We have been told for as long as I can remember that in order to reap the benefits of labour one must first work hard; hence all the sayings we are all too familiar with incorporating the necessity that a good life is a hard life. There are two parts to this that hold relevance to the fallacy of hard work. Let's explore...

The past couple of months have been challenging and confronting for many which can be put down to the commencement of the year, if you so choose to believe. As it was, something that I had been working towards during this time finally came to fruition. Ironically, with the greatest of ease. So much so, I had to take a breath to savour the moment to realise how quickly it happened.

It made me wonder about the statement of "hard work". How many of us put all that we are in all that we do every day, every week and every year forgetting to notice the small achievements along the way that acknowledges the blood, sweat and tears of our lives? There is a saying that goes "work smart, not hard"; which is the first part of the fallacy of hard work. Consider what you do in your life that you deem as hard work. Many things we do are done because that is how we have always done them without reviewing whether there as a better and easier way of doing the task at hand. We too often tend to be so accepting of situations when there are always choices, and choices that would serve us better. What do you do that could be done smarter, not harder that would alleviate the connotation and association of hard work that would provide you with the same, if not better, result with half the effort? The benefit of which would enable more time, energy and focus in other areas of your life.

The second part to the fallacy of hard work is when we undertake tasks and put them in the "hard basket" because it is new, unfamiliar or simply we have no idea how it is going to turn out. This makes me wonder that working hard is not the pivotal point of focus but rather a fallacy that is misleading and unfortunately can be rather demotivating. Consider what you are working on that is an unfamiliar but has been labelled as hard. It can seem hard because we have become accumstomed that anything of value must come to us through "hard" terms, not easy and if it comes easy, it has no value. Imagine that it is a matter of shifting your perspective that you can reap the rewards of your efforts with ease. It is an interesting concept and one I think holds a lot of weight in what we can achieve; even in the most basic of tasks that we do.

Work smart in the unfamiliar and reap the benefits of evolving and exploring all the possibilities of success.

Hally Rhiannon-Nammu is the Founder and Director of Creative Balance, coaching specialists.

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Hally Rhiannon-Nammu is a member of the Australian Women's Mentoring Network. Visit Hally's AWMN Profile (login required).