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Hard work alone is not the ultimate solution for your career growth. Let’s find out as we explore why you should focus on other things besides working hard.

Contrary to popular belief, hard work alone won’t make you succeed. To grow your career, you need more than just hard work. Career growth isn’t always tied to your effort and skills. Hard work can even work against you.

Here are five reasons why hard work alone is not enough to guarantee you’re successful in your career.

1. Hard work does not allow for other career growing activities

Working too hard does not give you much time for other career-expanding activities. It would be best if you sometimes took time to connect with people from other departments in your organization. 

Working smartly allows you even to attend events at your organization with your colleagues. Appearing at the events reflects your commitment and influences how others perceive you. It, therefore, affects your trajectory for success.

Besides appearing at company events, you can partake in other employee engagement activities where you can share knowledge and skills. These activities can come in handy as you are rising in your career. 

2. Hard work does not allow you to make connections with others in your workplace

When you work too hard, it becomes hard to make the right relationships with your coworkers. Making connections enhances your likeability and your visibility. The people you interact with within your workplace can influence your success. 

Working more denies you the chance to network and make individual connections. Networking helps you develop new skills and identify opportunities for advancement. Always do your best to reach beyond your immediate circle.

The right connections will give you the support to reach deadlines and expand your reach. They will give you a competitive edge throughout every stage of your career. You should also ensure you provide value to your connections. 

3. Working too hard doesn’t provide you with extra insight

The problem with working too hard is that it doesn’t encourage innovation. You will not try out new tactics or learn new things. You will only be persistent and repetitive with no extra insight.

Lifting your head from your work once in a while sometimes helps you advance your skills and find easier and more efficient ways to do things. Ensure your technical skills are current and be proactive. Choose around two skills to improve each year and develop a personal learning plan. 

Keeping dormant for a long time risks your skills and knowledge becoming outdated and your career stagnating. It also makes your work more tedious. It, therefore, helps to take a break from work to reframe and refocus. 

You can learn new ideas and tactics by getting a mentor, studying everything about your company and competitors, and finding learning opportunities such as training development sponsored by your company. Sometimes the skills you need to learn are right in front of you. You need to pay attention.

4. Hard work can cause you to have a poor attitude 

Sometimes working too hard can lead to a negative office personality which builds resentment among your coworkers. Negative energy combined with hard work makes your coworkers hate you. Being a team player works in favour of your career growth as most companies value teamwork. 

When you get caught up in work, you can easily walk around without paying much attention to your coworkers. Whenever you notice someone, whether in the elevator or the hallway, always smile, say hi, and introduce yourself.

Positive relationships in your workplace are also essential to your career growth. The relationships are formed through proper communication. Positive office relationships improve your well-being and performance-related outcomes. It develops strong group ties that provide opportunities for innovative thinking.

5. Hard work does not allow you to help others

Too much hard work can prevent you from helping other people to achieve their success. Mentoring a coworker to achieve their potential reveals your authentic commitment to the success of your organization. This works in favour of your career growth.

Mentoring others creates stronger workplace bonds. If you help someone grow their career and achieve their aspirations, you are building a lasting relationship that can benefit you both.

When you mentor, you also assess your own values and experiences. It gives you the opportunity to hold yourself accountable for the advice you give. You can also reflect on your best tactics and what tactics did not work. 

Bottom Line: Hard work does not always equate to productivity.

This does not mean that hard work is not important or you should not work hard. It’s only that it shouldn’t be your only preoccupation. When applied to the right tasks and activities, hard work produces the desired results.