When Being Smart Leads to More Work

SMART IS NOT ALWAYS COOL...

From childhood to college, it was always, or at least should have been, a desire to be perceived as intelligent - the one with the correct answers on the test, the A average, the one with the most scholarships, and the one that everyone went to for their academic needs.  Fast forward to adult careers, being smart is not so cool if you want a life because everyone will start dumping their work on you.

So here's three tips on keeping the intelligence but becoming smarter on how tasks are assigned to you:
1)  Intelligence affords a certain level of procrastination but don't let them know.  What takes the average person a month can take a smart person a couple of days or even hours.  That's why you are labeled smart and they are labeled - not so smart.  The time it actually takes you to complete your assignments is YOUR business ONLY.  Don't brag about it because it will encourage others to slack and give you their work.   Accomplish gracefully and silently.
2)  Selfishness is warranted when you are the star performer.  Identify what you get out of completing it.  It is not about getting the credit of making it happen but determine if there is some moral satisfaction, sanity justification, or monetary incentive that is worth making the investment to complete this assignment and hence picking up the slack for someone else.
3)  Taking one for the team is not always good for the team.  It should come as no surprise who the biggest complainers and least performing persons are on the team.  These are the people that normally have a lot to say but the least amount of knowledge.  Doing their work or continuing to work with them in a capacity that builds them up keeps them around. This is definitely not a good thing for the organization or the people that have to deal with the individual.
4)  If you perceive your time as important, others will too.  Estimate what time is needed to handle your own tasks coupled with the time to address personal needs and the time needed to dedicate time to making your dreams come to fruition.  Calculate the minimum time it will take rather than the buffered time of taking on someone else's task.  It should not cut into the time needed for you to take care of YOU - the total package.

You have worked hard all your life and now it is time to work smart.  Pass along assignments that take time away from your dreams and aspirations or professionally completing your work.  Being a team player also means understanding when to hold back to make the team work harder to become more effective.  This is what being smart is really all about!

Posted in: being smart,program management,project management,Temeko Richardson,Time,Time management