‘’Without hard work, Nothing grows but weed .’’
Gordon B. Hinckley
If you want to be successful in your role as a Manager, Leader or become more successful in your career then you are lucky to be reading this post.
The above quote advocates the importance of working hard.
But I have something different to say.
People who are hard workers lose track of time. They do not realize that time is limited. Hard work entails more goal-focused and in-depth study.
Our world is dynamic. The circumstances are ever-changing. Working hard and spending more time researching and getting deeply involved in anything is misleading.
A Hard worker will take a longer time to finish a work as compared to a smart worker who is more spontaneous, uses his brain to analyze and reason out and think more creatively and strategically.
A smart worker can achieve his targets in a relatively shorter period with minimum resources and energy.
By working smarter you will have more time for other things like personal self, family, fun, and recreation.
You will be more creative.
For each person, smart work is relative and varies from individual to individual.
Only hard work does not guarantee success, progress, and fulfillment.
You need to combine both to lead a more fulfilling and successful career and life.
The purpose of this post is to help you become more aware of the mistakes that most new managers make which cost them their careers and promotion in the long run and leave them stuck, frustrated, depressed, disappointed, and burnt out.
Read the post below to know what mindsets, habits, and behaviors you are engaging in as a new manager are stopping you from working smarter so that you will be able to plug them and become a smart worker as well.
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THE 18 COSTLY MISTAKES THAT WILL PREVENT YOU FROM WORKIGN SMARTER AND BECOMING MORE SUCCESSFUL IN YOUR CAREER.
1. YOU ARE NOT CHALLENGING YOUR MIND TO NEW INTELLECTUAL LEVELS.
You’re not using both the parts of your brain, the creative as well as the analytical part. Either you are always logical or you are always creative.
You are not investing time in reading and expanding your knowledge.
You are not curious to know the reason behind things. You never question the way things are.
THE RESULT – You will stagnate your growth in your professional as well as other areas of your life.
You will be led by what others have to say.
You will remain stuck and lag.
This means a loss of promotion and a loss of jobs in the future.
2. YOU ARE NOT DEVELOPING SKILLS THAT ARE RARE AND HIGH IN DEMAND.
You are not developing skills that are in high demand in the market and rare in supply. One example is data scientists.
You are not developing any special talent that is valuable in the market.
You do not desire to or strive to be exceptional in your field.
THE RESULT – You will lose exposure to many lucrative opportunities.
3.YOU ARE NOT BUILDING ON YOUR STRENGTHS AND GETTING RID OF YOUR WEAKNESSES.
You are not working on your strengths and talents to the level of excellence. You are also unaware of your weaknesses which need to be got rid of, for you to move higher and forward.
THE RESULT – You will get dragged down and will never be able to shine and stand out and apart from others around you.
4. YOU ARE NOT IN THE RIGHT INDUSTRY.
You are not in the right market which is stable and has a high growth chance.
You are in a market where there is stiff competition, which is in decline and which is depressing.
THE RESULT –A wrong Market will slow down your success rate.
They pass on their depression to you.
It’s much better to be an average worker in a good industry than a top performer in a lousy market.
And there is a saying -’’ A rising tide lifts all boats ‘’ .People make money in markets that soar and have a higher growth rate.
For example, Post COVID many businesses have shifted online.
Jobs for VAs, data analysts, social media management, and online marketing have increased as compared to MBAs.
5. YOU DO NOT SELECT THE RIGHT OPPORTUNITIES.
You do not think like an investor. You are impatient and do not select your battles very carefully.
You keep falling for every opportunity and have a problem saying NO to opportunities.
THE RESULT -You will end up burnt out soon. You must be smart enough to think like an investor and evaluate an opportunity before jumping at it.
6.YOU DO NOT HAVE CLARITY OVER WHAT YOU WANT IN LIFE .
You are not connected with yourself.
You have a vague idea of what you want and therefore make wrong choices and decisions.
