I think of hard work in relation to its opposite: Easy work.
Easy work is mindless, repetitive, dogmatic work that one does without much thought. Some folks do a lot of this, but I think most of us do some of this type of work.
Hard work requires focus and attention to detail. Hard work takes something out of you. Different people may experience different types of work as hard work and easy work. To me cutting the lawn is easy work, even though it requires physical exertion. On the other hand, balancing my accounts every month is hard work. I get a much greater feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction when my accounts are done.
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