Ya, I agree with you 100%. But I think this is the problem with calling it "hard work". If working a lot on thing X is something I don't struggle with, and in fact I enjoy and find fun, and am really motivated to do, than it's actually pretty easy for me to put in a lot of time and effort into it. Isn't it weird then that I'd go and tell others I'm a "hard worker"?

I just find it a bit deceiving. Like people can hear that and think, damn, this person is able to work through something they hate doing, have no motivation to work on, and where there are other things they'd rather do, yet somehow they can power through using raw will and focus on putting tons of time and effort into it? Well damn, I must be a weak minded person then.

Personally, I think that second interpretation is common, and it does more harm than good in my opinion. Every time I have put a lot of time and effort into something, I either really enjoyed the thing, or I was really motivated by the outcome. In both cases, that made it pretty easy for me to put in a lot of work.