THE REWARD FOR HARD WORK IS MORE WORK.

Hmmm… Most times I’m been puzzled by the saying “The reward for hard work is more work” How? This can be viewed from two intriguing perspectives as I giggle while writing. The reward for hard work is more work, so what kind of more work it is?        

Starting with Hard work, what does hard work mean? Is it working hard, the hard way, or working hard, the smart way? Every task to be executed requires a well-thought-out proper due diligence and planning that will develop a step-by-step process for executing the job. This will make the project execution easy and straight to the point and not waste valuable time and resources that could be invested for other good reasons. When there is no proper planning for the execution of a job, the process may result in the ineffective and efficient management of other resources like time, money, manpower, and others.

Taking it from the above instance, working hard the hard way could mean not giving in better planning into your work or deliverables properly before going into execution and this could mean a lot like meeting with lots of obstacles while executing that will result in unnecessary interference, truncating the easy flow of work if proper planning into the job was carried out.

This process will result into most time, repetition of a particular process more than once, or trying out of various available choices at the execution stage to achieve a better result which may take more time than required as against carefully studying and planning before the executive to eliminate error and waste of time yet getting the best result from the process. When a process is taken from this point, obviously the result for the hard work would have been plenty of work with unnecessary repetition that could have been avoided and other resources preserved.

On the other hand, working hard the smart way will also mean working hard but from a well-thought-out planned process for execution which will result in delivering the job or project as planned with all its execution indices required. The proper hard work is in the planning stage where all the trial and error is done and the right process is selected that will result in the desired result for the job or project. This is referred to as working smart; all stages of the project are well planned out, executed, and delivered as planned. This will eliminate repetitions and errors and thus save scarce resources.

Each of the above has worked hard put in, but the work is from a different angle. The first will have more work to correct the wrong process followed but the other work will come as a commendation and recommendation for more in terms of promotions, more contracts, and more challenging tasks with great rewards.

All of the above can be viewed from a positive and negative “More work” is about the effectiveness and efficiency in service or production flow with regards to the expected output as compared to the input into the process and the process improvement perspective in our deliverables. The way you carry out your task will result in the eventual result you get, which will determine the overall assessment, commendation, and recommendation from the supervisor.

So, the next time you hear “The reward for hard work is more work”, quickly check the kind of more work you are getting, it is more work for hard or more work for smart work?