I Can't Make This Up: Life Lessons

by Kevin Hart

I often speak about the value of hard work, but hard work is not enough. I’ve seen many people sabotage their career before it’s even started by refusing to do anything unless they’re compensated or rewarded directly for it. Or they become bitter, expecting that they’ll be rewarded in exchange for just working hard. One of the key factors for success—beyond work, talent, timing, relationships, and all the other qualities I’ve mentioned—is the glue that holds all of these together: commitment. What is commitment? Here’s what it means to me: keeping the promises you make to yourself and to others. I promised my mother I’d figure out a way to survive in comedy. I promised myself I’d find a road out of Philadelphia and on to bigger opportunities. I promised Keith I’d trust him and stick with the process. All three of these promises turned out to be much harder, and take much longer to keep, than I’d expected. I still wasn’t surviving on my own. I still wasn’t getting big opportunities. I still wasn’t done with Keith’s mentorship. I was still spending more than thirty hours a week getting to and from and around New York just for that five minutes on stage on Sundays. Though my sleep, time, finances, relationship, and even my patience and self-esteem were negatively impacted and I wanted to quit many times, I remained committed. That’s the biggest difference between the amateur and the professional, between the wannabe and the star, between the dabbler and the expert. The unsucc...