Hard work is the treadmill of the corporate world — lots of sweat while not going anywhere.
“If you work really really hard, you will make it.” No, you won’t.
I mean, hard work can be great, sure. But hard work alone doesn’t get you far. Because hard work doesn't aim up. I doesn’t improve. It just does more of the same.
Smart work, on the other hand, starts from a different premise. Truly smart work starts with asking if there’s a way to do things better. Not to just do more. To do better.
One thing many young people don’t understand is that promotions aren’t a reward for hard work. They’re a result of smart work. Work that shows you’re capable of solving problems at the next level.
Promotions aren’t about proving you're excellent at what you're doing now; they’re about showing you can handle what comes next.
Read that again.
I personally started climbing only when I identified which problems were genuinely more important than others, how to organize my week effectively, whom I should collaborate with. It was only after realizing that the focus should be on producing effective outcomes, rather than the number of hours spent, that I made significant progress towards assuming more responsibility (and cashing in for it).
Hard work beats laziness, sure. But hard work alone is the easy way out when facing challenges. Promotions aren't about effort; they're about results. Results that prove you're up for the next level, not just this one.
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