How to "Work Smarter, Not Harder" and Become Unstoppable (5 Key Principles for Effortless Productivity)
“Work smarter, not harder”, right?
We’ve all heard that phrase. But what does it mean to work smarter, to work more intelligently?
In my eyes, to do intelligent work means to work in accordance to what is natural — prioritizing leverage, momentum and core principles like I’ve learned to do first-hand in the martial art of Jiu Jitsu.
But you don’t have to train Jiu Jitsu in order to pull from its teachings.
You can steal the lessons I’m about to share with you and use them in your own life to effortlessly enhance your productivity.
So, what are the ways in which we can work smarter, not harder? How can we really break this down?
Well, I’ll break this down into Five key principles here:
1. Stop Forcing - Use Leverage
Jiu Jitsu, from my beginner-level understanding, feels like the art of flow — going with what is natural as opposed to straining and forcing as the western mind so tends to gravitate to.
This belief of strain is destroying your productivity.
“Be a man, use your muscles” — phrases like this have poisoned us into thinking that the only right way to do things is the way that feels like we are working the hardest, with the most force.
And so we opt for force and strain rather than going about things in a more natural way.
Stop forcing and act in a way that plays to the laws of the universe such as physics: where you learn that leverage multiplies our capability in comparison to using sheer force.
I’m not putting down building strength — haha no. But, if you want to become unstoppable:
Couple your strength with discipline so you’re not always just reverting back to your monkey mind and forcing — breathe, calm down and adapt to the situation.
Becoming unstoppable is a matter of integrating your strength and channeling it in a new, more intelligent manner.
A manner that is focused on adapting to your environment rather than forcing your way through with an insecure, faux effortful dominance.
Effortless dominance is what we’re going for here.
2. Find the 20%
In order to prioritize leverage, momentum and core principles like Jiu Jitsu does, you need to build a deep understanding of your line of work.
You need to find the 20% that gets results.
Here’s how you do that:
Interview others, strike a conversation with higher-ups and peel back the layers.
Do whatever you can to get in the room you need to be in or in front of the right people and start mining for gold.
Get your pride out of the way and go direct to source.
This is how you advance quicker — by finding what gets results from others’ knowledge and direct experience, testing it and doubling down on what is most effective for you.
The right people in Jiu Jitsu for me are the higher belts (Blue, Purple, Brown, Black).
When I get the chance to roll with a Black Belt at the 6 AM class, it’s like a one-on-one masterclass. I learn so much it’s ridiculous.
Find the “black belts” of your own craft to access the gems — the 20% — of knowledge that took them years to attain.
Key point, though: Be curious, not needy.
3. Listen closely
You want to listen for problems the higher-ups struggled with.
Pay close attention when they are describing the details of anything relevant to your craft.
If they’re passionate, they’re most likely not just throwing bullshit at you — they’re handing you rare gems free of charge.
You managed to make a little tear in their pocket by asking the right question and now rare, valuable gems are spilling out onto the floor.
How beautiful.
You want to listen for mindset shifts and pay close attention to what they say really changed things for them.
At your level, maybe the mindset won’t click into position for you yet.
But always keep it in your back pocket and test it. Because eventually, it will make all the sense in the world.
4. Implement their key insights — find what works for you (your 20%)
Don’t be like 90% of the population and let the gems slip right between your fingers.
Grab them, make note of their details and then use them — don’t let this rare knowledge be paved over in your mind by TikToks, Reels and the rest of the world’s noise.
Keep in mind though:
In Jiu Jitsu, what works really well for one person, might be someone else’s weakness due to body shape and size.
How the insights fit into your life is going to vary as I alluded to above.
What you need to do is develop your own style using their insights.
Apply the fundamental teaching of their insights and slowly invent your own advantage by branching off of them in a way that’s never been seen before — your way.
You’re not just going to create your advantage out of thin air.
Take the gems, study them, determine their value to you and use them in a way that benefits you uniquely.
5. Slow down your thinking
You need to slow down your thinking.
What do I mean? Well, in Jiu Jitsu when I’m sparring, my best moves bubble to the surface of my mind when I’ve managed to stay calm and present.
When I’m breathing heavy and just reacting, all creativity and adaptability goes out the window.
I can’t solve the problem in front of me.
But when I’m present, then I can adapt to the change in my partner’s position and set up a different move instead of being so rigid and one-dimensional — waiting for the perfect moment to execute on one specific strategy.
When you’re too rigid, you fall back on brute force to make one specific strategy work.
You’re trying to force a square peg into a round hole.
The western way of thinking, as we established, relies on this kind of brute force.
If you can adopt a mindset of aiming to use leverage and momentum rather than sheer force, you will unlock a higher degree of productivity than you ever thought possible.
You also uncover a deeper understanding of what it truly means to be productive.
Because productivity in our western way of thinking is coated with a layer of misunderstanding that confuses us into thinking it means effortful work rather than intelligent work.
But remember:
Forcing leads to frustration.
Leverage, Adaptability, Prioritization, Listening, Implementation — all of these principles will lead you to be an unstoppable version of yourself.
Vow to be unstoppable in this lifetime.
I hope this helped,
- Chris, A Ripple in Mind
