Affiliate since: 10/05/2011, Power Rank: 423 | Read Francis's 105 other Ask SC answers

This is a very interesting question, as it does not only apply to SFI but also to any type of work that is goal oriented rather than procedural.
I would say that smart work is actually hard work that makes the most of both available time and resources to get productive results.
Some people easily confuse smart work with short cuts and while they may bring some instant results, short cut based achievements are also short-lived as they are not based solid foundations.
On the other hand “”hard work” which has no clear cut goals and is narrowly focussed does not yield significant output either, regardless of how hard one works.
To separate oneself from the pack and step up another level one has to start focussing on the majors with a big picture in mind and avoid majoring in the minors.

With respect to SFI, minors can be viewed as just logging on to one ‘s homepage and ticking the red boxes. In answer to a question on the Forum, Gery (the SFI President) mentioned that, merely amassing vps will maintain our SFI status but will not necessarily guarantee a healthy financial return. In other words to move into the second group, most of us need to get involved in sales oriented tasks such as ECA and recruiting PRMs through Tripleclicks. This is on top of robust advertising to get more active PSAs as the stronger the team is, the higher the expected returns.
This kind of ventures requires both patience and persistence to yield results.

In summary, one can turn hard work into smart work by concentrating on the major issues. Short-term goals should be seen as a subset of long-term goals based on a bigger picture.

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This is a very interesting question, as it does not only apply to SFI but also to any type of work that is goal oriented rather than procedural.
I would say that smart work is actually hard work that makes the most of both available time and resources to get productive results.
Some people easily confuse smart work with short cuts and while they may bring some instant results, short cut based achievements are also short-lived as they are not based solid foundations.
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