The Good Men Project Become a Premium Member We have pioneered the largest worldwide conversation about what it means to be a good man in the 21st century. Your support of our work is inspiring and invaluable. 3 Uncommon Ways To Work Smarter, Not Harder Self-awareness, not effort, determines our productivity. Self-awareness rules productivity. How much you can work is not determined by how hard you try, it is determined by how well you know yourself. Hardworking people constantly fight their limitations. Smart people work with those limitations instead of against them. The only way to maximize your output and creativity across your entire life is to do the most you can on the most number of days. This makes it sound like our daily recipe should be “go as hard as you can for as long as you can,” but that’s not the case — days on which you do nothing at all are very much factored into the above equation.