How Hard Do You Work? Part 1

We have all been encouraged to "work hard." Yet this popular strategy for achieving success may cause more problems than it fixes.

Here's why: Your work intensity follows a bell curve.

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Certainly, your goal is to optimize your performance so that you can maximize your results. And you achieve this by working neither too hard nor too little.

I realize this may be counter to what many leaders are urging their staff to do. It may also be counter to the routine you have put yourself on.

Hard work can produce less because of:

1) Fatigue.

Your body and mind wear out. As a result, their ability to perform declines. In turn, you become less creative, less agile, and less effective. Then it actually takes longer (with more effort) to achieve the results you were able to obtain when you were rested.

2) Excess.

Working hard often pushes people into shortcuts, omissions, and mistakes. All of these cause damage, which reduces efficiency. Then additional effort must be spent dealing with consequences, apologies, and repairs.

3) Rejection.

Extreme hard work quickly becomes bizarre. People move so fast, push so hard, and demand so much that they scare others. As a result, those who could help, now avoid the person who now seems to be a threat. Then the hard working individual becomes an Effort of One. While this may seem heroic, it's useless. Every success comes from a team effort.

This brings us to a dilemma: Sometimes we must work hard. For example, we may uncover an opportunity or we may encounter an emergency. Then working hard is the only appropriate response.

In such cases, the key is to work hard strategically.

I'll offer ideas on how to do that tomorrow.

Key Point: Working too hard can be as destructive as being lazy.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

PS: My workshop on Time Management shows how to work smart.