This is something I learned after 2 and a half years of working retail and self-reflecting on this in the morning.
Hardwork is a scam no one tells you about. Anything I have achieved in my life was never because I had worked hard for it. It is because it is something I am passionate and have zeal for and always took rest and had time to do other things in my life. Rest is very very VERY (major emphasis on rest here) important.
Anytime I worked hard, I was always exhausted, drained, and exploited. A hardworker is prasied because the comapnies you work for can exploit you so everyone else could have an easier time with their lives in the company, especially your peers. Watch what happens when the hardworker stays in the company for a while, and especially when that person leaves the company.
You will become the target at the workplace because you will recieve praise and some of your peers crave such praise and attention that they may lack which will promote division and jealousy in the workplace. Without working as a team, then things will slowly fall apart (sometimes even very fast).
You are not valued. Watch the moment you become sick or injured, watch the moment you decide you no longer want to be exploited anymore and see how people turn on you because you no longer want to do all of the work without being valued.
To work hard, especially for a corporation, will burn you out very quickly and it will impact your mood, it will bring your health and well-being down faster than you expected. To workhard and be praised for it, is a code word that “this person will pick up all of our slack and we can all have it easy.”