When taking a deep dive into the lack money mindset, one of the biggest indicators is the belief that working hard is the key to wealth and success. If this were true, slaves would hold all the riches in the world. Working hard does not guarantee wealth.
A wealth mindset sees the value of hard work but doesn’t relegate the work to extended hours or back-breaking feats of strength and endurance. Those with a wealth mindset have adopted the philosophy of working smart, not hard.
Working smart, not hard is a concept that allows for hard work as well as delegation, outsourcing, and maximizing resources in such a way that the goals are met with ease. Let’s take a look at an example:
Example: Tammy’s Bakery. Tammy is a baker who loves to make her grandmother’s recipes. Tammy started a bakery that serves her mid-sized community. In the beginning, Tammy did all the baking as well as all the marketing, ordering, and sales. Initially, it was fun and exciting, and Tammy learned about every aspect of her business because she was doing everything herself. Tammy started work at 5:00 am and didn’t get home until well after 8:00 pm. She convinced herself it was a labor of love and that it was important for her to make the decisions since it was her bakery. Over time, Tammy began to feel run down and didn’t have the time or energy to balance her work and home life. She began to resent the long hours no matter how much she loved baking and serving her community.
Tammy was faced with a dilemma. Keep doing what she was doing, telling herself working hard was the right path OR find ways to ease her burdens and begin to work smarter, not harder.
Tammy hired a clerk to help with sales and automated her ordering systems for supplies. She made investments in software that made things easier and didn’t require long hours of paperwork. Tammy hired an assistant baker and spent her time alongside teaching her family’s recipes. Before long, Tammy was working less hours and making more money – all the while having the flexibility to do whatever mattered most to her from day-to-day.
Tammy could have continued to follow the path of working harder and attaching meaning to the work that kept her working hard for her wealth and esteem. Instead, she chose the mindset that working smart far outweighs the benefits of working hard.
