How To Be Smart While Working Hard: A Key to Success

 


Many people work hard but very few of them become successful, and that goes in the total opposite direction of the sayings we used to hear and pass to the next generations; “Work hard and success will be yours”, or “Success is no accident it is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, and sacrifice”. This brings up so many questions, for example; “Should I stop working hard?”, “How can I work smartly?”, “What is the link to hard work and smart work?”


We tend to put in huge amounts of work, thinking that we will be getting as much recognition and money as we should. Meanwhile what we should be doing is improving our life skills to become better off professionally and enhance the quality of our life. Here are some hints that would help you understand the concept of smart work and hard work and mostly how to apply them in your life.


Start Working Smartly and Achieve More:


Working smart depends on the way you complete your tasks. In other words, it is all about putting the right strategies and techniques that would make you create the same result with less time and energy. 


This will help you to use the saved time and efforts for better use. Some people even go further by saying that smart work is the foundation of finding fulfillment and meaning in one’s life. So what are these techniques and how can we apply them?


We are all aware now that time is the most precious resource we have, that is why we must manage it successfully and avoid wasting so much of it focusing on details. 


One thing successful people acknowledge is that being a perfectionist is not necessary to be successful. Make a realistic estimation for each task and stick to that and respect those time limits. 


Some say that procrastination is indeed the biggest enemy of every successful person. It gets us used to delay important tasks to later on and that would hinder the quality of our work. Instead, if a task seems quite hard for you to achieve, break it down to smaller subtasks.


This would help you achieve a sense of progress, hence would make the rest of them seem easier than before.  


Another way that would help you achieve more is finding shortcuts. Whatever your field of work or study is, you will always find shortcuts that help achieve your goal faster and more efficiently.


So, if you are the kind of person who wants to learn faster or finish 3 days’ work just in 2 to 3 hours then shortcuts are the key for you. Spending some time looking for them is worth the time you will be saving.  


A lot of successful people have a wild network of connections that they can turn to when they are in need of help. Whether it’s your colleagues at work, specialists, classmates, family members, etc it is always preferable to ask for help when you are unable to complete a task rather than spending so much time and ending up doing nothing.


Working Hard


Hard work is the effort you put to turn your vision into real tangible achievements. Some tend to think that having great ideas is just not enough to fulfill the pre-estimated purposes, it depends more on the amount of energy and how much time you spend on it.


Here are some of the major tips that would help you in knowing how to invest your efforts in the right way.


Doing Again and Again


Many successful article marketers say “the more you write, the larger your impact”. The fact of point, great leaders have always insisted on the importance of repeating the task over and over again to master it. Josh Kaufman, in his TEDx talk, said that it only takes 20 hours to learn something new. If you put 20 hours of focused deliberate practice, you will go from knowing nothing to astonish of how good you are.  


The act of repetition might sound like an act of redundancy for a large group of folks, who are refundable to decode the magical aspect of this act. Indeed, this act is called determination, faithfulness towards your goals, and mostly towards your self-esteem. Now, worth that being said, I bet you would work hard to prove your worth and the value of thoughts.


Surrender to the Outcomes


It’s elementary to bear in mind that regardless of the outcome, you ought to keep moving to keep working on your skills and mostly on your plans. As the great British author, dramatist, and poet Shakespeare once said, “Practice makes perfect and Permanent”. So, leave the pride that is holding you back from making another step ahead and start reaping your vision of the desired outcome, even when you fail. Henceforth, failure or success is nothing but two terms allocated in advocacy for the reverberations of your acts or projects. But they should rarely hold you back from improving, learning, and growing.


Do Uncomfortable Work


Stepping out of your comfort zone is itself a great accomplishment that needs to be celebrated. But, let’s not get it into a rush. Instead of it, always try to push it to the maximum and to try your best in the hardest moments and during the hardest times. For instance, several CEOs and business leaders have adopted new approaches during this pandemic. Are they used to hold one hour or two hours of virtual meetings?  The answer is no but they manage to adjust rapidly.


You might ask how could they and why? Well, the answer is quite simple, it’s their enthusiasm that drives them to leave their comfort zone, their vision to maintain great success in their field gives them extra credits to work further and dedicate more time.


Henceforth, the need to balance between hard work and smart work becomes a necessity. Try to adapt to it and learn from it to the fullest.


Written by - Issleme Landolsi