Answering the question: working hard versus working smart?

Hard work versus smart work. It’s an age-old debate. Which one is more important?

The answer is both. Working hard helps you find opportunities and working smart helps you capitalize on them.

Hard Work

Hard work isn’t always breaking rocks in the hot sun or 15 hour days. What makes work hard is that it requires discipline and persistent effort. Hard work is what produces craftsmanship. It takes time to master a skill. The consistency of doing the work helps train your senses to uncover and spot opportunities.

Smart Work

Working smart is usually simple, but not always easy. Smart work requires doing things that are most productive and doing them efficiently. One way to create smart work habits is to ask yourself, “Am I doing this thing because it’s the best way to get the most benefit or am I doing it this way because it’s how I’ve always done it?” Once you’ve learned how to do smart work, taking advantage of opportunities is easier.

Success doesn’t just fall out of the sky and land on people. It is a planned event. The combination of hard work and smart work enables you to see the plan and execute it.