Hard Work or Smart Work, which is more effective?
This whole work smart and not hard charade has been going on for centuries as people just feel working hard seems gruelling while working smart seems sleeker. They’ll tell stuff like “Smart people work smart, and the rest work hard”, it might make one what to wonder what the difference really is between both concept. What does it really mean to work hard, and what does it really means to work smart? In order for one to be successful, there is no negotiation, you have to put in more hours of work, you need to show up at the office or at meetings earlier, you have to put in long hours of work, researching, pitching and staying up late in order to get things done.
In summary, you have to go the extra mile to get things done. But when trying to define smart work, it gets a little more complicated as you don’t hear such examples daily.
But in trying to understand the discrepancies between the two concepts, I have to say that the answers to this question are not black and white, and I’ll say it sort of lies around the grey areas, between the white and black, that where the actual definition of both concept really is.
Question: What is Smart Work?
One can easily say that hard work takes time, whereas smart work saves time, but like I said earlier, the answers lies in the grey area, not on the black or white side of the spectrum. A smart working is one who is ingenious in his approach to virtually everything, he always asks himself this “there should be an easier way to do this” and eventually, he finds an easier way to get things done. He is an innovative and courageous person who isn’t afraid to abandon the conventional way of doing things, in search of a novel and unique way of attacking a new challenge.
For example, a smark working student, won’t necessarily go through a lecturer’s entire lecture notes and textbook to adequately be prepared to write his exams, rather, he will check past question, to determine and ascertain the recurring patterns of how the lecturer set his questions, as well as meet people who understand the topic so much, they are willing to teach, this student will ask provoking questions in class, in order to fully grasp the and understand the subject, and all the underlying concepts; and during exams, this student always does well.
Hence, I will define Smart Work as a lean approach to doing the things that matter the most, with ingenuity and creativity with minimal resources such as time, money, and energy, to attain the optimal desired result.
Hard Work
I will say hard work is more structured, rigid and straightforward way of doing things, where ideas are strictly adhered to, where the way out is the way out. Creativity and ingenuity and often frowned upon, corners are never cut, and details are never overlooked. But it is not often a bad thing to be part of a hard-working system. I believe both concepts should work hand in hand, and people should be aware of their inclination to either of this spectrum.
There are people that do well, working alone, they are self-motivated and ready to take the bull by the horns by themselves, without the help of no one. While there are those that need to be part of a system that provides direction, motivation and reward for them when certain milestones are achieved.
Fortune 500 corporations usually have departments set up this way, management is in charge of providing direction and guidance, while the marketing team are made of the free-spirited smart working people who go out there are making a difference in creative and ingenious ways.
References
HUFFPOST - Work Hard or Work Smart
Agile Lean Life - The big difference between smart work and hard work
Sadly I fear I spend most of my time in the “hard” camp. But this reminds me to put on my creativity cap and add a few more tricks to my “smart” portfolio.
~T
Thanks for you reading my post!
Keren bang @yandot, ulasan yang sangat bagus, walaupun harus saya masukkan ke transleter dulu🤣.
Goog joob bro.
Hahaha thanks bang :D
Sami-sami bang
The idea that the two terms are somehow mutually exclusive has become the real problem. America used to reward hard work, now we tend to reward "yes men" and people who don't rock the boat in any way, shape, or form--as if that were some sort of productive end in and of itself.
I have always tried to work both HARD and SMART, but this is often (and we can go back at least three decades on this) in the American manufacturing sector (what little is left of it) not really all that appreciated. We reward "smart work" by subjective standards that often involve value judgments, which is another problem.
Let me give an example...as a young 30-year-old executive for G.H. Bass Shoe Company back in the early 90s, I stood up against the Japanese "just in time" (JIT) inventory/production strategy because it was clear that it would not work well for our company. JIT required us to always pay freight minimums for small orders...both purchases of materials and deliveries of finished shoes, and the freight cost (and customer angst for not having enough WIP and raw materials on hand to meet order changes, schedule changes, etc.) was destroying our profitability and our reputation in the shoe industry.
As it turned out, upper management didn't care because they were using the strategy to INTENTIONALLY make U.S. domestic production "obsolete" and "impossible" so that they could move production off shore. I complained about this strenuously and was eventually fired.
On the way out the door I predicted to those who would listen that the goal was to shut down one of America's oldest shoe companies entirely. Four years later, ALL of Bass Shoes were made off shore, and that large factory which was the back bone of our hometown economy was shuttered.
So...working both hard and smart can sometimes get you fired, when upper management does not have the interests of the American people at heart and when they care ONLY about the bottom line, even if it destroys the company in the long run.
Thanks a lot for your valuable feedback on my post, it adds more value to the subject. And your story is an eye-opener, the environment one finds himself also matters a lot, because no matter how smart or hard you work if the environment is not set-up right, all that effort will be wasted.
Thanks for sharing, and hope to see you again.
Dua sisi yang berbeda, kerja cerdas dan kerja keras, kedua sisi ini sekilas memang terlihat sedikit berbeda dari fungsi dan definisi, namun keduanya mempunyai keterkaitan satu dengan yang lain, saling mendukung dan saling memenuhi. Thank bro @yandot satu pelajaran yang luar biasa
Itu benar sekali , dua sisi yang berbeda tapi memiliki keterkaitan yang sama , kerja keras dan kerja cerdas sama-sama membutuhkan usaha. Terimakasih udah membaca brother.
smart works means less time , high gain
Thats right :D
In my opinion, what makes a work smart is the thought stirring the work and what makes a work hard is the energy and consistency it requires. So in order for one to make it in life, one has to adopt both. Some people work hard consistently without being successful at such work, while some people think smartly, without having the energy and staying power to do the work behind the smart thought. So anyone that wants to be successful will have to combine both hard work and smart thought and the result of such combination is smart work.
Your analysis is spot on
The successful marriage between the energy of the hard worker, and the mental power of the smart worker, that is what makes one really successful.
Thanks for sharing your valuable feedback.
Thanks
I think there is a trade off between Working harder or smarter, I think the end result is what actually matters there is always a balance between both.
That is correct!
Thanks for reading my blog
Many of the skills required to work smart seem to overlap heavily with the same talents that are necessary to become successfully autodidactic.
That is correct man! Thanks for reading my post!
I think there is a time and place for both. I also think that sometimes working smarter can lead to a sloppier outcome. Say you are digging a hole. Working harder is digging it with a shovel. Working smarter is using a backhoe. You can't get the same fine detail and control with a backhoe that you can with a shovel though. I like your diagram though where you show hardwork and doing what matters coming together to create smart work.
Both have real tough things, Smart work requires smart thinking and also hard work requires energy. so both have the same thing.
Thanks for you reading my post!
hai, yandot, masih kenal sama aku gak? kawan lama,?
donny awak lhokseumawe