For the past weeks, we have been examining what it takes to succeed in life. I outlined five master keys to success. They are:

1. Desire

2. Vision

3. Goals

4. Work

5. Persistence

Today, we look at work.

If I had to choose the single most important master key of the five, it would be work. Someone said, "Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare." There is tremendous significance in these words, for the two important aspects of success as it relates to work.

You can have all the vision you want; you can dream until dreams become your master. You will achieve nothing unless these dreams and visions are brought into reality by the medium of work - very hard work. But the quotation is useful in another sense when it says, "Action without vision is a nightmare." To put it another way, "working without a plan is futile."

No success without a plan

Work - hard work - is very important. But here's the issue. Simply expending calories or enduring long hours will not bring success without a plan. Work, of itself, will not necessarily fulfil your dreams unless you work intelligently, unless you work towards a specific goal, unless you bring the knowledge which comes from study to your work.

The great motivator, Napoleon Hill, in his classic, Think and Grow Rich refers to "specialised knowledge" as essential to success. He says, "There are two kinds of knowledge. One is general; the other is specialised. General knowledge, no matter how great in quantity or variety it may be, is of little use in the accumulation of money."

What is Hill saying? He is making the point of the absolute necessity to become thoroughly knowledgeable about your specific area of work. This means that study of your area of engagement is required. If you are a salesman, it is not only important that you put in the hours on the road; you must also know your product and be able to answer all the questions of customers. So, intelligent work involves developing expertise in a particular area and then working like a dog in that specialised area.

Now, having established the fact that you must develop expertise by study, let me now turn to the hours you should spend working.

The 40-hour workweek

One of the biggest mistakes that people make is to believe in what has been popularised as the 'nine to five' job. In my more than 40 years in the workplace, I have never seen anyone accumulate financial independence by working 40 hours per week.

Most people who work 40 hours per week will never make it. In these cases, you simply work for the tax man, the utility bills and for basic existence. The successful people in our country - and you go and talk to any one of them - will tell you that it took 12, 14, 16 hours per day of very hard work to reach where they are today.

If you are in business on your own, you will know what I am talking about. Entrepreneurs do not watch the clock. They finish their work. The people who live for five o'clock and who, after that, do no work to improve themselves, are destined for a street called 'Average'. If you are an eight-hour-a-day employee, find something else to do in addition to your regular job in order to improve your financial situation. Bake cakes, sell clothing, teach extra lessons.

Compensation

Over the years, I have also come to see that with extra work has come beautiful compensation. I tell young people, "Do more than you are paid for, and you will be paid for more than you do." You will often find that the people who get promoted are those who will go the extra mile. I have known of secretaries who worked way beyond the call of duty, doing more than they were paid for. When the breaks came, they got them, some rising to senior management and heads of divisions. Were they lucky? Well, the harder you work, the luckier you become.