"A smart contract does exactly what a workflow does, with the difference, that there is no manager on the other side to approve the task, and there is usually money involved in the transaction. This also happens automatically. Let me explain by the means of an example.

You write a blog on Steemit. Various users vote for your blog article. After 7 days, the counting down timer indicates that the monetization period for the specific article is completed. Your Steem Power and Steem Dollar amount is calculated based on the average Steem price for the past 7 days market price. The money is then made available for you to claim. All of this happens automatically."

thanks for that i have a beeter understanding of it now