Kia ora,

This week’s issue comes live from the high horse I’m riding after doing a half marathon on the weekend.

While I’m aware that enjoying running puts me into the top 2% of the most annoying people globally, there is a good story below on what running taught me about working smarter, not harder.

Happy reading and thank you for dedicating your time to this particular slice of the internet!

Estimated Read time: 5 minutes 51 seconds

The Deep Dive: Does Working Smarter Not Harder Actually Work?

I've hustled practically since exiting the womb.

In high school, I had extra-curriculars coming out my ears.

In uni, I took 5 papers per semester and worked six jobs.

Last year, I maintained my 10 agency clients on top of a full time corporate contract and buying a house.

Working hard has done a lot for my fitness, health, career and financial position.

But after 28 years of max effort (and a few minor burn-outs along the way), I'm ready for change.

I've always loved the concept of working smarter not harder, but I've found it hard to believe it would actually work.

But last weekend, I was given a stellar example of working smarter not harder in action…

I ran my first half marathon in 2018 in a pretty quick time of 1:54:56. I trained for it for months and thrashed myself on almost every training run. 🥵

For a variety of reasons, I only got back into running at the end of last year by signing up to a Half Marathon in Feb.

This time I resisted the urge to make every run as hard as possible and leaned into following a plan with a mix of slow runs, short fast runs and long runs.

With only two months of prep and a slower average training pace than 2018, I was expecting to run the half marathon in 2:15-2:20ish.

To my surprise, on race day last week, I completed the race in 1:59:56! 🏃‍♀️

Only 5 mins slower than my 2018 result.

Not only that, but I had so much fun that I went to café immediately afterwards and signed up for a full marathon in May!

This was such a potent reminder that blindly working as hard as possible isn't necessarily the smartest way to achieve a good result.

Here are the mistakes I've made which keep me working harder, not smarter: 🚫

1. Not delegating ✋ 

   I spoke about the art of delegation last week, but I will reiterate some of the mindset traps that have kept me from delegating:

   • “It'll take too long to delegate”

   • “It'll be more profitable for me to do XYZ small thing myself rather than delegate”

   • “People might think I'm slacking if I delegate”

   • “I'm being lazy if I 'delegate' this task to AI”

   Delegating tasks which other people CAN do allows you to do the things that ONLY you can do.

   Focussing on the things that ONLY you can do will make a bigger difference in making your business more profitable/making you more successful and effective in your role.

   Similarly, there is no badge of honour for doing a repetitive task that AI could do for you in a fraction of the time.

   Learning to leverage AI to speed up my thinking for everything from helping to formulate a response to emails, to putting certain information into spreadsheets for me has been a big unlock.

2. Feeling anxious when I'm not at 100% capacity and signing up for a billion more tasks/work 😰 

I'm so used to being stretched that the second I'm not running on adrenaline, I feel like I'm slacking or lazy. So then I go and sign myself up for a bunch more commitments, only to hit extreme exhaustion down the track.

Working smarter not harder requires you to not be operating at 100% capacity (especially with work-related tasks):

8-10% of your total capacity is already taken up with fulfilling basic needs such as eating food, sleeping, and life admin. Basic survival is not exactly self care (i.e. nobody's cup is full after emptying the dishwasher or eating toast), so if you want to feel great, you also need to leave capacity for loved ones, exercise, and joy.

And then, as with anything, you need to leave a buffer for resilience for the unplanned and for mishaps, and room for spontaneity and for creativity.

3. Majoring on Minors 🔍

Not everything has to be done to your exact standards, and some things are really not a big deal.

For example:

1. Working smarter is accepting help from someone without needing to control the process e.g. not getting worked up when your partner does the incorrect style of carrot slicing for the stirfry (sorry babe), and not being concerned if the final result isn't how you would have done it.

2. Working smarter is adopting the "Let them" mindset.

3. Working smarter is accepting that some things are better done than perfect — choose the one or two really important things in your life that you do to a high standard, and let everything else be "good enough".

4. Feeling scared to let go 😌 

Focus is hands down the best way to work smarter, not harder.

While letting go of projects and opportunities is challenging, trying to do everything means nothing gets done well.

This year, my work focuses are: doing a great job in my fractional role and growing Business-Minded. This means that growing my agency business is not a focus area.

This was not an easy decision to make, but now that I've made it the clarity is unmatched.

Action of the Week:

Are there areas in your life where you could be working smarter?

Here are some questions to ask yourself to help you identify where you could work smarter:

Where am I currently operating at 100% capacity out of habit rather than necessity? Consider: When was the last time you felt truly refreshed, and what changed when you had that breathing room?

Which tasks am I doing myself because 'it's faster' or 'it'll be done right,' even though someone else (or AI) could handle them adequately? Think about: What unique value could you provide instead with that freed-up time?

In which areas of my life am I pursuing perfection when 'good enough' would serve the purpose? Reflect on: Are my high standards in this area truly serving my bigger goals, or are they just exhausting me?

What activities or commitments did I say 'yes' to simply because I felt uncomfortable with having free time? Consider: How might having that space back allow for more strategic thinking and creativity?

Inspo & Recommendations:

LinkedIn post: “How I save 3-5 hours per week with 2 tools” by Greg Burgoyne

Podcast ep:  “How starting a business gave us the freedom to travel as a family” by She’s On The Money.

Learning: The French Revolution: Marie Antoinette. Been enjoying having my learning not work-related! This is a good listen.

Tech: Bellroy Tech Kit. I swear this has saved me from losing/damaging so many bits & pieces while travelling and working remotely. Worth every dollar.

Money: Talk about money! Research suggests a correlation between actively discussing finances and increased wealth, primarily because it encourages financial awareness, sharing of money tips, planning, and potential investment opportunities. Say no to money taboos, say yes to talking $$$.

Love from your business-minded friend,

Elise