Are you working hard or working smart?

School of Life...with ©️Waheed Ogunjobi

Blessed morning and welcome to another edition of our daily wisdom nugget. This morning, we are going to draw the lines between working hard and working smart. Let's go!

And what does it mean? Oxford defines hard work as, “a great deal of effort or endurance.” Merriam-Webster defines hardworking as, “industrious, diligent.” All very desirable qualities.

Working smart on the other hand means focusing yourself on building up a few of your strengths and doing away with a few weaknesses that drag you down. An alternative approach is to find a team of people who substitute the weaknesses the smart worker has. Hard workers don't build on their strengths.

In a nutshell, Hard work can be simply defined as putting in strenuous hours for doing a certain task or tasks. Smart work refers to finding effective and efficient ways to complete one or multiple tasks while also managing time and quality both.

Both are the keys to success, but the only difference is hard work gives us experience whereas smart work comes from experience. When we work hard we get expertise and helps us to do that work smartly.

The irony of it however is that you can never work smart unless you first learn how to work hard. Smart work is a product of hard work, but you have to be smart enough to know when to draw the lines, to know when to stop laboring or working hard, but apply your expertise and start working smart.

Thus, in working hard, you expend energy but may not pay attention to the necessary nitty-gritty involved while working smart involves working hard and paying attention to the hidden details to your advantage.

While doing smart work, it requires mental ability and critical thinking quality to design the plan and strategy. Foresee the challenges and make a strategy that gives us results in very little time. It is a mental activity.

Hard work requires dedication, strength, patience as it takes longer. It assures you about accomplishing your goal but will take time. It is a physical as well as mental activity.

The scripture says, in all your gettings, get wisdom, it is imperative to draw the line and begin to apply the principles in our day-to-day lives so that we will always have the best results to show for our efforts. Learn to work smart order than work hard. 

Tomorrow is another day.

Waheed Ogunjobi,  Journalist, writer, author, and Public Affairs Analyst writes from Abeokuta, the Ogun State Capital, and can be reached through waheedogunjobi@gmail.com or 08035004741.