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You Can Work Hard WITHOUT Working Smart But NEVER the Other Way Around

We often hear we need to work hard. It reminds me of what I heard back when I was in late elementary, when I hated high school with a passion, and when I actually ended up telling people, "Do you ever wonder why the Philippines doesn't improve?" Of course, if hard work were all there was to it, why are some people stuck in financial difficulty? 

Teaching people how not to be too busy to accept improvements

I wrote an article that one should never be too "busy" to accept improvements. We can see that one can work hard without working smart. The two people are introduced to the better round wheel. However, the two aren't thinking that if they had the round wheel, their hard work would pay off better. Changing the wheels from the square tire to the round tire would allow more hard work to be done. How much hard work (that is, delivering rocks) can be accomplished at a faster, more effective rate if they went for the round wheel? Sadly, some people think that hard work will be enough, without thinking about ways to do their hard work smartly.

Improvement of quality of life is not just about working hard. Sure, it's still hard work, even if I've got all the necessary equipment. It's still hard work even if I can accept payments online, or more new technology arrives. However, this hard work can now be made manageable. In working smart, you would think of how to make one's hard work, not just working hard for the sake of working hard.

I prefer to caption this as "Do your hard work, intelligently." I didn't like the illustration of turning the cube into a ball. If a cube is what's required, bring in the cube! What we see here is that other people are still pushing the cube to the destination. These people pushing the cube may only deliver one cube in a day, or the delivery may even be late. However, the person using a forklift to deliver the cubes may deliver several cubes on time. The person may not even have to wake up ridiculously early to deliver the cubes.

What we need to realize is that people need a reasonable business environment. I would be so stupid if I were still having people use typewriters and fax machines, when PCs are going to be more convenient. Typewriters will just eat up more paper compared to if one could edit before one could print. It would be best to buy a UPS for each and every PC. I remember having irritations whenever my PC would reset because I used a regular AVR. The moment I used a UPS, I've had much less worry working. Come fluctuations, I can still save my work before I have to turn the PC off!

This means accepting changes in the market, whether domestic or international. My favorite example is Nokia. I used to have a Nokia phone. However, I soon discovered that smartphones were becoming the norm. It meant even grandpa or grandma (the new generation) can now use a smartphone, with some limited knowledge. Nokia worked hard but failed to work smart. Other companies worked smart by working hard to accept changes. The other companies that worked smart didn't do hard work for the sake of hard work. The other companies that beat Nokia worked hard with their smarts. They worked hard to make sure that their designs would be competitive. 

We need to teach financial literacy in middle school and high school

It's possible to have a good teacher while your system suffers from a breakdown. I used to have an economics teacher who was like the late Miriam Defensor-Santiago. I'm still thankful for the fact that she made sure I would graduate from high school. However, she became defective not because of her but because of the system. As I was thinking about it, most people just study high school economics to avoid the teacher's ire. That's what I felt when facing my MDS-style teacher. She was kind enough to help me out when I flunked. I may have learned concepts like the Law of Supply and Demand, Marginal Propensities (and I'm having a hard time recalling them, so I visit economics websites), and the world market. She was a good teacher, but honestly, the system failed me and her big time.

As it's July and honestly, the countdown ot Christmas is getting closer. It's easy for me to think of bad habits people have all year round. Ironically, most Filipinos start Christmas early (September), but they do last-minute Christmas shopping. I even wonder if the Christmas comedy film Jingle All the Way was also meant ot discourage last-minute Christmas shopping! If people are waiting for the last minute to do Christmas shopping, I blame it on the poor management of their paychecks (read here). I tend to get mad thinking about how people's paychecks barely last. Not everyone who does so is necessarily not working hard. You can have menial workers who don't have absences, show up on time, and still don't know how to manage money. 

I could blame it on schools. Warren Buffett teaches practical life lessons that I never learned, even in my MBA days! I had to learn stock market investing myself. That's why I have no more interest in getting a PhD. I might not even get the chance to teach students basic investing, like cost averaging on an index fund, using GINvest to invest in the international market, opening an ATRAM account, etc. It's possible to get a college diploma and never learn how to manage one's paycheck. The Christmas rush may just be a symptom of a much bigger problem. That's why I tend to hate the Christmas season. However, it's not Christmas per se that I'm angry about, but the foolishness of people during the Christmas season. 

It's typical to get a paycheck, and people do the payday blowout. Honestly, it's irritating whenever there are those "pa-libre" people. These are people who always ask you to pay for their meals. Nothing is wrong with having a blowout every once in a while. However, doing it every payday means ignoring that you need to have income less expenses to think about. For example, people would need to think of paying stuff like rentals (and your lessor will have the right to kick you out for delinquency), utility bills, and tuition fees. Not only that, one may even think that investing can start with simple small steps. For example, one could use GCash to invest at least PHP 1,000.00 in any investment option of their choice. They could slowly drop by PHP 1,000.00 per month, then they can invest more during the lower periods of the stock market, either in the Philippines or worldwide.

If people were taught financial literacy, they would learn basic stuff like:
  1. Teaching about basic accounting principles. This will help people understand basic concepts like the cost of production.
  2. How to slowly invest in the stock market, or invest in bonds for starters. 
  3. The difference between revenues and profits. This is taught in basic accounting and basic finance.
This would be basic personal finance that anyone can learn. This would be vital, especially if a menial worker or a group of workers all plan to establish their business someday. Some people might've been potential entrepreneurs, but a lousy system is holding them back. If one is incapable of becoming an entrepreneur, then one can at least retire comfortably. They might climb up the ladder, but never become an entrepreneur. The important thing is that they can afford proper housing (either rent or buy) and not have to worry about meeting basic needs. 
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