Working smart vs working hard - an ultimate guide

[Gens09]

This is a sequel to this thread. If you are interested only in the fat of the thread and the cream of the theme, look no further than this and the second post here.


Many people say that you should work hard if you want to succeed in life and rise to riches. I'd rather say that working hard will only make your boss richer, not yourself. On the other hand, there is an age-old adage which says that you should be working smarter, not harder. But working smarter is a vague idea, and I'm interested to hear what people have to say on this topic. As far as I'm concerned, I think that working smart comes down to creating environment where you will have more chances to meet Lady Luck smiling at you, where you will be able to hit a lucky strike because luck plays an ever-important role in our lives. For example, if you want to find a date to have a romantic relationship with or you are looking for a one-night stand only, you will go to a beach or a bar since your chances are higher there, right? The same approach seems to be applicable to work as well. In other words, stick around the places where your chances of success are the highest.

So share your opinions here, guys. What is your practical take on working smart?

It is better to work smart than working hard. Working hard , yes it is important in taking a job. You have a possibility that you will be hired in a particular job if you have this characteristic. But it is more important to work smart because you have many ideas to make your work easier but perfectly.

[tbterryboy]

For me it is a very nice blend because both are in dire need for success, have one thing in common that is closely related. I think the good view you see from the positive side.

Being smart and being hardworking because those are positive attributes of a person. Working smart means you can come up with a better and new ideas that you will be working hard.

In current times, if someone is not a smart person, believe me he doesn’t has any place in the world. Now, people become so sharp that they don’t allow anyone to surpass them. So in case you want to extend your professionalism or work, you need to be smart and hard worker. These both attributes can help you take the mark and if even one is missing, you are just ruined up person.

[kkaroul4]

it's true especially in the work, the most priority and be a bullet in the work of course smart in thinking and working hard in order to realize that in want it is very necessary. being intelligent and persistent in the work is very important

[doaremon]

To me I think both are needed. You can't go beyond yourself without working hard enough. And also you won't get the success without smart move.
Suppose you work in a restaurant. You work hard full day and earn a little bit more than the others. Suddenly you saw that one of you colleague resigned. If it's possible then you can also look after that post. As a result of which you will get extra money and also you will gained the trust of you boss. But yes I don't support hard working over your limits. I think if you can then you must work hard but also with smart moves. Because I personally think that both of them depends on each others.

[slashz9]

I believe by working smartly according to your idea that. but smart is not enough if you do not work hard in it, you understand what I mean ?, just because you work smart you can not laze in your work, so smart work must be accompanied by hard work.

[Nahl]

some people doesn't lucky so they have to working more hard to make living indeed if you're an employee working hard only makes your boss richer and richer again because you only get monthly salary from them but will be different if you're building your own business and working hard for it i think eventually you will be rich people without depend other people

[Kaniel-ouots]

to work smart you need experience sometimes you need to work hard and cant work smart as you need some things 

[AnonBitCoiner]

The people who had lost the golden opportunity,are forced to work hard to get more money.Suppose you had got a chance to get into high paying job ,you have to get that with the smart work.If you had lost that opportunity,then you are forced to work hard for  your future.Work smart to shine in your life.

[Streamlink]

Working hard is allways easier, there is no need to thing a lot here. Just do your job, and repeat. On the smart-work side, sometimes, you would look, seek, think, analyze and only then start to work. But smart value is always higher, than hard

There is not much difference in between working harder and working smarter. You must put in your efforts in both the cases and that if you will use your brain while doing work and that you will plan the things smartly, then this will help you out in making of a good progress and that this way you will also be able to do more things in lesser time which will help you in making of more money.

