Quotes of the Day - Working Hard vs. Working Smart
I saw this interesting story from the book You Gotta Got In the Game to Win by Billy Cox
and I thought it was very interesting to share:
“One day, a professor was teaching a class about time management. The professor set a one-gallon glass jar on the table and filled it up with rocks. He asked the class, “Is this jar full?” Of course, the students said, “Yes!” Then he pulled out a bag of pebbles and poured them into the jar. As he did, he shook the jar so that the pebbles sifted down through the holds between the rocks. Eventually, the pebbles reached the top. Again, he asked the class, “Is this jar full?” The students cautiously answered, “Yes.”
Next, he pulled out a bag of sand and did the same thing – pouring and shaking, until the sand reached the top of the jar. This time when he asked the class if the jar was full, he got a resounding, “No!” Finally, he pulled out a pitcher of water and poured that into the jar until the water reached the top.
Then he asked the students, “What was the point of this illustration?” One young man jumped up and said, “I know what it is: No matter how full your schedule is, if you try hard enough, you can always fit some more things into it!”
“No,” the professor said, shaking his head. “You’ve missed the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is this: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.”
In my opinion, both the student and the professor are right.
The student is right. Imagine if someone is truly determined enough to accomplish something, he or she will find time to do it. American writer Langston Hughes once said, ‘I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if you really want to go.” Remember “when there is a will, there is a way!”
Too many people make up excuses simply because they just do not want to even try. Instead, they’d rather spend more time arguing or convince themselves and others why it cannot be done. Common sense taught us that “I can’t do it” never accomplished anything; “I will try it” can sometimes accomplished wonders.
Of course, the reality is not everything is of the same nature, so mix a little bit of brainy work at your best hours with a little bit of laborious routines to give your brain a break can actually be an effective way to unwind and put off many little fires that need your attention. Edward Everett Hale, an American writer said, “If you have accomplished all that you have planned for yourself, you have not planned enough.”
However, there is certainly a limit of how hard you can try and sustain it more things than you can realistically take on your own. This is where the famous saying applies - “work hard, but work smart!”
The professor is certainly right in principle because the less important things will take up all your time, and you won’t ever be able to get the big rocks accomplished.
Experienced entrepreneurs always say that the hardest thing for a startup company is to know what not to do. There are so many opportunities and low-hanging fruit things an entrepreneur can pursuit, but the reality is that unless they help advance the dream and goals, these activities won’t matter to the ultimate success of the enterprise. Quite contrary, they bog down most of your energy so there is little left to do the truly core thing. Therefore, you must always remain focus on your dreams and goals.
The best way to solve the dilemma, of course, is to delegate to someone else. However, this is not always economically feasible, so the next best thing is to tell yourself that you really want to stay focus on things that you care to realize your dream. The old golden 80/20 rule is your best strategy – make sure you give 80 percent of your time and attention to the top 20 percent of your priorities.
We all have the same precious 24 hours each day. Time management is about self-management. As Stephen Covey wrote in his Principle-Centered Leadership,
“Most people manage their lives by crises; they are driven by external events, circumstances, and problems. Good entrepreneurs and leaders are opportunity-minded. They don’t deny or ignore problems, but they try to prevent them from reaching this level of concern through careful analysis into the nature of the problems and through long-range planning. We must discipline ourselves to do as we planned.”
How do you choose to spend your time is really up to you! Every hour that passes is one less hour you have left to accomplish your goals and dreams. Do you really think you’re too busy to work on something remarkable or all that non-urgent emergency stuff? Maybe you should make sure you give a good mix of your rock, pebble, sand and water to live a full life.
