Hard Workers vs Smart Workers

Are you a hard worker or a smart worker?

Most of us know a few people who work long hours, who don't seem to have a life outside of work. It is fairly easy to see if a person is at his/her desk for 8 hours or 12 hours or 16 hours of the day. However, unless you are a very close teammate or the person's immediate supervisor, it is almost impossible to know what the person is actually getting accomplished in all those hours.

Is the person who is spending long hours at the desk, actually working hard or hardly working? Is s/he actually getting more stuff done in those extra hours? Or is s/he simply taking longer time to do something, which could be done in a much lesser time by a smarter person? In short, is he just a hard worker or a smart worker? There is a simple way to answer this question.

Before we go further, a disclaimer: What is written below is a generic statement which is applicable for a majority of people. As always, there are definitely unique individuals and special circumstances which are exceptions to the observations below.

I have often seen that people who are smart and organized in one aspect of life, are also smart and organized in other aspects of life. Similarly, the people who are not smart or are disorganized in one aspect of life, exhibit the same qualities in other aspects of life as well.

Note that when I say "smart", I am not talking about a person's knowledge. It is not possible for anyone to be experts in all aspects of life. When I say "smart", I mean the ability to quickly learn new stuff, the ability to apply the learnings in making useful choices or educated guesses, and equally important, the ability to recognize what one knows, what one doesn't know, and where to look for additional information/knowledge.

If a person exhibits one or more of the following qualities in personal life or in non-work aspects of life, it is a good bet that s/he is not a smart worker on the job, regardless of how much time s/he spends at the desk:

1. Flaky - Does not deliver on commitments; doesn't live upto expectations s/he has set explicitly or implicitly; is not dependable; is not punctual.

2. Sloppy - Disorganized with space and time; unclean person and surroundings; not able to find/remember things; forgets things, especially commitments.

3. Indecisive - Does not make an assertive choice or statement; is easily swayed/persuaded by others; takes a non-committal approach/attitude in negotiations or discussions.

4. Dumb - Is just dumb; no explanation required.