Working Hard Does NOT Mean Success (at Grants or Anything Else)

There’s this persistent myth that I need to tear down once and for all. Maybe it won’t all happen in this one blog post, but by God I’m gonna give it a good start.

The myth? It’s that all it takes to succeed is hard work.

I have seen lives destroyed by that myth, more than once.

For example: I’ve had a few conversations with a smart scientist who works for a hard-driving, work-all-the-time boss at a major university. This hard-driving boss is in the lab all the time. Nights. Weekends. Days.

No social life. Health problems. Unhappy employees.

In the past few years, this hard-driving boss has had trouble getting grant funding to keep her lab running.

Her response? Everyone must work harder.

Has that solved the problem with funding? No.

So what does Dr. Morgan Giddings, the blogger and PhD behind Morgan on Science, think does lead to success? Read the rest of the post to find out.