2018-03-28

Should You Be Working Hard?

Sometimes I heard conflicting advice about working hard. We heard someone tell us, “You need to work harder toward your goal”. We most likely have read or heard many people attributed their success to hard work. Searching “hard work” in Google can show you into many great quotes on the topic by great people.

On the other hand, we heard different advice that says “Work smart not hard”. I have also heard stories or opinions from successful people against working hard. So, should we work hard or not work so hard? Why are there different opinions about working hard?

What is working hard to you? What does it really means by “working hard”? I think different people may have different ideas about working hard. Here are some of the common ones I can think of:

1. Working hard means working long hours. We may even sometimes comment our colleagues who work until late at night as “hardworking”. There is nothing wrong with this definition. In fact, in some situation, this might be somewhat justified. It is still true that it takes time to accomplish great things.
2. Working hard means putting a lot of effort. The time we put into the work does not always mean that the work are getting done.

If the idea of “hard work” is only the matter of time and effort that we put into the work, it is no wonder that some advised against it and decided people should work smart instead. You may agree with me that the definition of hard work above is incomplete; there must be more to it than just the time and effort. Here are some points we could consider:

• Preparation is part of the work. Preparation may not be the favorite part for so many people. Maybe some of you do not even consider preparation as hard work. Let’s face it; people may not see the preparation that you made and it is less appreciated. Things may look ordinary, everything went smoothly and nobody notice when things are well prepared and executed. But when things goes really wrong due to lack of preparation, many people and resource are put to works to fix it. If somehow they miraculously pull it off and the project is successful. The people involved get praised and recognized for the things well done, but the lack of preparation is usually not mentioned. I think the hardworking is the one who make the necessary preparation and avoid the problem in the first place. Even with good preparation, things may still go wrong, and we still appreciate those who can work “miracle” some time. But good preparation is more important and can eventually save a lot of time, money, and resources.
• Do something difficult instead of an easy one. This may seems obvious, however human seems to have tendencies to choose things that are easy and avoid something more difficult. I think something is difficult because it is complex and usually with uncertainties involved. Difficult things also require us to think on the solution. Thinking is hard work and thinking to get the best solution is even harder.
• Do what has not been done before. This is related to the previous point, but I think it deserve to be mentioned separately. When we do something for the first time, it will feel difficult. But if we repeatedly doing the similar things over and over again, it becomes automatic and easy. Actually, making the task repeatable and automatic is the smart things to do. We can achieve reliable result every time by making it a repeatable process. However, every process will have limitation and not every situation is the same and can be treated in the same way every time. Many times, people do not understand the reason they repeatedly doing the process, and when faced with the slightly different situation; they still try to follow the existing process even though it is irrelevant or completely wasteful. No process is perf
  ect, and when you understand the process and you notice an exception/anomaly, it is an opportunity to improve the process.
• Taking calculated risk is hard work. When deciding to take the risky move, you need to analyze the situation and think of the benefit of taking the risk. You need to think it over until you are convinced that the benefit outweighs the cost and the risk is something we can accept/mitigate. Often we also need to work to convince your boss, peers, or team. It is much easier to go to the default option or something that is less risky, and nobody will fault you for doing that.

What can you expect when you work hard “smartly”?

By now, I hope you have realized that working hard and working smart are not 2 different things. They are actually the same thing; working smart is hard work. When you decide to work hard and follow the advice mentioned above, some of the things may happen:

1. Emotionally tiring. The traditional “hard work” may makes more you tired physically, but doing the “smart” hard work may deplete you emotionally. You may feel unappreciated or you are afraid of the uncertainty. My advice will be to start small until you are comfortable with it. For example, you can try to be more prepared in your work, or by waking up earlier every morning so that you start your day more prepared. Once you are comfortable with it, you can apply the other principle.
2. Things might get worse before it gets better. You have done the preparation, thinking hard for the best solution, and taking the risk. But now that the initiative comes from you, you will be held accountable for it. You put yourself at risk and things might get worse, and you need to think further how to fix it. But you will learn more in the process and you will make better move in the future. Even if you make the right move, the result may not be immediate. For example; instead of diving into the work immediately, you start with the planning and preparation. You may feel that you do less work, wasting your time and not so productive on the day. But when done right, you could see better result with less time and effort in the long run. This is probably why they say: “work smart not hard”, but it does not tell the whole story.
3. You will feel more accomplished and productive in the long run. Once you pass through the emotional barrier, you persist through the difficulties, and continue the “smart” hard work; you find that you could accomplish more than you previously do. You feel more satisfied and your work more gratifying. You will feel more confidence after you see the result of your new hard work. After I change my lifestyle to improve my health, I feel so much better that I don’t want to go back to my previous lifestyle. I think the feeling is similar.

I want to mention a little disclaimer here. Some of the advice above can be applied generally even in your personal life. But you need to be wise when you apply it in your organization, especially when your organization does not yet appreciate your initiative.