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Hard work and dedication is great, but it is a pre-requisite. An entry fee that must be paid on a daily basis to gain access to the right to create.
What that also means, is that after paying so much, people get really invested in their work. Therein lies the effort-justification paradigm, and it can lead to a life of misery.
Worse still, it seems that everyone[1] believes the axiom that hard work eventually pays off. Hence, it seems alright to buy into that public delusion.
Learning when to quit and when to stick it out should be the first priority. Asking that question isn't hard, but it's a chronic condition that must be lived with.
Those who do often lead much more fulfilling lives, while the rest of crowd complains about their bad knees.
-- [1] Not if you hang around the right crowd