The Secret of Innovation

There is a phrase that has always bugged me.

"Work Smarter, not Harder"

The reason it bugs me is because every time I say it, I feel like a douche bag. The reason I feel this way because I'm telling people they are doing something dumb and many people associate doing things in a dumb way as an indicator of their intelligence. This is why I don't say this phrase anymore as it isn't helpful. It sounds nice to be able to say because it transitivity says "look, I'm smart, and you could work less if you were as smart as me". That's a douche-baggy thing to say.

Now, having said that. If you can achieve the goal of working smarter with less effort, then you have innovated. This is the secret to innovation.

Before I leave for the day, I think the following thoughts.

• How can I do the work I did today in half the time?
• What did I learn?
• How could I have done better?
  
• How would I explain what I did?

That is, I focus on how I can improve my methodology, my education, my quality, or my communication.