People always like to claim they work hard but they rarely work smart. Let’s assume that they work hard since some people are delusional when it comes to this matter. There’s a big matter between being busy and working hard. I used to be all about hard work in the past but now I’m all for smart work. Well, I’m all for smart hard work. So many people are working all the time, which must be exhausting, to be honest. You’ll be fucking exhausted if you never take a break. Fun fact about this blog: this blog was written on a Monday (19/02) and released on a Saturday (24/02). The blogs for all the other days were already set up. The best part about this all was that I was able to relax during the weekend and still be productive.
I don’t want to be the guy that’s working all the time. I can’t imagine that anybody wants to be like that. That’s just no way of living!
Smart work beats hard work every single time.
There’s a great quote that I heard recently which I like:
It’s true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance? Ronald Reagan
People often work hard but towards what? They don’t have a goal. They only have dreams but dreams without a date attached to them will remain dreams. This is eventually the path to disappointment because you don’t seem to be able to make those dreams come true. Well duh, you’re not working to get it. I’ve never met a successful person who got successful by dreaming about it.
So set a date for it and start working hard and smart. Working hard but also really smart is what successful people do. Because people assume that you’ll be successful if you do more but that’s not always the case. Working hard and getting a lot done is where the difference is. You’re doing something wrong if you work all the time without making any progress. You can run in circles all you want but that won’t get you anywhere.
I didn’t know smart work when I started.
I still remember when I started this blog and the same thing happened to MMA. So I figured that the more I did the better. I’ve had days where I trained 5 hours. The most blogs that I’ve ever written on a single day were 5. I was constantly training or blogging. Well, or reading of course. There was a point where I got up at 5 in the morning just to drill on the heavy bag (strength and conditioning were done as well on other days), go to work, come home and nap and then head to the gym and blog after that. That was crazy if I look back at it. I had a lot of injuries back then and that shouldn’t be a surprise. That was pure overtraining.
Sacrificing sleep isn’t healthy if you’re doing sports.
How I trained until everybody went home in Stockholm.
So I trained MMA in Stockholm and I decided to train until I had to catch my flight. This was a 3-hour training session which consisted of 1-hour conditioning and 2 hours drilling on my own after the 1-hour session. I wasn’t the only one who did it. But most of them left pretty quickly. All but one. I had noticed that he just wanted to outwork me. He lasted for an hour and quit. So I guess that he was disappointed and couldn’t wrap his head around it. He watched how I trained for another hour.
I drilled footwork for 2 hours in a row. After that, I went back to Belgium. You see you can do a lot but I’m the last one who leaves the gym and I’m not going to change that approach. He focused on outworking me but I focused on getting better and that’s why I lasted.
Was it that smart?
This was really hard work but it was far from smart work. I was a little bit overtrained after a little more than a year. Then I decided to change the approach and make sure that I did smart work instead of just killing myself. The results speak for themselves since I’m progressing faster than ever. My secret isn’t hard work. My secret is that I’m able to rest. Well, I force myself to rest and that’s when I make the most progress. Resting is harder than training or blogging, to be honest.
I also focus on one task at hand so I’m not talking to people on Facebook when I blog. I don’t text or give in to other distractions. That’s what most people don’t do so they spend a lot more time on a task that they have too. The result is pretty simple. They live a busy chaotic lifestyle. I never feel busy. Must be me I guess.
Take notes, kids, because smart work beats hard work every single day of the week.
In conclusion: smart work is the key.
Chasing a goal is like preparing for a marathon. You didn’t work smart if you never reach the finish line. Just think about it.
Our society won’t approve this approach
We’re living in a society where people constantly push themselves way beyond what’s healthy. People consume tons of caffeine instead of getting some quality sleep. There are tons of examples like this. People sacrifice their overall health to get more done but it comes with a price. You can’t pop pills and pay the pills for a very long time.
An overtrained/injured athlete can’t compete and a burned-out CEO can’t run a company. I learned this lesson right in time but somebody else had to tell me this. He told me these exact words: “dude you’re already training and working hard. It’s okay to relax. You still need your body for quite some years.” That’s what flipped the switch. He was right you know.
I turned hard work into smart work and my progress just doubled.
You’re doing it wrong if you’re feeling a little bit burned out. So tell me how much progress have you made towards your goals so far?
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Till next time
Alex
