(Work Smarter, Not Harder is an annoying business term and is just one of the 212 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Effuse, Confuse, and Overuse detailed in the hilarious must-have guide for every workplace: The 30,000-Pound Gorilla in the Room. Available right now on Amazon.)

Work Smarter, Not Harder

Why can’t we do both?

Moreover, why are you assuming we’re not working as smart as possible right now?

This saying is annoying primarily because your boss uses it when he believes you’re an idiot. An idiot wasting time trying to complete a task the hard way.

“If only he was as smart as me,” your boss thinks as he implores you to use your head and complete tasks more efficiently; more like he would do it.

Your boss is an ass; but then you already knew that, didn’t you?

Like so many of the phrases in this book, this one doesn’t really have a ready replacement because it never should have been said in the first place.

Work smarter, not harder is a placeholder for so many passive-aggressive ideas bottled up in your boss’s little head we cannot begin to fathom what he should be using instead of this idiotic and obvious phrase.

He might mean “do your best” or he could be saying “you’re doing it wrong, but I’m too much of a jerk to actually help you do it right, so I’m just going say something that makes me sound superior to you.”

Either way, he’s an ass.

Replacement phrases: No replacement needed; just please stop saying it.

See also: Give 110%; Bring Your ‘A’ Game

…

The 30,000-Pound Gorilla in the Room is available on Amazon