If you are employed, self-employed or in business, then you must have heard of the concept of ‘Working Smart’. It’s a new principle that has been proved to bring results better than the traditional approaches where people believed that to succeed you must work very hard. But for sure, if working hard was the only condition for success, then slaves would be the most successful. 

To work smart means putting in place mechanisms by which you can accomplish tasks faster, better and more effectively. It calls for creativity. We have to beat time for it’s never on our side; the clock is always racing against us and thus every minute counts. Creatively utilise every minute we put to work to achieve maximum results. 

To work smart means applying wisdom and innovation in work to achieve better results than other people doing the same work, putting in the same amount of time and using similar resources. In that case, only one resource–the mind–is making the difference, separating victors from victims. 

Working smart requires that you do a job of your passion. If you are doing sales for just a pay, you won’t achieve like one doing it because they love it. The same applies to business, music, sports and so on. Choose work that corresponds with your natural talents and passions so that every minute spent on it is enjoyable. That way, you will be able to think about it so much that you end up figuring out how to do it better, faster and easier. 

To work smart, you should never to use the power of leverage. Always remember that you can’t do everything alone. Learn to delegate so that other people can help you achieve your goal. If you are good at manufacturing but aren’t good at marketing your products, get other people who can sell and then you pay them a commission. That way, you will be able to maximise sales and get time to concentrate on production – which you do well. There, you will be leveraging labour. Don’t forget to leverage technology by using tools such as Internet, computers, software, telephone, and the like, to become more effective. 

Thirdly, always bring a new idea to your work periodically. The market changes daily and so if you are not improving your goods or services you have competitors acting like Jack Bauer to push you out of the market. Beat them by doing something new that they aren’t doing. 

For those employed, if you do not work smart, you might remain stagnant at the same level. Always bring in new ideas; they are magical. Innovation can earn you a promotion or salary increment. If you haven’t come up with any new idea that solved a problem, your employer will keep just increasing your salary at the very pace inflation is taking and he will never get scared of losing you. Make yourself indispensable.  

Bake is the managing director of World of Inspiration  / +256-704666851 (Kampala)