What Works? Hard Work or Smart Work?

What ‘works’?

Hard work – works. Always.

And when it doesn’t work, it means that more work needs to be done.

The concept of ‘smart work’ does not exist independently as against hard work.

I don’t believe any smart work can happen without the person already having exhausted himself with some good, hard work.

Smart work or let us say smartness, is the result of years of hard work and toil; when all the hard work has identified and rectified our mistakes, so that they don’t happen any more.

It is improper to construe smart work, as meaning ‘no or less’ hard work, and that goals can be attained through shortcuts.

True learning does not arise out of short-cuts but by an analysis and appreciation of how they came to be created.

Also, short-cuts are only temporarily helpful. They might well lead to failure in the future, because, in effect, they are eliminating the need to think.

A brain that has disciplined itself to stick on, plough on, fight on and brave the odds is built “inch by inch”.

This requires a lot of patience, hard work and above all, a tremendous will to fight distraction and fears of failure.

Only such a brain has the capability and discipline to think smart and find a way out, even when the heavens seem to be falling on everybody else’s heads.

“The true purpose of education is to train the mind to think” – Einstein

We need to train the mind. It just cannot start behaving ‘smartly’ all of a sudden.

When the mind is trained well enough to think its way out of any situation, we will work smarter. And failure will be a thing of the past.

P.S A lot of people think working smartly means eliminating ‘unnecessary’ work and saving time. However who’s the best judge to decide what’s necessary and what’s not?When uncertainty regarding extra work prevails, people tend to abstain from it and the ‘time saved’ could actually mean a loss of something more valuable.Knowledge.

~ by jumpindolphin on December 6, 2008.