Myth #3: Work Smarter, not Harder
Updated: Jul 30, 2021
While working smarter, not harder sounds well...smarter, this adage does harm for young adults. It creates a false dichotomy.
Schrodinger's Cat reminds us of superposition; the cat is BOTH dead and alive.
Similarly, young adults must BOTH work smarter and harder.
New techniques such as scrum, kanban, design sprints ...
and tools for working smarter such as Slack, Google Drive, machine learning are common, affordable and easily adopted around the world...
Thus, techniques and tools do not confer a lasting advantage. So young adults must work harder to stay competitive with their peers from Bucharest to Bangalore, Tallin to Taipei, Yerevan to Yokohama.
Better Way
Ask young adults, "what is the smartest way to do this task?"
Ask young adults, "what techniques and tools are available to make this task easier?"
Ask young adults, "what would working both harder and smarter on this task look like?"
New Words
Instead of accepting a young adult's excuse that they are "working smarter, not harder", demand that they do both.
Work Smarter Harder