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49. There is no doubt that hard work contributes to success. Yet a person can work awfully hard and still achieve very little. In order to bring about success, hard work has to be directed by dear goals and the knowledge of how to reach them. Moreover, imagination, intelligence and persistence can be equally important to success. Individual success is gauged by the extent to which one reaches his important personal goals. And it takes careful planning to set goals and discover the best means of realizing them. Before hard work even begins, therefore, considerable time and effort should be spent on planning. Intelligence and imagination play important roles in planning. Imagination helps one to envision new solutions to problems, and new means by which to achieve goals. Intelligence helps one research and critically evaluate the possibilities that imagination has provided. Together, imagination and intelligence can even help one avoid certain kinds of hard work, by producing more efficient ways to accomplish goals. Finally, persistence is crucial to success. Sometimes, rewards do not come quickly―even when one carefully sets the goals, creatively and intelligently plans ways | 
