There has never been a dearth of productivity in my life more than when I fell into the “four-hour work week” trap about ten years ago. I think I still suffer from some of the aftershocks of that earthquake.
The experts don’t have shortcuts, work isn’t easy for 99% of people, and the four-hour work week only becomes feasible after you’ve built and established a valuable company.
Life gets harder as you try to make things easier. Exercising might be hard, but never moving makes life harder. Uncomfortable conversations are hard, but avoiding every conflict is harder. Mastering your craft is hard, but having no skills is harder. Easy has a cost.
Humans thrive in the lack of abundance. Having everything you could ever want only causes you to thirst for more and yet be satisfied less by each thing you get.
Don’t look for the shortcut and don’t worry about working hard vs. working smart. Just work and refine a little bit at a time and everything will be OK.