Are you ready to start the year with a more intelligence-based strategy?
Working smarter is all about identifying what delivers best for you and then doing the optimum needed. It’s about using the minimum amount of resources to achieve a maximum of results. In today’s post, these work harder, not smarter quotes will introduce this enlightened way of achieving your objectives.
Before we get to the quotes, let’s discuss this concept a little bit.
Why You Should Read Work Smarter, Not Harder Quotes
Working smarter instead of harder is the way to go whether we’re talking about achieving well-thought-out objectives and goals (sometimes referred to as S.M.A.R.T. goals), about a military completing its mission, or a CEO leading his company into the future.
Practically every avenue of your life including your career can benefit from working smarter and not harder. So, how do you do it?
Working smarter involves spending more time planning and strategizing rather than brute forcing your way to success.
Well-intentioned advice and statements like “work hard and you will succeed” or “just put in the hours” certainly are good and can help, but this advice misses parts of the picture.
As an individual, a collective, a business, or an organization you have only so much energy, resources, and time to get what you need to be done. Someone can spend hours churning ferociously through busy work. Whereas someone else could spend two hours devising a strategy that will pay off for the next five years.
These work smarter, not harder quotes will help develop the mental framework you need to approach your tasks intelligently. As you get better at this, you’ll find that the efforts that you’re putting in will yield better and better results.
35 Work Smarter, Not Harder Quotes for 2024
- “You can do anything, but not everything.” – David Allen
- “Focus on being productive instead of busy.” –Tim Ferriss
- “Start by doing what’s necessary, then what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” – Bruce Lee
- “Work hard, and you will earn good rewards. Work smart, and you will earn great rewards. Work hard and work smart,and you will earn extraordinary rewards.” – Matshona Dhliwayo
- “While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior.” – Henry C. Link
- “Dissatisfaction and discomfort dominate our brain’s default state, but we can use them to motivate us instead of defeat us.” – Nir Eyal
- “Workaholics aren't heroes. They don't save the day, they just use it up. The real hero is home because they figured out a faster way.” – Jason Fried
- “Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.” – Dale Carnegie
- “Work expands to fill the time allotted for it.” – Cyril Northcote Parkinson
- “It is not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?” – Henry David Thoreau
It is not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?” – Henry David Thoreau
- “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” — Stephen Covey
- “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Lost time is never found again.” – Benjamin Franklin
- “Working smart is harder than working hard. It’s just less visible, and we care too much about what others see.” – Shane Snow
- “Start with good people, lay out the rules, communicate with your employees, motivate them and reward them. If you do all those things effectively, you can’t miss.” – Lee Iacocca
- “Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things.” – Peter Drucker
- “Never mistake motion for action.”- Ernest Hemingway
- “Ordinary people think merely of spending time, great people think of using it.” – Arthur Schopenhauer
- “Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.” – Peter Drucker
- “Stressing output is the key to improving to productivity, while looking to increase activity can result in just the opposite.” – Andrew Grove
- “One must, however, not just work hard. One must work smart. As the saying goes, the efficient person gets the job done right; the effective person gets the right job done.” – Roger Delano Hinkins
- “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” – Maya Angelou
- “It’s not always that we need to do more but rather that we need to focus on less.” – Nathan W. Morris
It’s not always that we need to do more but rather that we need to focus on less.” – Nathan W. Morris
- “Those who seize the day become seriously rich.” – Richard Koch
- “Work hard but work smart. Always. Every day. Nothing is handed to you and nothing is easy. You're not owed anything… No job or task is too small or beneath you. If you want to get ahead, volunteer to do the things no one else wants to do, and do it better. Be a sponge. Be open and learn.” – Bobbi Brown
- “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.” – Steve Jobs
- “You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” – Zig Ziglar
- “I was lucky. I grew up knowing that hard work and smart work has a greater impact on results than being passionate about something.” –Mark Cuban
- “Overcoming procrastination is not – I repeat – not about cramming additional work into your day. Overcoming procrastination is about simplifying your life to make space for the activities that matter most.” – Richie Norton
- “You’ve gotta keep control of your time and you can’t unless you say no. You can’t let people set your agenda in life.” – Warren Buffett
You’ve gotta keep control of your time and you can’t unless you say no. You can’t let people set your agenda in life.” – Warren Buffett
- “My motto is to keep it simple stupid, work smart not hard.” – Joe Teti
- “Don’t count the days. Make the days count.” – Muhammad Ali
- “Work smart. Get things done. No nonsense. Move fast.” – Susan Wojcicki
- “Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
- “Reflect on what you do in a day. You may have never realized how some simple, harmless activities rob you of precious time.” – Vivek Naik
Final Thoughts on Work Smarter, Not Harder Quotes
Working smarter is all about using your time well, and focusing on the stuff that has the most impact on your success. It’s about taking time to reflect and revise instead of just mindlessly drudging on and using the time to strategize now that can pay off later.
Working smarter is all about adopting a mindset willing to change, adapt, and accept some uncertainty. To learn more about a “growth mindset” check out these 27 growth mindset examples to change your beliefs.
Finally, if you want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life, then watch this free video that details the 7-minute habit for planning your day to focus on what's truly important to you..
And if you want more motivational quotes, be sure to check out these blog posts:
- 65 Weight Loss Motivational Quotes to Never Give Up on Your Diet
- 55 Motivational Exercise Quotes to Inspire Your Next Workout
- 73 Quotes About Life to Inspire & Motivate You Throughout the Day
Thanks for reading!
Tom Smith is a creative writer with over 6 years of professional experience. He discovered the joy of writing after covering some furniture in his childhood home with graffiti. In later years, he got himself a BA in creative writing and hasn’t looked back. After discovering the power of positive thinking and discovering the spiritual side of life, he believes it's a huge privilege to be able to write about all things personal development.
