ambitious and artistic , chin was not content to remain the mere messenger for very long , at the same time , though , he recognised that success was not casually dished out on a plate for nothing in his newly adopted land of opportunity , but was nevertheless an achievable goal at the end of a long tunnel of hard work : this promise in itself was a better prospect than he could have hoped to have had back in his homeland , hard work there being purely an accepted daily norm , not a means to a better end .