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Could this be summed up as Work smarter, not harder?

by MicahWedemeyer 18y ago

arockwell 18y ago
Work smarter and harder.
- walterk 18y ago
  He's definitely advocating both, but reducing the advice to "work smarter and harder" strips out all of the social and cultural context which gives it motivational force. The idea of making an "extraordinary effort" compels you to define your efforts relative to what's "ordinary", pitting you against not only your own everyday level of effort, but also against the masses. "Work smarter and harder" doesn't. Granted, the post could've been more concise.
  - arockwell 18y ago
    I think what "work smarter and harder" misses the most is not the level of effort you need to make, but that in order to get to that level of "extraordinary effort" you need to take risks. I think trying to reduce this post to one sentence is probably a bad idea anyways. I thought it was worthwhile reading.
    - walterk 18y ago
      I agree. (Incidentally, I wasn't trying to put down your comment specifically, in case it came across that way. I just replied to it since I didn't want to duplicate the point that working harder was also part of the equation.)
      - arockwell 18y ago
        Hah, no problem. This is one of the few sites I assume by default people are trying to be positive.
- DougBTX 18y ago
  The "Trying to Try"[1] post linked to early in this article has an answer to that: The slightest effort suffices to convince ourselves that we have done our best. Work smarter and harder. Couldn't you, in your head, convince yourself that you are working "harder", simply by imagining that you could work less hard than you currently are? Couldn't you do that, regardless of you current level of work? So does "work harder" even mean anything? [1] http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/10/trying-to-try.html http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/10/trying-to-try.html
Eliezer 18y ago
There's a difference between the notion of "working smarter", and the notion of being willing to leave your comfortable zone and do things outside your usual boundaries, when the ordinary result (or desperate result) isn't good enough. What does "work smarter" mean operationally? If there were a little switch you could throw in your head, we wouldn't need the Overcoming Bias blog.
- teaquaffer 18y ago
  I've found that a lot of times there _is_ a little switch in my head. Every once in a while I'll be banging my head against a problem, but if I stop and ask myself "how would a physicist solve this?" I can figure it out. It takes an effort for me to step back and ask myself what the problem is, rather than just sitting down and working on it. Usually "just sitting down and working on it" works, which may mean my problems are too easy. :)
  - walterk 18y ago
    Asking yourself "how would a physicist solve this?" is a good example of priming. I can't remember if I read about it in Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, but there was an experiment where a couple groups were given a task, with one group told to imagine that they were professors. That group performed significantly better than the other. But you'll notice that it takes something more specific than "work smarter" to change up the way you approach a problem.
- MaysonL 18y ago
  One of the things "work smarter" should mean is: work on something worth working on. Something important enough to you to call out your "extraordinary effort".

Could this be summed up as Work smarter, not harder?

arockwell 18y ago

Work smarter and harder.

walterk 18y ago
He's definitely advocating both, but reducing the advice to "work smarter and harder" strips out all of the social and cultural context which gives it motivational force. The idea of making an "extraordinary effort" compels you to define your efforts relative to what's "ordinary", pitting you against not only your own everyday level of effort, but also against the masses. "Work smarter and harder" doesn't. Granted, the post could've been more concise.
- arockwell 18y ago
  I think what "work smarter and harder" misses the most is not the level of effort you need to make, but that in order to get to that level of "extraordinary effort" you need to take risks. I think trying to reduce this post to one sentence is probably a bad idea anyways. I thought it was worthwhile reading.
  - walterk 18y ago
    I agree. (Incidentally, I wasn't trying to put down your comment specifically, in case it came across that way. I just replied to it since I didn't want to duplicate the point that working harder was also part of the equation.)
    - arockwell 18y ago
      Hah, no problem. This is one of the few sites I assume by default people are trying to be positive.
DougBTX 18y ago
The "Trying to Try"[1] post linked to early in this article has an answer to that: The slightest effort suffices to convince ourselves that we have done our best. Work smarter and harder. Couldn't you, in your head, convince yourself that you are working "harder", simply by imagining that you could work less hard than you currently are? Couldn't you do that, regardless of you current level of work? So does "work harder" even mean anything? [1] http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/10/trying-to-try.html http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/10/trying-to-try.html

Eliezer 18y ago

There's a difference between the notion of "working smarter", and the notion of being willing to leave your comfortable zone and do things outside your usual boundaries, when the ordinary result (or desperate result) isn't good enough. What does "work smarter" mean operationally? If there were a little switch you could throw in your head, we wouldn't need the Overcoming Bias blog.

teaquaffer 18y ago
I've found that a lot of times there _is_ a little switch in my head. Every once in a while I'll be banging my head against a problem, but if I stop and ask myself "how would a physicist solve this?" I can figure it out. It takes an effort for me to step back and ask myself what the problem is, rather than just sitting down and working on it. Usually "just sitting down and working on it" works, which may mean my problems are too easy. :)
- walterk 18y ago
  Asking yourself "how would a physicist solve this?" is a good example of priming. I can't remember if I read about it in Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, but there was an experiment where a couple groups were given a task, with one group told to imagine that they were professors. That group performed significantly better than the other. But you'll notice that it takes something more specific than "work smarter" to change up the way you approach a problem.
MaysonL 18y ago
One of the things "work smarter" should mean is: work on something worth working on. Something important enough to you to call out your "extraordinary effort".