[betetakjelas]

Working hard is allways easier, there is no need to thing a lot here. Just do your job, and repeat. On the smart-work side, sometimes, you would look, seek, think, analyze and only then start to work. But smart value is always higher, than hard

There is not much difference in between working harder and working smarter. You must put in your efforts in both the cases and that if you will use your brain while doing work and that you will plan the things smartly, then this will help you out in making of a good progress and that this way you will also be able to do more things in lesser time which will help you in making of more money.

you are right, working hard and working smart requires the same persistence, the difference is in the location of the income and time needed, a smart person will create new innovations to make additional income and save his working time

[vv181]

Times has changed. Back in the last centuries working hard is essentials in life, but nowadays working smart is more reliable and efficient. The nowadays technologies offer to give us an opportunity to make our life easier.

What I can't understands is why many peoples still choosing te working hard dogma while it's already old-fashioned and proveable to be inefficient with the current society.

[pathapoddo]

I think both are important. Working hard and smartly both can lead you to success. But working smart is most important. If you are unexperienced hard working won't give you any result. So I will suggest you to working smartly.

[Wintersoldier]

This is a sequel to this thread. If you are interested only in the fat of the thread and the cream of the theme, look no further than this and the second post here.


Many people say that you should work hard if you want to succeed in life and rise to riches. I'd rather say that working hard will only make your boss richer, not yourself. On the other hand, there is an age-old adage which says that you should be working smarter, not harder. But working smarter is a vague idea, and I'm interested to hear what people have to say on this topic. As far as I'm concerned, I think that working smart comes down to creating environment where you will have more chances to meet Lady Luck smiling at you, where you will be able to hit a lucky strike because luck plays an ever-important role in our lives. For example, if you want to find a date to have a romantic relationship with or you are looking for a one-night stand only, you will go to a beach or a bar since your chances are higher there, right? The same approach seems to be applicable to work as well. In other words, stick around the places where your chances of success are the highest.

So share your opinions here, guys. What is your practical take on working smart?

We need to set goals and prerogatives, the idea of working hard may cover up the idea of working smart, and vice versa. It is a matter of perception on the way you create opportunities for your self to reach your ultimate target in life. There are several affecting factors that would be vital for your dreams and ambitions, like, time frame, strategy, luck and etc, so it does not really depend on just being smart or industrious, although these two are probably the most important factors of them all.

[Viyamore]

Both working smart and working hard are partners to become a successful person whether someone is working for others or working for your own self. The fact that you are doing both is an indicator that you are a good person as you work. In everything we do, we should be working smart and hardworking. As with bitcoin, it is also applicable.

If you are concerned on what is best, working as employee or having your own business, well I should say that it is really best to have your own business. Make yourself rich and empower other people.

[Hell-raiser]

Working harder is easier in a way, you can work an additional hour and you are already working harder or you can try to increase your output in the same time frame working smarter is a lot harder, but it can give you more profits in the long term, for example if you know how to code you could create a script that does a part of your job that you need to do over and over again this saves you time and effort that you can use for something else.

Yes, that's the point I tried to emphasize in my previous post here and even added it to my piggy bank of ideas about working smart. The human brain is wired in such a way that it can find enjoyment and satisfaction in repetitive tasks that are not very demanding on it in terms of creative stress and the discomfort it brings about, something which smart working surely involves or even requires. So you can work an additional hour just like that but that would be hard working as far as hard working goes. Working smart requires a conscious effort on your part, but many, if not most people, prefer to keep things the old way, the "hard" way.

[vaughn125]

This is a sequel to this thread. If you are interested only in the fat of the thread and the cream of the theme, look no further than this and the second post here.


Many people say that you should work hard if you want to succeed in life and rise to riches. I'd rather say that working hard will only make your boss richer, not yourself. On the other hand, there is an age-old adage which says that you should be working smarter, not harder. But working smarter is a vague idea, and I'm interested to hear what people have to say on this topic. As far as I'm concerned, I think that working smart comes down to creating environment where you will have more chances to meet Lady Luck smiling at you, where you will be able to hit a lucky strike because luck plays an ever-important role in our lives. For example, if you want to find a date to have a romantic relationship with or you are looking for a one-night stand only, you will go to a beach or a bar since your chances are higher there, right? The same approach seems to be applicable to work as well. In other words, stick around the places where your chances of success are the highest.

