Working Smart

I'm sure you've heard the saying, “Work smarter, not harder.” While of course it is super important to be a hard worker, at times we can make things more difficult for ourselves than necessary. 

Life’s successes are most often the result of the hard work we put in. However, our failures can be a result of hard work, too. Spending too much of our valuable time on unnecessary tasks can cause us to lose out on more important things. In order to become a successful leader in our careers, it is essential for us to decipher the difference between working hard and working smart. The two often go hand in hand, but we must be sure not to waste valuable time working hard on irrelevant, unimportant things. 

Here are a few simple rules to abide by when working smart. 

Plan. Always come up with a strategy and timeframe for your goals and tasks. If you don’t plan out your time, someone else will and that will not work in your favor. 

Prioritize. Make lists of what tasks are most important and set up timelines and deadlines. This way you can bang out the most important to-do’s first and if the less important things don’t get done, it won’t be as detrimental. 

Evaluate. Evaluate your routines and strategies often for successes and failures and make adjustments accordingly. If things aren’t going smoothly, change up your game plan and keep doing so until you get it right.

Delegate. Don’t try to tackle everything on your own. Hand out tasks to the appropriate people and work as a team. Create a trusting family atmosphere within your office and everyone will be willing to help each other get the job done for the good of the company.

Know when to put in the extra work. Some things will require extra hard work and that’s perfectly fine and to be expected. The goal here is to lighten the stress load when possible.

Know when to walk away. There will be certain situations when things just aren’t going to pan out and it’s okay to call it quits and chalk it up for experience. Now, I am in no way suggesting that you give up when the going gets tough, but there are always times when we just have to walk away and you just need to trust your own judgement or that of your superiors.