“Smart work is hard work. Overworking is easy. The hardest thing about smart work, is understanding where my attention needs me.”

This is my “mantra” about work. It’s a guide to help me unlearn the inherited belief that I must work twice as hard, and beyond exhaustion, to gain any level of notable success in the world. It helps me distance myself from the romanticized idea that hard work alone will produce the results I desire, and reminds me that the best use of me will always harvest the most value.

Hard work, as perceived most dominantly within our culture, only accounts for endurance. Smart work accounts for the best use of our time, energy and talents– And in a world where everyone is busy at work, that’s a hard thing to do.