The point everyone misses about working smarter instead of harder

petershallard.com

24 points·tacon··5 comments

Working smart is letting someone else take the risks and work less. If you're taking risks or working more something is broken.

Sipping cold water in the garden with my feet in an inflatable swimming pool and my face in a book sending the odd email while my hordes of scripts do the legwork is working smart :-)

Except the author is missing the point that taking bigger, braver risks (in a global sense) isn't so risky (in a local sense) when your circumstances provide a much deeper cushion.

Bill Gates had a $1mm trust fund in case Microsoft didn't work out.

Warren Buffett already had millions under management before he purchased GEICO.

Richard Branson's grandfather was the English equivalent of a high-ranking Circuit Court Justice.

In other words, all 3 had very soft landings to fall to in the event of a total meltdown of their "risky" endeavors.

I think what he is saying is that the "smart" and "successful" folks take risks. Now it might be less risky to them because of a safety net but that doesn't preclude others from also taking risks.

Interesting take. Though I wonder what you'll tell people who say that you have to work smarter and harder to achieve success.

Work smart, and hard. Then you'll beat both of the other types.

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