Someone once told me that if someone just keeps his nose to the grindstone he will eventually be missing his nose.

That's pithy and oversimplified, but there's some truth there.

So, does this mean that you believe that there is no point in working your butt off because it will never pay off? I am sure that there are a lot of people sitting on their butts collecting welfare that agree with you.

I must have been stupid to work my butt off tending bar at night to work my way through school because, clearly, all that hard work did not pay off.