Hard work OR Smart work: Which is the need of an hour?

There are a lot of arguments and debates around which should be the preferred method to work between hard work and smart work. A lot of people put a lot of time, energy, and effort into a task and yet are not able to deliver results and quality. You need to work smart in addition to working hard. While there is no denying that hard work helps to bring principle, discipline, and long term success, working smart may do the job easier and quicker. What essentially matters is the end result, either you’re working hard or smart.

The ideal way to complete a task is to use both the approaches according to the task at hand. The two approaches cannot provide results independently. There are certain tasks which require putting continuous effort and time. Only after a person works hard is he/she able to gain enough knowledge and experience about the subject. Knowing how to work smart can therefore come to a person after years of continuous effort. There are numerous skills which are refined over a period of time. A person after such a stage is definitely capable of working smart after being aware and experienced about the subject. However, only practicing hard work may prove monotonous and lead to procrastination. Putting a lot of time and tedious efforts, a person may stop being productive because of a traditional and repetitive pattern of working. The results thus achieved show no improvement and often deteriorate. It is important to inculcate both hard work and smart work for the appropriate job and at the correct time according to priority.

Often, the right method to use depends on the kind of work and expected goals. If a person does not get good results even after putting all the blood and sweat to it, working smart for such a person may lead to less pressure and better productivity. However, if the task assigned requires a lot of research, fact-checking, and analyzing, hard work will do everything to sail this person’s boat. Therefore, the argument surrounding these two terms cannot be answered in one word as to which one is better or vice versa. The way of work put to use highly should depend on the kind of work, its priority, and the person approaching it. One cannot get completely rid of either of the methods and stick to just one way.

Students in schools should be encouraged to work hard to understand key concepts of different subjects in depth however work smartly to apply and devise a plan on the basis of those concepts. Learning to strike a balance between the two becomes very important. It is essential to know the ‘when’ and ‘how’ of putting the two ways into use. Learning a skill may require hard work, but once learnt it may be applied to work easily by working smart. Therefore, a recipe which includes ingredients of both smart work and hard work may cook a good meal of valuable output.

While hard work seems to give long-term results and in-depth knowledge, it may become repetitive and monotonous. Smart work on the other hand may save time, promote creativity and innovation but lead to a laid back attitude and approach. Those who believe that smart work is the fruit of hard work and to master the qualities of smart work, one needs to work really hard are correct as well as those who think that if you are not smart, your hard work won’t pay off. Both approaches when merged, produce an ideal work efficiency with consistently visible results.

By- Alankrita Tiwari