Hard Work Pays Off, Strategy Pays Better

I’ve always been a hard worker. I don’t think anyone who’s worked with me would say otherwise. Since collegge, actually. For years, I could go from morning to midnight, handling back-to-back client calls, creating content, reviewing projects, jumping from one task to another. I rarely stopped. I was proud of that. I liked being busy. I liked the feeling of getting things done.

But somewhere along the way, I realised that being busy doesn’t always mean being smart about your work. I was doing a lot, but not everything I was doing was actually helping me grow, as a freelancer, as a business owner...or even as a person.

That’s when I started shifting from working hard to working strategically. It meant setting clear time blocks instead of letting work spill into every hour of my day. It meant being more selective with clients; choosing the ones whose goals made sense for where my agency was heading, and who respected the value of what we do. It also meant trusting my team more. Delegating instead of trying to do everything myself. And I learned this the hard way.

And I learned that rest is part of that strategy too. When I step away from work, even just for a day, I come back with better ideas, clearer focus, and more energy for the things that actually matter.

I’ll always be a hard worker. That’s part of who I am. But I’ve learned that hard work only gets you so far if it’s not backed by intention and structure. Now, I focus on doing the right work, not just more of it.

That’s the real growth.