Work Smarter, Not Harder
Why should you ‘work smart’ rather than ‘work hard’?
I’ve recently finished reading Robert Kiyosaki’s phenomenal book entitled “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and I really don’t doubt why a lot of people recommend this book.
This book not only taught me about financial literacy, investing, and entrepreneurship. This book also changed my mindset about ‘working hard’.
For as long as I can remember, I have been a type of student/employee/person who strives to always work hard. When I was an undergraduate student, I skipped college parties and often did not go home (over the weekend because I stayed in our university dormitory during the weekdays) just to dedicate my time reviewing our lessons for the upcoming quizzes or exams. Although I did not regret what I have done because I was able to graduate with flying colors, I unconsciously brought the same attitude when I entered the workforce in 2019.
Working in a highly competitive and demanding media industry was really overwhelming for a fresh graduate like me during that time. It’s really hard to cope with the fast-paced environment so I did what I always knew — “working hard”. During this time, I had less than the average recommended eight (8) hours of sleep because I usually stay late in our office cubicle looking for the perfect story elements and case studies. There were times when I spent the night in our office because I still had some pending deliverables. Back then, a colleague approached me and told me that I should be more ‘efficient’ in doing my assigned tasks and spending my time.
All I knew about efficiency is accomplishing things with the least amount of time, money, and effort but I did not know how to translate it to my work ethic. Fortunately, a colleague in a company where I work continuously reiterates to me the importance of being efficient and working smart.
If you’re interested in how you can work smarter, not harder, here are my tips for you:
- Manage your energy and time. Have an inventory check of your daily energy and time. If you know when you have high energy and where your time goes, you can work smarter.
- Practice deep work. Your productivity does not equate to the amount of time you’ve spent working. It actually lies with spending ‘focused’ and ‘undisturbed’ time to do a certain task.
- Delegate tasks to other people. It will not harm you if you learn how to delegate tasks to your colleagues, especially if they’re more familiar with the tasks at hand.
- Automate repetitive tasks. Nowadays, there are a lot of online tools which you can use to automate tasks and also avoid any human errors.
Working smarter is not an easy task for everyone but as Robert Kiyosaki said, “Easy road becomes hard. Hard road becomes easy.” As you try practicing and applying this principle in your daily life, you’ll notice that everything becomes easier.
