Living For Improvement

An idea I want to explore today is the nature of working smarter versus working harder to achieve progress in your career. More often than not, if a recent graduate asks how she can advance up the corporate ladder in a company, she will be told to work harder and/or work longer hours to show her dedication to the company and her desire to succeed. She might shorten her lunch break a bit, stay a little longer after everyone else leaves, etc. While this approach can and will work if you have a management team that notices and rewards such behavior, there is a diminishing marginal return to the mantra of “work harder to get ahead.” A pictorial demonstration of the concept of diminishing marginal return can be seen below