It is unfortunate.  At times it actually sucks.  And then there are the days that you wonder if they are always going to be this hard, or you wonder why there isn't an easier way.  But the road to success, accomplishment and excellence is simply hard work.  Knowing this, however, does help a little.  It helps to know that the blood, sweat and tears that we all invest in the pursuit of our passions gives us the greatest opportunity to accomplish our goals.  For if we didn't make this investment there is absolutely no way our goals would be accomplished and while the effort may not pay off, it is the only way that it might.  As the U.S. Navy SEALs are fond of saying, simply embrace the suck.  Hard work is the way to excellence even if the goal is not accomplished.

The obstacle is the way.  Ryan Holiday

I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. Thomas Jefferson

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Mahatma Gandhi

Without labor nothing prospers. Sophocles