Steemit Engagement Challenge S9W6 : Hard Work or Smart Work ?

I received so many invites to this engagement challenge that I just had to enter, so here we go.

Hard work or smart work?

If you can find a needle in a haystack, you will be able to choose one above the other.

The difference between hard work and smart

Our minister once read Ecclesiastes 10:10 from the Bible to us. "If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength; but wisdom helps him succeed."

And this is exactly what the difference is between working hard and working smart. We can go out and cut down 20 trees today, but if we go out tomorrow, we will not be able to cut down 20 trees but less, and if we go out the next day, we will even cut less. This is due to one reason: we did not sharpen the blade of the axe after the first day.

Many people in life work hard, but only a few of them become successful. Why?

Maybe we got stuck with the saying, "The harder I work, the luckier I get" or our teacher telling us "Work hard, and success will be at your feet". What about your parents telling you that "Hard work pays off?"

Hard work is needed to take you where you want to be; it motivates you, shows your commitment, and teaches you self-discipline.

Smart work is using the correct strategy, being disciplined, being specific, having goal orientation, and managing time.

I do believe that the recipe for success is hard work = smart work

Hard work or smart work—which is better for boosting productivity?

For sure, smart work!

Hard work does not mean that you have to work physically hard all the time.

Take writing exams; there is not much physical work but a lot of mental work.

You can start firing away, starting with the first word and ending with the last word of the book, or you can take some time and be smart.

• Why do I study?
• What is my goal?
• What can we do to improve my studies?
• What can I do to get the most out of my studies?
• What of the work do I understand?
• What of the work don’t I understand?

Once you know the answers to these questions, you can start planning your studies, and you will be far more successful in reaching your end goal.

If I have to look at my own country and how we can boost productivity, it is not by putting more men in the field to work hard but only by working smart.

👉🏼Better education
👉🏼Better government policies
👉🏼Better technological development
👉🏼Enhanced infrastructure
👉🏼Reliable powersupply

You can get so much more done with less effort if you work smart.

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Do I apply both activities to my work or not?

Yes! You have to work hard and smart in your work activities. What I have learned in life is that there are no shortcuts, not for hard work or for smart work. Hard work also never stops.

Let’s take one of my icons, Elon Musk.

There were weeks when he worked 120 hours. He even slept on the floor of the factory of SpaceX. Just by looking at him, you can see that he is always thinking ahead. He invested $100 million personally and gave the company three tries to launch their spacecraft. After the second try, he told his members of staff that he knew that it was going to be difficult as it is rocket science after all, and he also told them that "For my part, I will never give up and I mean never." (NBCnews.com)
The next day, all members of staff were back, not working harder but working smarter.

Elon Musk is a man who not only works hard but also smart.

In my own businesses, I use working hard as my stepping stone to success.

When I joined my partner in our last business, we had fewer than 100 clients. Through nursing them, spoon-feeding them, and constant follow-up, we slowly started to build a name for ourselves in the real estate market. It is a difficult market to compete in. I always said that if you think it is difficult to work with a car salesman, you have not worked with an estate agent. We also had to compete against companies like Property24 (Naspers, Tencent, and Prosus). By being smart, we had to stay one step ahead of them.

We were the first company to launch a mobile application for agents and the first to launch integration between the real estate office, the mortgage originator, and the financial institutions. We acquired deed data dated back to the 1800s and made it part of our offering.

Did we work hard? For sure, we did!

Did we work smart? Oh yes! We worked smart.

After more than 20 years of staying ahead of our competitors, we eventually sold our intellectual property to one of our competitors for the price we wanted and with a client base of over 2,000.

My advice is that hard work never stops, but by being smart, you can make your hard work count.

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Words of thanks as a tribute to the Steemit Team for their work

I can write;

• Thank you for your commitment
• Thank you for the value you add
• Thank you for your support
• Thank you for your hard and smart work.. and... and

Or I can just simply write… "Thank you, for finding a needle in the haystack!

I invite:
@okere-blessing @chant @bongk @saintprisca