I’m not sure I agree wholly with Sam. I think working hard will get you to 70 maybe 80 percent. Getting to smart and the 80-100% requires creativity and creativity requires insight and insight requires time to reflect and analyze. If you’re working long hours, it’s hard if not possible to be able to step back and evaluate how to work smarter. You need those walks in the woods or those long showers.
Excellent article. Reminds me of what Sam Atman wrote in a blog post.
“You can get to about the 90th percentile in your field by working either smart or hard, which is still a great accomplishment. But getting to the 99th percentile requires both—you will be competing with other very talented people who will have great ideas and be willing to work a lot.”
Nice. Yes, at a certain point, there definitly needs to be a fusion. I'm normally advocating smart because I see too many people who are successfull from working hard and become industrious instead of clever (to borrow from von Hammerstein's leadership matrix)
I've been circling around a similar observation (I'll write about it soonish) that most people (I assume) work hard for a certain amount of time so that they can stop working hard later on, or rather so that they can have an easy life.
I think people like you and me prefer to work hard so that we don't have to keep doing the same hard work forever. This gradually improves the human condition for everyone - if you figure out how to do something more efficiently, others can just copy + paste that. I love being the creator of the original text everyone's just out there copy-pasting.
I’m not sure I agree wholly with Sam. I think working hard will get you to 70 maybe 80 percent. Getting to smart and the 80-100% requires creativity and creativity requires insight and insight requires time to reflect and analyze. If you’re working long hours, it’s hard if not possible to be able to step back and evaluate how to work smarter. You need those walks in the woods or those long showers.
That's a good point.
Excellent article. Reminds me of what Sam Atman wrote in a blog post.
“You can get to about the 90th percentile in your field by working either smart or hard, which is still a great accomplishment. But getting to the 99th percentile requires both—you will be competing with other very talented people who will have great ideas and be willing to work a lot.”
Nice. Yes, at a certain point, there definitly needs to be a fusion. I'm normally advocating smart because I see too many people who are successfull from working hard and become industrious instead of clever (to borrow from von Hammerstein's leadership matrix)
True. The whole quote by Sam advocates the same thing. You have to work hard and smart.
Great reminder and insights!
Glad you appreciated it!
I've been circling around a similar observation (I'll write about it soonish) that most people (I assume) work hard for a certain amount of time so that they can stop working hard later on, or rather so that they can have an easy life.
I think people like you and me prefer to work hard so that we don't have to keep doing the same hard work forever. This gradually improves the human condition for everyone - if you figure out how to do something more efficiently, others can just copy + paste that. I love being the creator of the original text everyone's just out there copy-pasting.
That's how we get better.
Exactly. I work hard to make things efficient. Then I find something else that's hard.