Work Hard is not Hard Work

A good manager or leader is one that makes people work hard, not make people's work hard.  Working hard is indeed a virtue, but in today's world of smartphones and smartness, many equate working hard to be not working smart.  This mistaken belief arises because most people treat work as drudgery and an necessary evil. 

If you treat work as enjoyment and play, you would work hard because working is playing.  Understand that working hard is actually diligence, but it is not blind diligence, which is simply being a workaholic and work hard until work becomes very hard.  Those who know will tell you that if you really work hard, work is not hard at all but very easy.  Those that find work hard are those that are not working hard enough to find the joy in their work.

There are 7 situations that you too can work hard and yet have an joyous time:

1. You work on your Passions, whereby every working minute is actually passionate and full of positive emotions.  Like I do training almost every day, yet I find training to be fun and not hard work at all, because my passion is to share.
2. You work smart, which simply means Systematized Methods that Add Real Takings, that is, you are efficient and effective, making good money along the way. 
3. You work on your calling, which is an inner sense of responsibility that makes you just want to do it.  This calling is more than your passion, it is an extension of you. 
4. You enjoy working with people, which is what working is about.  If you love people and like to help people, working with people is a joy.  You can go to great lengths and deal with all kinds of people without getting negative feelings.
5. You are Adding Value in your work, and as a result you are making good money in your work.  In this case you will want to earn more and thus work hard, right?
6. You are Getting into the Flow of things, where time passes without you realizing.  People in the flow find that work is effortless, because it is so smooth and totally in line with your inner being.
7. You Have a Strong Sense of Purpose, where you will get limitless energy and able to go on when everyone quits.  A strong sense of purpose is what keeps people awake, and it will make your work purposeful, and you will just go on working without having mental fatigue.  Work is not hard at all but very meaningful. 

If you do not have any of the above 7 situations or experience, work will continue to drain you.  Know that if you will find work hard, it is hard for you to work hard.  For people that are enjoying their work, they will want to prolong their enjoyment, thus they will work hard and find work not hard at all.  

By Andy Ng of Asia Trainers, details of courses at here. Our other articles on work include:

1. The latest buzzword in sales: Enchantment
2. Newest Management Technique: Transformational Leadership
3. How to Work Much Less and Earn Much More in 7 Ways
4. 5 Cs Way to Increase Your Work Satisfaction this year
5. Ask What Your Company Can Give to You at Work
6. So important yet they never tell you
7. Secret to Happiness at work has nothing to do with money
8. Seeing your work as Changing and Touching People's Lives
9. Today's 5 Lessons for the Workplace Warrior
10. Read this before you delegate your work