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I have always heard the phrase 'work smarter, not harder' and not really understood it. I mean, I do understand what is meant by it but I have always had the feeling that there is something fundamentally wrong with it for me.

I tend to have the work attitude of as hard as possible. 'If there is a task worth doing , it is worth doing right', right? How I see it is that if I find a better or faster way to do something, that frees up my resources for other activities.

The problem I have with the saying is that it implies that there are two ways to get ahead, work more or be smarter. I feel that this saying has been created by inherently lazy people. 

Let's say that I have an 8 our day and produce 100 units. If I work smarter, let's assume I can make 100 units in 6 hours. If I work harder, I can make 100 units in 6 hours.

That means, in my 8 hour shift, I can keep my effort the same and make 133 units smarter, or 133 units harder. But, why wouldn't I work smart and hard and maximise my output?

I feel that we live in a world where people are looking to minimise the effort they put in to achieve results. Looking to find a way to get ahead by doing as little as possible. I see a few risks in this.

Firstly, the effort one thinks is required and the effort actually required can be different. This means that it is possible that not enough gets invested for results. 

Secondly, it supports a work ethic to minimise effort. This is fine for when times are good but when adversity arrives and the dig deep is needed, the depth may not be available. 

Leading from this, it is also possible that the adversity hits harder as when times were good, there was not enough effort given to build a buffer. Perhaps working smart and hard would mean that when others struggle, there are the available resources to help or capitalise. 

Then there is the corner cutting mentality. Working smarter not harder gives returns for minimal work and adds inventive for lower quality, higher value activity. For many, this seems like a good process but can lead to some not great places including criminal activity where corners are cut too far and systems gamed too heavily so that all lose.

The last risk I will mention here is in regards to personal achievement and realising potential. To reach potential, all avenues must be explored and utilised if possible. Working only hard or only smart discounts results and limits the future.

I tend to think that if one is smart, they will work very hard to be the best they can be at whatever they choose to do. If one is working hard inefficiently, they need to get smarter, if one is working smart but are not maximising their results, they need to work harder.

Why do so many people want an easy life? Some look up to the stars that seemingly do little but get a lot, some look to the greats for inspiration. It doesn't really matter I think as if you want something different in your life and you think there is value in getting it, why aren't you doing all you can? 

It doesn't matter what it is either. If you want to be better in your work place, at running a business, as an investor, parent or Steemit poster, it is going to take more effort and more knowledge. If you want to spend your days lazing on a beach in the Bahamas, that is fine too, but if you aren't doing that yet, why not?

Perhaps, all of this optimisation and minimisation of work is actually a hindrance to getting what we want in the long run of things. We get short gains easy and think that it will eventually lead to big gains but without changing our process, we are likely to only keep getting the small rewards. Instant gratification mentality.

Perhaps this is also applicable to Steemit for just about everyone here including those that are making large post gains in the thousands. It could even be that their easy rewards now are hurting the growth of the platform and will in the long run cost them much more than they expect now. It is unlikely that they will ever realise what they have missed though as they will be happy with satisfactory results. 

Others here not getting large rewards yet may be tempted to follow suit and when it doesn't payoff at all for them, they will say that the platform is a failure. They may never realise they had the chance to create something great and work for their own future gains.

In my opinion, we at Steemit have the chance to not only get rewards for our hard work but help others do the same. Be part of a community driven by mutual gains. If early adopters drain the pool so others cannot get ahead enough to keep them going, motivation drops, quality drops and eventually they will stop posting, stop joining, stop supporting.

The landscape is littered with companies, platforms and people that took what they had for granted. Wasted their resources early, missed opportunities to invest and competed with their peers too soon. It is also populated by a few people with the vision and dedication to make massive gains and hold on to it and even advance them continuously. There aren't as many of these though.

Perhaps for everyone,  it is all about investment and hedging bets. Just in case smart is enough, work hard. And just in case the hard work isn't enough, work smart too. This will mean working hard now and thinking smart for the future too.

Just some thoughts.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]

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