Do We Need to Work HARD or SMART ?

 Do We Need to Work HARD or SMART ?

What a $64 question is this.  Do we need to WORK HARD or SMART ?  Good relief, there is no wrong answer regardless if you choose HARD or SMART because either path you take, you're not on the wrong path but the thing here is that we DON'T want to be satisfied if we just end up working HARD or SMART because each of these barometers will measure our success separately.  Working HARD doesn't mean we're working SMART enough or vice-versa.

To share my career experiences, I have worked with folks who really worked damn HARD and I've worked with folks who really worked SMART.  And neither of them failed in their job roles but what did matter is the destination or the heights both of those workers did end up.  Both results did end up positively but with mixed results though.  That HARD WORKING operations staff was secure enough in his job until he retired whereas the SMART guy [who happens to be my classmate in grade school] rose up to become the CEO of the biggest telecomm company in a Southeast Asian country.

So, let us NOT be confused and to cut the crap, we need to work HARD as much as we need to be SMART.  This is NOT an 'EITHER OR' thing because this is an 'AND' equation.  Through the years, I had to do the balancing act of working HARD and SMART. Simply put, working HARD is simply doing the needful whereas working SMART means you gotta figure it out how can you go from Point A to Point B at a much lesser time and obviously at a much shorter turnaround time.  That is when things can get tricky because there is no laid out formula you can follow like a RUN BOOK.  This is when our capability to become agile and nimble to quickly adapt leads us to either MAKE or FAIL.

When you're just starting, where in school, at work or even in business, that's how high the cards are stacked against you. Indeed, the mountain slopes are that steep for you to climb.  And this is when working HARD is a no-brainer and non-negotiable.  Until you have climbed 'Mount Rushmore', there's NO OTHER WAY for you/for us but to work damn HARD.  Obviously, in working HARD, you can be that SMART.  Example, going from Point A to Point B, if you seem zigzagging, alway remember that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line and no less shorter than that.❗❗❗