Work Smarter, Not Harder Started With One Very Long Day

A commitment to show up and write my truth | Day 267 of 365

Today, my team and I set out to make creating content easier across our businesses. We wanted a clearer workflow and a better way to work with the AI tools we'd been training.

I figured it would take a few hours.

I was very confident about those few hours.

Then we started finding mistakes none of us had noticed. Every time we thought we understood how something worked, we had to stop and look again. What was this step for? Did it still make sense? What would happen when someone actually used it?

We planned to make content. We spent the day fixing the process behind it instead.

What It Really Takes to Work Smarter, Not Harder

Everyone says to work smarter, not harder. Nobody tells you about the day before it gets easier. That's the day you look at how you've been doing things and have to admit it isn't working.

Maybe you've had a day (or two or more lol) just like that. You finally make time to get organized, and you keep finding more to fix. By evening the thing you meant to finish is still waiting, and you wonder where the day went.

I had that feeling today. I also looked around at my team, still working through it with me, and felt really grateful.

Grateful for the People Who Stay in the Mess With You

We found the problems together and talked them through. Someone always seemed to ask the question I hadn't thought of. By the end of the day, we had something much better than what we started with.

Fixing something by yourself wears you out. Doing it with people you like is different. It felt a little like moving furniture with friends. We were tired and a little punchy, and somehow still happy.

If we got this right, we could get hours of our week back. I'd have more time to write, more time with my daughter, and fewer nights trying to sort out something we could have made clearer from the start.

It was our first time training several AI tools at once. Of course it took longer than I expected. I just wish I'd told my calendar.

If you're having one of those slow days, go easy on yourself. It might be the day that makes the rest of the week easier. And if someone stuck it out with you, tell them thank you.

I'm grateful for my team and for everything we caught.

Boy, oh boy, was it worth it.

About the Author | Day 267 of 365

I'm a soul-led coach, entrepreneur, mother, and recovering perfectionist, currently navigating healing, uncertainty, temporary chapters, motherhood, work, big transitions, grief, nervous system healing, overstimulation, emotional growth, and the ongoing lesson that life works a whole lot better when we stop trying to carry everything alone. Today that meant a long day of going back to basics with my team, and being grateful they stuck it out with me.

Day 267 of 365. Still learning, and grateful for the people building this with me. 🐧