Growing up in America, I learned early that working hard is a very different skill from building wealth. Your ability to do the job in front of you is definitely essential (probably the foundation of all growth), but wealth is made by and for the business, not the assets they employ (that's why it's called Human Resources). All business, by necessity, must profit, otherwise it dies (even non-profits). Where does the profit come from? Creating value is not the same as capturing it, and capturing value isn't the same as holding it. You'd hope that excelling at the first would carry over to the others, but they're almost entirely unique skillsets.
How much of your education has been focused on working hard, and how much of it was about what to do with that work? Most schooling is built around working hard as if it's the complete picture. Tests, essays, and grades are all excellent training for the skillset of creating value, but not at all related to being able to capture and hold it. So why does the world act like they're all the same thing?
Common knowledge would say "work smarter not harder", but smarter at what exactly?
Smarter is a direction, not a destination. The question is which game you're pointed at. Generating value is practice. Everyone's already doing it, most just don't leverage what they've put in. Capturing value is about position. The side of the table you find yourself on, and what flows your way when the work pays off. Time spent building a position is different from time spent filling one. Holding is about posture. Not just what you do with money when it arrives, but whether you've already decided what it's for. Money without direction disperses. Most wealth doesn't disappear in big moments, it leaves in small ones.
Real Degree is my practice. Deepening my own position and posture every time I help someone find theirs. I'm not writing from the other side of it, I'm in it, building this out loud. If any of it is landing, you're probably exactly who this is for. That's why I'm writing. Reach out, let's talk.