1. Establish Competence For Yourself…

”Work smarter, not harder” makes sense at first glance — but in elite professional environments, it’s a rather reductive and presumptuous approach.

The phrase can carry the implication that others aren’t working smart or that they aren’t capable of working smart. But in high-performing teams, where stakes are real and decisions have impact, most people are smart. Most are optimizers. And that means “working smart” will only take you so far before everyone’s doing the same. After that, the only edge left is consistent, high-quality production — what we generalize as hard work.