There’s Nothing Wrong with Hard Work

Ecclesiastes 10:10

If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct.

Years ago, I was helping my dad at our church plant grass. Before we planted the grass, someone needed to break up the ground with a rototiller. There was a man in our church who had his own construction business and knew how to work landscaping tools well. He started to break up the ground with the rototiller, and then handed it off to me. He watched me work with that rototiller for about five minutes and stopped me. He said to me, you can either let the rototiller work you, or you can work the rototiller. He was not teaching me not to work hard, but to work hard hard by allowing the tiller to do the work. Solomon was making this type of a statement in the verse above. He was saying you can swing the axe with a blunt edge and have to work harder, or you can sharpen the edge and let the axe do the work as you work hard. He was saying it is better to be wise and work hard, than to work hard without accomplishments.

People often say, ”Work smarter, not harder.” I believe the Scriptural way is to work smarter and harder. Let me explain: there are people who work hard, but they don't work smart, and they are busy all day, but they don't accomplish much. Just because you fill your day being busy does not mean that you have worked. Working is accomplishing tasks. If at the end of the day you have not been able to check the box that you finished a task, you may have filled your day with busyness, but you have not worked. Every day must be filled with work.

Being smarter when you work will help you to accomplish much more with less effort. You can swing the axe with a dull axe head and get little done, or you can swing the axe with a sharpened head and get more work done with less effort. You can spend your day jumping from one task to another, or you can work smarter by starting and finishing a task one task at a time. You can spend your day trying to figure out what you need to do next, or you can live by schedule and let the schedule dictate what to do next so you can accomplish more. There are many things you can do to work smarter. Instead of letting days waste away by not learning how to work smarter, it would be better to learn how to work smarter and get more work done in the time allotted.

Furthermore, it is best to work smarter and harder. Imagine how much more could get done if you used the same amount of energy you used with the dull axe head with a sharpened axe head. We don't work smarter to be lazy, we work smarter to get more things done. You may not be as talented as others, but you can always outwork the talented, which will always take you further than talent will ever take you. Most talented people rely on their talent and don't work hard, but the person who works smarter and harder than the talented will always rise above the talented. It is not he who is the most talented who rises to the top, but it is he who works the smartest and the hardest that rises to the top.

My friend, life is short, and if you will make the most out of your life, you need to be a person who works smarter and harder. Outwork everyone, and you will rise above those who are stronger and more talented than you. Work always rewards the one who works the hardest, the longest, and the smartest.