Hard work should end when it becomes toil. Seek to automate, delegate, or drop tasks beyond that point.

Here's the secret: Hard work matters until it doesn't. Then it becomes toil. It's like milking a cow that stopped making milk. You push, pull, sweat, and curse, but you get nothing new out of it. Once you've learned all there is, it's time to reassess. When the learning stops, the real work of shedding the burden begins.

Take a walk in your own corporate jungle. As you navigate the day, pinpoint when hard work turns into mindless grind. That's your signal to start automating, delegating, or flat-out eliminating the drudgery. Make it disappear. This, my friend, is a core tenet of the grift mindset. Be hyper-aware of the transition from learning to toil.

For coders and developers, it's natural. You feel the itch when a repetitive task shows up: "Could I automate this?" The necessity of innovation kicks in. For those in clerical roles, AI is your new best friend. As tools evolve, ride the wave. Embrace new learning opportunities to banish the old drudgery.

If you're a manager, look around. Are you generating endless reports? Hunting down updates? Any task that eats your soul—chop it off. Automate the reports, delegate the check-ins, designate tasks as low-priority. If the work feels pointless and the reward unclear, hit delete.

There’s a flip side: cherish the work you love. If there are tasks you enjoy, protect them fiercely. Guard them like a dragon hoards gold. Keep them so deeply integrated into your routine that no one dares to touch them.

For tech lovers, listen up. The threshold to switch from human effort to automation is often low. Embrace it and reclaim your time. A word of warning, though. Just because you free up hours does not mean you should fill them with more work—unless there's a bump in pay. Don't fall for the trap of endless toil. Remember, the reward for doing a job well isn’t always more work; sometimes it's simply a reminder to protect yourself from burnout.

And never forget: your worth isn’t measured by the amount of work you do but by the smart choices you make.