People join forces in a Business, rather than working alone for ex, because they believe the collective sum of resources = inputs will produce greater collective sum of outputs. Responsible businesses are those who maximise the outputs. Otherwise, it is a waste of resources that are extracted from collectivity ($, labor, natural resources, infrastructure, etc). Inversely, that is also why the standard business forms are not best suited for artists to thrive.

So, as business is about maximizing output: no matter how much is your productivity, which is a ratio, if you apply it to one more hour of work, then you will produce more output. So there are 2 ways to go here for high-productivity workers: a) you are paid equal for same output, and allowed to work less. b) you work as much as others, then produce more, then are paid more.

There is plenty of science that proves that choosing option a) is a shot in own's foot on the long run. Note: 80% of harvard professors thing their students would rate them in the Upper half best professors. which is of course statistically impossible. Same for how anybody = we, self evaluate ourselves in anything: how good a driver, a parent, ... a worker we are.

How much hours one puts in is a fundamental parameter of how much one produces. Stays true even with diminishing returns, as long as productivity is >0.

There is this say, pardon my french: an idiot who walks will still gets further than a sitting genius.