8 Reasons To Change Your Hard Work to Smart Work

I have always heard the importance of working hard and proving yourself. While I think that applying oneself is very important, I have realized that my concept of working hard has to change. I used to think of hard work in terms of hours put in and often my tendency was to look at people who put in the most hours as those working the hardest. This has changed over the years as I have grown in my HR career.

Working smart is defined as focusing on the output that creates the most value as opposed to focusing on only your input. A simplistic example of this would be a call center employee. The person working hard is the one who focuses on taking the most calls as opposed to the smart worker who still takes a good number of calls but comes up with a system of tracking the most frequently asked questions and devises a process to get that information out to customers. The hard worker will probably get immediate recognition but the smart worker will probably be called on to be a leader when the opportunity opens up.  Even if the opportunity does not arise in the current organization, they are training their mind to see solutions to problems which is an important skill.

Here are 8 reasons it is important to work smart

1. You are measured based on the value you bring not the time you put in
2. Results matter almost as much as your interactions unless you are Dr. House. 
3. Ideas change the landscape of a business and they are rarely generated by a very tired brain
4. All hard work is not equal. There is a reason you pay some people more than others
5. You may miss out on important information if you bury yourself behind a desk
6. Focus on tasks that make an impact as opposed to completion of many tasks. 
7. We all have our maximum capacity, leverage resources to improve the value of your output. 
8. Stretch your brain and imagination, you never know what you could come up with to change your world. Give yourself time to think. 

I realize some people are in places in your careers where you are measured strictly by numbers so working smart may not be as practical. However I encourage you to start practicing to look at the bigger picture and how your strengths fit in to help you expand and grow from where you are.