Trying too hard?

It must be the industry we are in, which forces you to work all the time. There are so many changing aspects and if you miss a single boat, you are back tracked. You lose time, you lose the edge, you lose the concept that might have helped elevate you and your company or maybe, you are trying too hard?

When do you know you are trying too hard and need to start working smarter? I posed this question to a few 'exceling heads' and this is what they had to say:

• Kojo Baffoe (@kojobaffoe), entrepreneur, blogger and editor of Destiny Man: "I don't see it as either/or. Too many people equate working smart with not working hard."
  
• Vusi Thembekwayo (@vusispeaker), the rock star of public speaking and a successful businessman: "For some people there is no such thing as working smart...working smart is a lie created by lazy people." Vusi's advice: "Don't get distracted. Stay low. Work hard."
  
• Mbali Ndandani (@mbalindandani), communications consultant at McDonalds South Africa: "Working smart is doing the few things that will give you 80% impact. Being "swamped" comes from not truly understanding what the most important levers are and we all should know that the things that are the most urgent, aren't necessarily the most impactful and important."

As a young'un in the industry I have seen a lot of hard workers and I am not sure we are all designed for that. We need to start being smarter in our ways and the directions we take in doing things.

By dedicating all our time in 'our job' and doing it so well, when do we make the time to innovate and notice the gaps in our industry? Three of the people I tend to look up to the most have shared their opinion. What are your thoughts?