50s. It becomes night and day.
Daniel Lemire, "What I Got Wrong About “Hard Work” in My 20s," in Daniel Lemire's blog, January 8, 2026, https://lemire.me/blog/2026/01/08/what-i-got-wrong-about-hard-work-in-my-20s/.
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This reminds me of my early years at a corporation. I kept getting back to my boss that I can take on more. He seemed honestly surprised. Later I realized that many of my colleagues just did everything they could to avoid work. In some teams it was better, in some, it was worse.
I remember a guy who went out every day to his car to sleep a bit… Once when he was caught, he spent I think more than 2 weeks on something that his PM eventually did in less than 2 hours… 😀