So share your opinions here, guys. What is your practical take on working smart?

Look man, the most successful personalities today clearly has both traits plus courage. It is like yin and yang together with the outer circle that holds it together. With one missing, it will not be as it is anymore and there will be great imbalance that is obviously isn't good in any situation. Which is clearly the same as this one. Because fear can hinder a hard working person from taking the smarter approach.
For example :
If person one is working smart but not working hard enough or lacks courage, It would be like having a feast just two steps ahead but just settles on the steak that is two steps behind the feast and one step ahead from the pig's feet because he's too tired and hungry and can't be sure as to whether those dishes on that feast are still edible or not because no one is eating there. Just like in real life, opportunities are everywhere but isn't for everyone.

And then there's person two that is a hard working person doing lots of overtime but does not work smart enough to know what opportunities to grab or is too afraid to go out of his comfort zone. Now this person will only be capable of making ends meet and not have financial freedom or live the life that everyone dreams of.


You see, working in any field or industry you will always need the smarts, the hard working attitude and  the courage to make the biggest decisions or jumps because having only one or two of these three can only take you so far, but not to your goals and dreams.

At least that is how I see life.


EDIT : The guy silberman completely makes sense. If a person having that advantage plus the same hard work he would've poured into the said job without that script onto something else, then productivity will greatly increase even more than what it currently is.
The point is if there are still time to slack more than what the mind and body needs to rest, this means a person is not working hard enough. Time management is also one of the keys to having a great life which is a part of working smart.

[Kokoy]

Working smart can save time rather than working hard. Because it's more time saving if you work smart you can able to determine whether it is time to invest or not.

I agree with that, cause if you are working smart every step and sweat that yiu take is worth and productive well you can actually apply the working hard stuff caude no matter how great the idea if you dont have the motivation and dedication to do it, its useless and you are just wasting your money in that certain business , better if combine the two.

[BartS]

Yes that’s true, but sometimes you have to work hard to achieve some things. What I’m trying to say is that despite it is very important to think smart, you might come up with some ideas that requires you to work really hard before you can accomplish them. You don’t just think smart and relax, waiting for you ideas to put themselves into work and put food on your table, nah, that’s never gonna happen. You will need to work for your ideas. Well, working smart.

The truth is that is very difficult to separate both, those that work smart most of the time put a great amount of effort in their jobs and as you may guess that is working hard, and those that work hard also have no option but to work smart at some point if they want to maximize their effort, so we may say that even if I will like to work smart over working hard to do this is almost impossible to do one without the other, take the time to look at any success story and you will see the people not only worked hard but worked smart as well.

[xcajun21]

I don't like this attitude of "working hard" to gain success. Literally speaking, would someone think of climbing 10 mountains in order to maximize their chance of success? I think in terms of flow and freedom. If everything was fun and easy and plain simple... Wouldn't be hard to get up each morning and do that. I worked the best when i found that flow, that trance like concentration... then is not hard, is just being in a state of high productivity and awareness.

Would you rather take 10 chances and have 50% percent rate of missing the target ? or Take 2 chances with only 10% chance of missing. While only taking time to prepare.

[Hell-raiser]

Bill Gates says that he'd rather employ a lazy person than an active person. Lazy people supposedly work smart by doing any task provided in the most easy way available.

I wouldn't trust Bill Gates on this. He has been caught lying many times in the past. In simple terms, I don't like him and people of his kind. A lazy person will remain lazy, and that has nothing to do with their intelligence. You can be both intelligent and industrious, smart and diligent, and there's nothing wrong with that. Obviously, the correct way to put it would be to hire an intelligent person rather than a stupid one. But that is kind of too obvious and self-evident.