Trying harder is rarely the pathway to success.

マーケティングの本 "The Positioning" になるほどと感心する事が書かれていました。
Some ambitious, intelligent people find themselves trapped in situations where their future looks bleak. So what do they generally do?
They try harder. They try to compensate by long hours of hard work and effort. The secret is to keep your nose to the grindstone, do your job better than the next person, and fame and fortune will come your way, right?
Wrong: Trying harder is rarely the pathway to success. Trying smatter is the better way.
...（中略...更に続きます） The truth is, the road to fame and fortune is rarely found within yourself. The only sure way to success is to find yourself a horse to ride. It may be difficult for the ego to accept, but success in life is based more on what others can do for you than on what you can do for yourself.
Kennedy was wrong. Ask not what you can do for your company. Ask what your company can do for you.
目から鱗ですね。もっと若い時にこの本を読んでいれば、もう少しましな稼ぎができたかなと思いました。
（注：「目から鱗」は英語にも同じ表現がありますね。The scales fall from somebody's eyes. (literary) if the scales fall from someone's eyes, they are suddenly able to understand the truth When I saw his photograph in the paper, the scales fell from my eyes and I realized I'd been conned. from Cambridge Idioms Dictionary もしかして、日本語の表現「目から鱗」は英語から来たの？ ）