Comments on: The only alternative is to work harder

By: rahul

rahul — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:53:27 +0000

Follow this rule Mr. Paras :-

1. Hard Work resulting in completion of a work at hand neatly and successfully results in internal satisfaction and hapiness .

2. Smart Work to hone/sharpen your talent/remove weaknesses and showcase to the world , sooner or later world will take notice at you as to why you are so happy with your work .( which the carpenter doesnt dare to think about becuase of background /uneducation )

3. Cheat Work ( never get into this business but be aware that 99% of your competition can get into cheat work )

4. Last but not the least – Work Hard ..enjoy life even harder .

By: Hari

Hari — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:01:51 +0000

Work as much as you are paid to.

Never work over office hours for free, otherwise you devalue yourself and then it creates a negative impression should you ever want to have a life or kids and want to cut back your hours to normal office hours.

If you are paid for every single hour, then it’s up to your boss to justify the extra cost if they want you to work longer hours outside of 9-5.

Don’t work too hard though, otherwise you will burn out.

Longevity comes with sustainable moderately paced working, not giving yourself a heart attack at 35.

Lastly, with regards to IT which I work in, it’s a waste of time to deal with middle to lower layers much when higher level people are so much faster. Companies are now starting to realize that having a team of 6, 4 of which are only 2nd line is a total waste of time and money, when you could have a team of 4 superstars for the same money that can all work faster and get more done in the same time.

This causes IT to be an ever more closed off ecosystem to new entry as it simply isn’t worth most companys’ time or money to deal with lower to middle level IT folks and have to deal with skills/productivity/churn and upskilling and all sorts of problems associated to it. I actually had yet another experience of this with an ISP I dealt with recently that offered me a job.

By: Sanjeev Kumar Dangi

Sanjeev Kumar Dangi — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:38:15 +0000

love it man……Absolutely…..

By: satpal

satpal — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:55:13 +0000

IMHO there are means and ends. Real challenge in life is to distinguish btn them. ‘handwork’ is tool , a mean.Each situation or problem need different tool at different stage of development sometime u need ‘creativity’ to come up with with non existing solution, sometime u need sheer intelligence to connects the dots, sometimes its question of persistence.Like wise there exist other many ways as suggested my other commenter. The well being of doer lie in selection of right end and right tools in reaching to that end.

In your case carpenter will be lead even better life if can select and work in area more rewarding and less competitive.If ‘leading a better life is goal’ then why get fixated to carpentering …why not exotic art designer or collector….

BTW here is what Caterina of flicker fame has to say on this subject : http://www.caterina.net/archive/001196.html

By: Vikash

Vikash — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 08:09:23 +0000

Well said Paras.
Carpenter can do a much better life with some innovation along with the hard work that he is doing.

By: Edward

Edward — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:27:02 +0000

“Your competitior or neighbour might be advantaged in all respects but you can compensate all that just by working harder.”

If you are doing something where lots of other people can do it better than you, instead of working harder, find something different where you have an advantage over everybody else. Alternatively, figure out what you can do (or learn) so that you have the advantage, not your competitor.

By: Work Less, Get More Done: Analytics For Maximizing Productivity: MicroISV on a Shoestring

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:42:39 +0000

[...] I have been kicking around for a while, but it was thrown into sharp relief by a blog post entitled The Only Alternative Is To Work Harder, by a gentleman named Paras Chapra over at Wingify. Paras and I have corresponded over email a [...]

By: Matthew Smallwood

Matthew Smallwood — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 20:50:49 +0000

I completely agree that strategy is as important as hard work, but I feel like the example of the carpenter is a little confusing because the post says that hard work is the only controllable factor in success, not being well off. There is an important distinction, as you no doubt realize, between being successful and being well off. I don’t mean to sound nitpicky; you make a very good point! And, I like your comments on hacking luck. We’re humans, dang it! and we can hack whatever we want

Regarding optimism, I think that having a positive attitude makes you more likely to see opportunities and take action on them. Generally when I’m all bummed out and negative I take an “it’s not worth it” approach and don’t bother with things that might otherwise have been awesome. Of course, as you mention Paras, you can be blinded by an optimism that borders on fanatic.

Maybe I am nitpicking… definition is important, though, right? Anyway, I just found your blog today and I’ve been enjoying it, so I guess I was really just looking for an excuse to comment! Thanks for some good reading!

By: Jesse

Jesse — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:28:33 +0000

Fair enough, but I work in a Market, not a neighborhood.

By: Damir

Damir — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:22:17 +0000

I’d say you are mistaken. The best way to get ahead is to work smarter, not harder. Just working hard will not get you far, sadly…