For every entrepreneur out there, it is common knowledge that in order to achieve something, you must work your ass off! Of course, this could be said more softly, but it wouldn’t get across the image of how much work your dreams really require. Any “entrepreneur” that tells you that you can make big money without much work is lying to you.

That being said, people often get caught up in the idea that if they work hard enough or long enough, they will become successful. I also used to think this way, and unfortunately, it’s not true, at least not entirely. Why? Because there exists the principle of working hard vs working smart.

Working Hard vs Working Smart

Working hard

When I just began my online business, I worked extremely hard all of the time. I never went out, I hardly met my friends, and I didn’t even speak much with my parents. There simply wasn’t any time to communicate. I did enjoy working, but the fact is that it ate up a 100% of my time.

The reason why I was working so much was because there was a learning curve to everything that I did. I did many new things, all of which were either new to me, or I knew very little about. I was making loads of mistakes, and then I was correcting them. Stressful? Sure it was. Exciting? Hell yeah!

For some of you, this post might seem a little discouraging or even depressing, but I assure you, making you afraid of entrepreneurship is not my goal. As a matter of fact, I love working, I love having a passion and I love doing work related to my passion. That is what brings genuine fulfillment into my life. Besides, once the learning curve stage is over, that’s where the working smart takes over.

Working smart

Even though I have learned the basics of what I was doing, I wasn’t spending any less time on it. It was sort of an addiction by then. I had to constantly do something, and if I didn’t, I felt guilty. Strange, isn’t it?

This is where I began to come across more often the principle of working hard vs working smart. I’ve read in multiple books about it and kept hearing it from some of the most successful entrepreneurs. And although on some level I understood the working hard vs working smart idea, I couldn’t really put it into practice. How can I make progress, yet do less work than I am already doing now? I have so much work to do!!!

However, carefully analyzing the details of what I was doing on a weekly and daily basis, I began to find a lot of areas that needed improvement. I noticed how I spent a lot of time on tasks that don’t really need that much effort anymore. They did require a lot of work ten months ago, but not anymore.

I also noticed how much of my work was just empty. For example, I would research what product to sell next on Amazon, but in reality, I was just browsing the catalog, fascinated by some of the products that are already being sold.

Finally, I hate to say it, but too much of my work time ended up with me sitting on Facebook. I have always been a big advocate of not using social networks when working, yet I constantly made the mistake myself. Sad, but true.

How to overcome working hard

The reason why the principle working hard vs working smart exists is because we don’t actually need to work hard all of the time in order to be successful. Like I said in the beginning, there are stages when it’s important to do it, such as when you are just starting a new business, but you don’t necessarily need to continue that way forever. And if you are anything like me, then there is always the danger that you will be addicted to just doing “something”, which has nothing to do with real productive work.

1. Look at your KPIs

Your KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, are those things that take you and your business closer to being more successful. Everything else is secondary and just keeps you afloat.

If you take my Amazon FBA business as an example, then my KPIs are product research and the creation of product listings that sell.

Checking my sales statistics is something that I can also do every day if I wanted to, but I don’t, because it is a waste of time. It does not directly grow my business, which makes it less important than researching for new products to sell.

Now identify your own KPIs and try to spend more time perfecting them.

2. Set times and goals

If you don’t set goals and time limits, you will quickly find yourself all over the place. We need structure in life to remain focused.

Concerning goals, set weekly and daily goals. Every day have at least two-three important tasks that you need to accomplish. You can also have another couple of less important tasks to do.

Concerning time, set a timer for yourself when you work. Use the Pomodoro approach. Work for around 50 minutes, and then have a five to ten-minute rest. Rinse and repeat. This is the best way to focus on work and to remain in the flow state.

3. Invest in apps

There are plenty of apps and services that can make your life easier. Sure, it doesn’t always feel good to pay for something that you can do yourself, but sometimes it makes sense. Not only you will save time, but you will also empty your mind of the unnecessary thoughts related to daily monotonous tasks that take up so much time. As a result, you will create more space for creativity, which is something you and your business so desperately need.

Many helpful apps and services can be found on my resources page.

4. Invest in a VA

VA, or a Virtual Assistant, is something that every online business must have at some point. VAs are very affordable, yet extremely helpful when it comes to growing your business.

For example, if you have an Amazon business, they can do the client VAT invoicing for you. If you have a website, they can take care of your social media management.

VAs are what allow you to really focus on your KPIs.

You can find plenty of skillful freelancers and VAs on Fiverr, Freelancer and Upwork.

5. Eat that frog

As Mark Twain once said, eat that frog first thing in the morning. The frog here is your most challenging and/or most important task. Once you’ve done that, the rest will be a piece of cake.

Don’t leave what requires a lot of thought until late in the evening when you are most tired. Use the time when your brain is fresh and working to the maximum capacity. This is truly what it means to pick the right option in the working hard vs working smart battle.

Finally, always avoid doing tasks partially. If you know you can’t complete it now, don’t even start. Do something else while you have the time. In my case, if I know I cannot answer all of my emails right at this moment, I won’t even read them. This way I make sure I don’t spend any time being distracted by something that I cannot take care of immediately.

Hopefully, you found this working hard vs working smart post useful. If you have anything to ask or to add, feel free to do so in the comment section below.

Thank you for stopping by and good luck!

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