I was never a fan of the idea of “working hard.” As if all the world’s problems could be solved with something as plain as hard work. The idea is a byproduct of the old generation, a generation lacking experience with today’s technology. If working hard was the answer, then we wouldn’t need such prattling things as innovation, progress, and advancement. I’m not discounting the notion of hard work entirely, but I feel that hard work is fool’s gold, the go-to for fools who are, well, fools. I mean, if they were smart, then they wouldn’t be called fools in the first place.
So now that I pretty much rejected the good ol’ American value of hard work, what is there to take its place?
Being smart of course. Don’t work harder, work smarter.
I’m not throwing this out as some kind counter-mainstream anti-hipster derp derp drivel—I’m saying this because it’s the truth. I can go into my photo galleries, crop, and resize all of my pictures manually—and it is certainly hard work—or I could just run it through a batch command and finish the task in a fraction of the time. We have to leverage our knowledge and make it work for us rather than submit ourselves to tedium because of some misguided work ethic.
If we just needed to be smart, then we wouldn’t have such an untapped population of college graduates doing jack squat, so obviously being smart isn’t the only answer. This is where hard work comes in. You can’t just blindly work hard and hope success will come your way. You have to work hard, smartly.
Both things are required: you have to work smart and hard -- work “smard.”
Okay, perhaps “smard” isn’t the best portmanteau. Maybe “hart” is better… and since it rhymes with heart, it just adds to the meaning. There you have it, the true secret to success.
Working harter.