THE RESULT – You will end up working hard not knowing what you want in life. Clarity is important to work smart.
Clarity will help you to make the best use of your potential.
7. YOU ACT BEFORE WITHOUT PLANNING.
You do not think before taking an action, neither do you evaluate it nor plan for it.
You just keep working and ticking off tasks on your to-do list, because you have to get it done.
You are not flexible with your tactics.
THE RESULT – You will be reactive. You will end up being a hard worker. It will also undermine your performance in the long run.
You must make it a point to evaluate a task and see if it makes the best use of your potential.
8. YOU HAVE POOR TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS.
You don’t make use of your time wisely.
‘’Time is a non-renewable resource.’’
Some of the time-wasting habits you indulge in are –
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You spend most of your time attending to urgent tasks.
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You are highly distracted
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You procrastinate often
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You spend a maximum part of your time attending to email, meetings, and social media.
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You do not ask for help. Neither do you automate, delegate or outsource tasks.
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Your work environment is disorganized and cluttered
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You do not know your body’s rhythm.
THE RESULT – You will be wasting the maximum of your life’s time on unproductive activities and this will lead to poor performance and impact your career success in terms of promotion and job security.
You will be incapable of working smarter.
9.YOU DO NOT FOCUS ON CREATING VALUE.
You are unproductive because you do not focus on creating value, delivering value, and capturing value.
It is because you do not have a system of task prioritization in place.
You do not focus on tasks that will have a big impact in the long run.
THE RESULT –You will get minimum results for your life. Smart working means being on 3 levels at the same time.
Create value. Deliver Value and Capture Value -ie monetize. If you fail to do this everything is a waste.
Therefore Focus on Creating, Delivering, and Capturing value.
10. YOU ARE NOT INNOVATIVE AND COURAGEOUS.
You don’t innovate.
You do not find new ways to do things.
You do not find ways to do things faster, better, or more efficiently.
You do not make your superiors or clients and stakeholders aware of the kind of value you can provide.
You have problems putting out your ideas to your seniors, negotiating, or delivering presentations.
You do not dare to take action with your ideas.
THE RESULT – You will always remain stressed and overwhelmed with the workload and never know what you are truly capable of. Your seniors and stakeholders will never know your true worth.
You will never be able to make the best use of your potential.
11. YOU DO NOT LEVERAGE OTHER PEOPLE’S POTENTIAL AND TIME.
You are a perfectionist and believe in doing things by yourself.
You find it difficult to delegate tasks or ask for help.
You feel scared of rejection.
You feel insecure about losing your position if you take help from others.
THE RESULT –With this kind of mindset you will remain stuck where you are working hard.
You will never be able to grow an outstanding team of high achievers and therefore be unable to contribute to the business of the organization and see no tangible results in terms of money or promotion.
To work smarter you must be able to delegate tasks to others, inspire and motivate them to action and make the best possible use of their potential and time.
12. YOU DO NOT NETWORK.
You do not network and are not connected to people who are socially well positioned.
THE RESULT –You will never be able to get help from others and save years of hard work.
Networking will add value to your life. Network with precision. Connect with those that help add value to your life. Networking will save you time and effort. You will be able to make use of other people’s time and effort.
13. YOU DO NOT SURROUND YOURSELF WITH MORE SMARTER PEOPLE .
You are hanging around with people who are not achieving anything or who are more successful than you.
Or You are scared of associating with others who are smarter than you.
Or you are constantly in the company of those who are complaining, criticizing, and gossiping.
Or you are influenced by people who are pulling you down. ( find faults with your work, demotivate you, gaslight you .)
THE RESULT –
‘’You are the sum of 5 people whom you spend most of your time with .’’
Then the above quote applies in this case. You have a high chance that you will remain like others around you.
An antidote to this can be to choose wisely who you spend your time with. Be in the company of people who are more successful than you.
Spend more time with people who think of ideas and solutions, motivate, inspire and appreciate you and not pull you down.
