Has anyone ever said this to you? “You know, if you work smarter, you won’t have to work so hard.” Or, have you ever said it?
If you’ve ever heard that phrase before, what you probably understood it to mean is “get more done!” or “finish the work sooner!” or “you’re obviously not already working smart so…work smart”. Certainly, it isn’t likely interpreted to be something positive or constructive. Typically, no instructions come with it. But what is really meant by “work smart”?
Of course, it could mean “get more done…sooner!” but I suspect it was more likely intended to mean “let’s figure out how to get more productive results out of the efforts we’re already putting in.” Notice how that has a more supportive and constructive sense to it. Beginning with “let’s” is inclusive and represents that together we can address this. Then, the “get more…efforts…already” has a positive, complimentary tone. We’re already productive, but we can use more.
We could stop there but I think that would miss the most important part of the interpretation. Many people responding to the “work smart…” message would probably think it means I gotta put in more hours and work harder to get more done. And, without much further discussion, that is how many people respond.
I would suggest another way to interpret and internalize the message, partly because I have used a similar phrase (“we need to find ways to work smarter so we don’t have to work so many hours to get things done”) and, partly because a wise and well reputed statesman is quoted to have said of himself, “I am the laziest man in the world.” And the quote continues on to say, “…I invented all those things to save myself from toil.” That statesman was Benjamin Franklin. The other interpretation is that “it is smart to find ways to multiply, or at least, increase the results and productivity of the current level of energy expended and efforts made to get the current results“, or, in the vernacular, “be lazy…to save yourself from toil.”
But, really, isn’t life really about “more with less”? More progress, more results, more money, more of everything , while costing less and less. We see this in almost every aspect of our lives. Every year, as individuals, we all want to have a bigger salary, more free time, a bigger house, a newer car. Businesses and shareholders, and organizations and stakeholders, want more results, more impacts, more customers, more revenues, more profits, more, more, more!!! But, no one really wants it to cost more, or the business and organizations don’t want expenses to increase.
So, the real question might be, “Why should you want to work smarter?” I’ll discuss that in an upcoming blog post.
Until then,
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