Hard work equals success.
Have you heard that story before?
I carried that narrative with me for a long time… but it comes with a few strings attached.
You see… hard work is paired with long hours, massive mental and physical exertion, and plenty of compromises. Hard work is tiring, and eventually, it takes its toll on us.
And when it’s directly tied to success… hard work is relentless because it’s baked in expectation and the feeling that you’ve never quite done enough.
But since we believe it’ll lead us to success… we push through anyway.
Are you with me?
The truth is, there are as many hard-working people at the top as there are at the bottom.
So when one hard-working person excels in business, what’s the difference?
Well… it starts with one critical question:
“Is my effort (output) actually moving the needle in my business right now?”
Productivity, by definition, is about increasing output. It’s where you challenge yourself to launch a podcast, produce content for 5 different social media platforms, 3 mini-courses, 2 masterminds, 4 online courses – in between seeing 25 one-to-one clients.
In this scenario you’re busy, but are you efficient?
Efficiency, by contrast, is where you decide on a single, focused strategy, outsource as much as possible as quickly as possible, and hone in on your zone of genius.
It’s where you channel your effort into simplifying, automating and systemising your business.
It creates a much more empowering story – where you work hard to create smart systems so that your business works for you. Not the other way around.
In this new world… smart work equals success.
See the difference?
Let me know if this resonated with you in the comments below.
