Work Smarter, Not Harder

Since when did ‘burnout’ become something to brag about?

The past year and a bit has been hard on everyone, especially those that have lost their jobs and income, so it’s really disappointing to see so many people online still preaching that you have to work yourself into the ground to get anywhere in a career. This simply isn’t true and, frankly, is incredibly dangerous - particularly considering the mental health impact of this outlook on working life.

So I wanted to offer my two-penneth on this topic. As someone who’s changed career and has had to start from scratch, as well as someone who’s experienced first-hand (when working in Advertising) the toxic work ethic of working all hours, weekends and evenings, and being made a public example of if you dare to leave work before 6pm (yep, that actually happened). 

It was at that moment, quite early in my career life, that I realised that working harder (or in reality, just longer) isn’t the ticket to success. It’s working smarter that will get you there. There are many people who can’t work long hours - perhaps you have children and work part-time, or you care for someone and need to work fewer hours, or perhaps you’re transitioning to a new career - whatever the reason, working long hours is such an outdated work ethic and it needs rethinking!

I know a lot of people that used to get to work early, work through their lunch break, stay late and clock extra hours during the weekend. Did they get any further in their careers? Not really. What I witnessed was that they just made a rod for their own back and their clients and bosses then came to expect that level of time commitment as a minimum. Obviously, now being my own boss, I can set my own schedule - which is great. But there is a risk with that, that you can push yourself too far/ hard, especially when working from home, when the line between work life and home life is so blurred.

It’s been proven by many studies that longer hours doesn’t increase productivity, and as one Stanford Professor puts it: “Busyness is not a means to accomplishment, but an obstacle to it” - This is an interesting article about the Law of Least Effort, which is similar to the idea of working smarter.

What does working smarter mean? Well, it mainly means prioritising the most important tasks - making sure that you set out a plan for the each day that you can work, and set your working hours in advance, if possible, to make sure that you don’t overdo it. 

Working smarter is also about finding out when, where and how you are most productive. Do you do your best work in the mornings? Is there a particular room or space you like to work? What kind of work do you prefer to do at the beginning of the day vs the end of the day?

Breaking up larger tasks into manageable chunks and spreading them out over the course of a few days or a week, means you’re much more likely to complete the task and ticking off those boxes each day will give you the boost you need to keep going.

So, if you’re new to VO, or thinking of starting a VO career, please don’t be put off by the negative voices saying that you have to put in 60 hours a week in order to make it. The main thing that I learned very quickly about the Voice Over industry is that it is a Marathon, not a Sprint. You have to play the LONG GAME if you want to get anywhere as a Voice Over Artist. There are no quick wins, you’ll get more rejections than ‘yes’s, you need to invest in your equipment, voice training and business and marketing efforts. And that all takes time, so if you’re serious about it, spend some time listening to/ reading up about it from the pros. 

There are some great VO podcasts out there, including Nicola Redman’s ‘The Voice Coach Podcast’, ‘The Voiceover Social’ another one with Nic and Leah Marks, Liz Drury’s ‘Small Business, Big Network’ and ‘The Recorded Voice’ by Guy Michaels from Voiceover Kickstart.

Have a listen, let me know what you think in the comments, and I’d also love to know your tips for working smarter!