Hard work doesn't necessarily mean good work

I like to read articles about programming and solving problems because I can learn a lot about life and how to improve as a person from them. One thing experienced programmers keep saying in their articles is how a lot of beginners feel the need to build certain tools from scratch instead of just using what others already built.

While that's a great way to improve your coding skills and figure out how to code certain tools (as far as experienced programmers say), it can be a huge waste of time for you and your team (or company). Why waste your time building something that's already available out there when you can just use something other people made to complete your project?

That makes sense in the programming world, but it really makes sense in other areas as well. There are a lot of people out there who don't know the difference between working hard and being efficient.

Sure, spending 15 hours doing something unnecessary can feel good and it may make you live under the impression that you're being really productive, but it's just a huge waste of time that doesn't get you anything. If there's a way to finish your work faster with the same results, use it!

For example, in most design packages I create (at least those containing Photoshop Actions), besides the action itself I also add a PDF file with some instructions explaining how to install and use the action inside the package.

Now, I could spend 10 - 15 minutes or even more time whenever I create an action to write all those instructions just to make myself feel productive. But why do that and waste a lot of time when I could easily just create a default PDF file containing instructions for that type of package and just add it whenever I upload something to Graphic River or Creative Market?

That helps me finish my work a lot faster and it doesn't keep me busy more than it should.

I'm sure that if I spend even more time looking at what I do, I'll find ways to improve my working process and finish everything a lot faster by creating tools that can help me be done with tedious tasks that require too much of my attention.

Working really hard is admirable, but is not always productive. You can spend 5 hours working on something and look good because of it, but it's not a good idea if you can use a tool someone made to finish all that work in 5 minutes.

Take a look at what you do every day and see if there's any "hard work" you do that could easily be replaced with a smarter solution that also takes less time. You may be surprised how many tasks can be completed really fast without having to invest too much attention and effort into them, and how much time you wasted in the past thinking you're being productive.