Have you ever known someone who just seems to "have it all together?" Maybe that someone is you and maybe you could do even better. "Having it all together," is what many perceive as "working smart." But what does it really mean to "work smart?"
Is it a mysterious quality that some of us are born with, and the rest without? Or is it a skill set that can be learned and mastered? Most business and relationship experts support that "working smart" is a skill set that enables one to achieve balance in life and be fruitful.
Many women have intuitively been using these skills to successfully juggle their many responsibilities. When done effectively, the result is a general contentment and satisfaction both personally and professionally. When reflected on and analyzed, five key traits of "working smart" emerge. They may be remembered best using the acronym BRIEF for: Balanced, Results achieving, Independent minded, Energized and Fit in.
5 Traits of Women Who Work Smarter
- Balanced: Balancing one’s personal and professional life.
- Results achieving: Reaching a satisfactory level of results.
- Independent minded: Considers information and opinions of others as appropriate, and ultimately makes her own mind up on her position.
- Energized: Achieving and maintaining an effective distribution of one's energy including reasonable breaks and vacations.
- Fit In: Being accepted in the culture of one’s chosen environment.
Balanced: Personal and professional life balance is a key part of working smart. Whole life aspects such as exercise, proper nutrition, and constructive support from family, friends, community and more provide a strong basis from which to draw strength. Feeling capable in one’s work approach is built from many sources, not only success at work.
Results achieving: Reaching a satisfactory level of results is a subjective call, and is important because it is a reality check. If the results do not show and goals are not met, it is hard to say one is working smart. A widely used technique to help achieve results is the SMART approach to goal setting. Ask yourself, "Are my goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Reasonable, and Timely?"
Independent minded: Although she considers the information and opinions of others as appropriate, she makes up her own mind. She chooses with her own free will to associate with people, places and things or not. She takes responsibility for her decisions.
Energized: Achieving an effective energy distribution depends on one's ability to monitor their body and their feelings and have the self-discipline to get enough sleep, and take enough breaks and vacations to allow themselves to restore and replenish. The kinds of activities that refresh a person are as individual as their finger prints. Do you work smart, or do you need to improve? Take the w2wlink Work Smart Self-Quiz and find out.
Fit In: Fitting into one’s chosen environment is a sign of working smart. Drawing healthy limits that others respect and appreciate so that there is a harmony is important. It helps one to perform better and it indicates effectiveness.
Remember, the secret to working smart is being BRIEF. See the Work Smart Self-Quiz link at the bottom to test yourself and see if you are maximizing your abilities to work smart with the w2wlink Work Smart Self-Quiz developed by the staff at w2wlink.com.
Click on the w2wlink Work Smart Self-Quiz link below to take the quiz.
Discussion and thought provoking questions: 1) How can working less lead to better results? 2) Why does someone who works smart gain an extra ability to contribute? 3) Why is it important that one chooses their environment as much as possible?
Jean Lewis,
has edited and written for consumer Web sites and publications reaching nearly 50 million people. Her credits include writing and editing online and print articles, sales and training materials, marketing collateral, and advertising and PR for conusmer companies including BeautiControl, a Tupperware subsidiary's publications to women ages 20s through 50s, the WHO Foundation, Women Helping Others, MCG Magazine, Los Angeles and Seasonal Living Guide for Sam’s Club, a retailing subsidiary of Wal-Mart. Her career also includes working and living in Canada and Japan. Jean is well regarded for her market-research based approach to managing story development enabling consistently original, relevant and timely content.