14. YOU DO NOT PUT YOURSELF FIRST.
You doubt yourself and your abilities.
You are unaware of the fact that to help others you need to be capable of yourself first.
You do not draw healthy boundaries with others.
You do not use your time and resources wisely.
THE RESULT – You will feel emotionally insecure and weaker. You will make a poor impact and influence.
The more capable you feel and the more you trust yourself the more you will be able to help others around you. You will be able to influence others around you much better.
Drawing healthy boundaries will help you in focusing on your highest priorities each day and help you keep up with your performance.
15. YOU DO NOT LOVE CHANGE .
You are unaware that your environments and situations are constantly changing and any change makes you angry and reactive.
You find it difficult to adapt to change. You are not agile and adaptive.
You are emotionally attached to the hard work of the past.
You are idealistic about how things should be.
THE RESULT – You will remain stuck, lost, or uprooted in your career.
Environments today have become unstable, volatile, and unpredictable. The only way to get through this is to remain connected with reality.
Be a keen observer. Accept reality and the change that happens around you.
Gather feedback from your environment and stay updated.
You must be practical and manage your ego and expectations.
Be willing to be emotionally detached from your past.
You must be flexible, agile, and adaptive and be willing to change your strategy with time.
16. YOU DO NOT ANALYSE .
You do not spend time thinking, observing, analyzing, innovating, focussing, optimizing, delegating, automating, and leveraging
THE RESULT –
You will be making mistakes and making wrong decisions even if you think, analyze, innovate and optimize.
But the benefit of all this is you will be able to realize soon when you are heading in the wrong direction, be able to cut your losses quickly, and move in the right direction.
The benefit of working smart is that you will miss some shots and fail fast, but you will be able to move in the right direction quickly.
On the other hand, if you only keep working hard, you will have a hard time accepting failure and you might even end up in the rabbit hole of working even harder.
So it is better to stop digging harder and work smarter.
17. YOU ARE LIVING IN A HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT .
You are living in an environment that is underdeveloped, less friendly with poor connectivity.
THE RESULT – You will feel and become more negative. The environment directly impacts your happiness. This will diminish your creativity and productivity.
18. YOU HAVE A NEGATIVE OUTLOOK ON LIFE .
When things get hard, you get bogged down easily.
You have a pessimistic outlook on life.
You are always finding fault with others and blaming others.
You are always whining, criticizing, and complaining about everything.
You don’t find solutions to problems.
THE RESULT
With a negative outlook, it is impossible to lead a positive life.
You will be constantly blocking yourself mentally, as a result of which your mental horizons will shrink.
You will become blind to all opportunities and ideas because your emotions will cloud all your judgments.
In the long run, you will stop progressing and lag.
CONCLUSION
By now, you might have got a fair idea about what is preventing you from being a smart worker.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the post. Hard work alone will not see you through in life and career, and neither will smart work alone.
You need to combine both to lead a successful career.
Blending smart work with hard work, allows you to be more creative, energetic, effective, and efficient.
You will be able to prosper faster and have more time for other important things in life as well without feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, guilty, frustrated, or disappointed.
Having said that, I would like to ask you a question:
What is one thing that resonates with you?
What would you like to change?
What will you do today to take one step towards being a smart worker?
Please leave comments in the box below.
If you’re curious about learning more about working smarter , I support managers at all levels with coaching specifically on this powerful topic. If this sounds like you and you’d like to explore how coaching can help, please schedule a FREE DISCOVERY SESSION NOW
Babita Sharma
Leadership Coach
www.leadwithpassion.co.in
P.S -Please share the post and help someone today!
REFRENCES
13 REASONS WHY NEW MANAGERS MUST WORK SMARTER TO SUCCEED IN THEIR CAREER
SMART WORK VS HARD WORK AND WHY YOU MUST CHOOSE SMART WORK?
24 SMART WORKING TIPS THAT WILL MAKE NEW MANAGERS HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL
