Let's ponder the issue of effort and working hard. Is effort necessary to attain perfection, or can one following some path to success without making a conscious effort to do things?
First, the traditional argument would say that one must focus and apply oneself to achieve maximum performance and therefore perfection. One from this standpoint would advocate focusing on not making errors and correcting errors as one makes them. For example, pushing the body to work as hard as possible would be the result of a focused conscious effort. I find this method of using effort to be an acceptable method for many things. If one focuses on trying a very good result will often occur.
To the opposite side of the previous argument is an argument for not using effort. Using no effort is a very Zen Buddhist approach as I understand it. With a no-effort approach to a problem one would set sights on a solution and let the details work out. This approach is very succinctly stated in Hermann Hesse's book Siddhartha where Siddhartha states the following: Like a rock thrown in the water finds the fastest way to the bottom by doing nothing, Siddhartha finds the fastest way to his goal by thinking, waiting, and fasting. Thus through making no effort the goal is reached. I do not know if this approach appeals to me. Somehow the idea that the unconcious, effortless mind knows how to reach the goal does not suit me. Is the knowledge to achieve any goal contained within all of us regardless of who or what we are? I must argue that it is not.
The best argument for and against effort is to use effort so as to eliminate the need for effort. This approach is very widespread in all areas of physical activity. The traditional need to train and train with repitition is a result of this mindset and application of effort. The first time one does something, it is done deliberately. Subsequent attempts rely not only on deliberate effort but also on the experience and memory of previous attempts.
Attaining this state where effort becomes unnecessary ironically takes a supreme effort. Effortlessness is a result of practice and repitition as stated previously. The experience, the mold that one follows is the product of conscious repitition until consciousness fades from the action. The conditioning required to reach such a state is tedious and generally unacceptable to most people requiring a conscious effort to continue with the repitition. Admittedly, some things are trained due to necessity. For this reason, everyone can eat adeptly. We have to do it every day. Take someone who never spills somethin, however, and place him in a social situation with high pressures. The need to appear smooth and calm while eating forces him to make a conscious effort to compensate. This conscious effort overrides the pattern, the smooth mold built by repitition and experience. How many first dates have been ruined by a clumsily spilled glass of wine?
Reaching the effortless state for less routine matters is where the true power of oneself lies. The ability to train repeatedly until actions happen rather than being performed can transform the most normal person into an almost superhuman performer for lack of a better term. From a martial arts background, I can comfortably say that one who practices a specific counterattack repeatedly can quickly and unthinkingly disarm and dispatch an opponent.
Where does this amazing ability and power come from? How can the average person be so exceptional? The power to do this comes from within. Everyone has heard the story of a mother who lifted a car or a half ton rock to save her child. The mother does not act. She merely sees the goal of freeing her child, and the rest happens through her rather than because of her. That sort of power lies within all of us. Do we use it routinely? No. but we can if we try not to try.