Work Smarter, Not Harder.. ?!?

埋头苦干 (Keep your head down and just work hard), was what I was taught as the honest, right way to succeed.

That’s why every time I heard the phrase ‘work smarter, not harder’, it always triggered mixed emotions. ‘This is just a saying for lazy people who are looking for shortcuts.’ was the perspective that my mind hung on to.

My understanding evolved over the years, and here are a few thoughts:

💡Know your motivation. Why are you working so hard in the first place? Are you gunning for a promo; or seeking validation and recognition; or fearing job security?.. Knowing your motivation will guide your actions and help you prioritize what’s truly important to you.

💡Clarify expectations with your manager. What you deem as important accomplishments may not get you promoted:

👉Put your efforts behind what matters. If your manager expected you to build a house, and you worked super hard to deliver a beautiful bike, don’t expect to be automatically rewarded.

👉Stop being a people pleaser and push back. Being busy by doing a ton of tasks requested by others, when your manager is either unaware, or doesn't consider them important, may only lead to burnout without the rewards you expected.

💡Communicate your hard work to your manager. Managers are not mind readers, and may not be aware of how much effort you put into your projects. Make sure you communicate the value and results your hard efforts delivered.

💡Build your village of advocates. I will go into this more in a future post. Know who can help you work more effectively and efficiently (mentors, coaches), and who can speak to your work and advocate for you behind closed doors (managers, sponsors, champions).

💡Effort still matters. Working smart doesn’t mean you never work hard. Investing in gaining hard skills needed to deliver results for your role, or putting in time to meet stakeholders and go through docs to ramp up quickly in a new role are still necessary efforts.

There’s a lot more to unpack here. DM me if you want to explore more how to make sure your efforts are recognized and rewarded.

What does ‘working smarter, not harder’ mean to you? What is the one thing you can do differently to make sure your hard work actually pays off?

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