Hard work is necessary to be successful in any job, however there are two versions: working long hours and being unproductive compared to working shorter hours and achieving the same output.
There are times where it is important to reflect and ask yourself, could I be working smarter instead of harder?
Over the last few weeks, I my friend has gone into work every day at 7am and comes home around 7pm. After a while I had to ask her what was going on.
She looked at me and told me, “I have a plan.” Sure enough, she now starts at 9am and comes home around 3 every day, works from home much more and is still exceeding all of her managers expectations.
Why the sudden change? My friend was working tirelessly to set up new systems that worked for her, allowing her to streamline day to day tasks that took up unnecessary time and refocus on bigger goals.
This made me think about something incredibly important: what could I do to make my everyday simpler?
The hard work she put in saw instant results that dramatically increased her work life balance. Yes, she worked like crazy to get here, but now she will enjoy the benefits of her hard work for a long time.
Think about your current role. What are the most repetitive tasks? What are the tasks that take little brain power but a lot of time? Questioning how you’re working can help see ways to improve. Often at work we find ourselves trapped in a busy work state but not necessarily a productive one.
The best way to progress in your career is to focus on the areas you find challenging. Streamline the easy and repetitive tasks to focus yourself on growth and progression.