hard work vs real work

Being busy does not equal being productive. You may be the busiest person in the room but that doesn’t mean that you are the most productive as well. We all think busyness is a virtue and something noble, but it’s not. In fact, it may be hurting your work as well as your life. 

It’s not about how many hours we spend at work, but about what we put in the hours that we spend there. There’s no reward for spending the most hours at work; rewards only come when we deliver results. As Jeff Olson points out, “Being productive and being busy are not necessarily the same thing. Doing things won’t create your success; doing the right things will.”

Instead of focusing on hard work, we need to focus on real work. We need to get ourselves re-aligned on the three Ws:

1. What work are we doing?
2. Why are we doing it?
3. Where will it take us when we accomplish it?

Unless we have a good answer, we are not doing real work, and it’s wise to stop and find something better for us.