Work Smarter, Sooner

Abstract

It took me a long time to learn the difference between working harder and working smarter. Jason, my husband, also got pretty far in life on sheer work ethic. Growing up, we'd powered through difficulty by staying up later, waking up earlier, and bearing down on the problem at hand. Grinding became part of our identities, a strength we were proud of and assumed could be deployed in nearly any challenge. But at some point, each of us discovered that working harder isn't always the solution. In my freshman year of college, for instance, I nearly failed neurobiology as a result of my tried-and-true “work harder” mentality. I'd assumed that if I sat in the front row at lectures, took assiduous notes, and then spent hours and hours rereading those notes, I was nearly guaranteed an A.