Our daily activities like doing homework, attending lectures, cleaning, organization and management, etc involve work. Every time we do some work we learn something from it. Learning depends on the way you have completed the work. Generally, smart work involves less input. This need not be true every time. While we work hard and put in all our sweat and blood, we learn many new things and gain experience. So does this mean that we should only work hard and not smart? Whether we should work hard or smart to get optimum results? Let's discuss it.
To start with here is an example. A group of people was given a job and each of them has to carry a huge box to the end of the road. The box seemed hefty. Everyone started their job, some started pushing with all the energy they had, taking intervals in between to take rest. Some were imagining how to take this box to the destination. While a smart man shaped the box in the sphere and started rolling it. Looking at this, everyone was surprised at the man's intelligence. This is a perfect example of smart work. The end result is, the man was able to complete the assigned work without losing much of his energy.
Hard work requires time, effort, consistency, determination, and willpower. A hardworking person is not worried about the end results of the job. He/she just wants to complete the job with the best he/she can.
1. Consistency:
A hardworking person is very consistent in whatever work he does. It requires self-commitment and it is very difficult to follow. A hardworking person is very keen to acquire knowledge, as a result, he has very good knowledge of whatever job he is doing. Also, he gains a lot of experience through success and failures throughout his work.
2. Requires time:
To work hard, time is required. A hardworking person may take more time than a smart working person to finish a job. To grab all resources and supplies takes time. A person may get delayed to finish an assignment because of working hard.
3. Tedious:
Working hard is tedious and not everyone's cup of tea. A hardworking person works in a traditional way which is tiring. Overnight success is not guaranteed by hard work.
4. Monotonous:
Working on the same task over and over again makes life monotonous. Hard work focuses on quantity with quality. Working hard may make our work monotonous but the results are sweet.
"Work may be bitter, but the end results are always sweet"
Smart work is about reaching the desired goals in minimum time without involving many efforts. A smart working person may find alternative ways or shortcuts in doing things. Generally, the amount of experience and learning gained by a smart working person is less than that of a hard-working person.
1. Saves time:
A smart working person tries to work with minimum effort and in a short time. Generally, in less time more amount of work is completed by a smart worker. A smart working finds new and innovative ways of accomplishing goals before the deadline.
2. More work can be accomplished:
A smart working person is creative in his/her ways of completing a job, so he/she can complete more work in less time. Today's world demands workers who complete more work in less time. So smart workers generally outshine the hard worker in this aspect.
3. Learning new things in less time:
As a job gets finished in less time by a smart working person, he/she has got time to learn new skills. A smart working person may be a curious learner, so finishing jobs early gives him time and space to accomplish other goals in life. Finishing work without much effort and consistency and gaining time to learn other new things is generally observed in a smart working person.
4. Reaching goals earlier:
A smart working person is always in search of alternatives to finish a job. As a smart worker has a habit of working in less time without much effort and consistency, so he/she is able to finish a job earlier.
We have discussed both, hard work as well as smart work. So which one do you prefer for accomplishing your tasks? There is a common myth that hard work does not give desired results whereas smart work gives quick results without much effort in a short span of time. However it should be noted that success does not solely depend on hard work or smart work. It can be only achieved when smart work is done along with hard work.
Hard work + Smart work = Achievement
"Hard work beats talent when talent does not work hard"
