Work smarter, then work harder. It takes both to become the best at your profession.
Take the 80/20 rule first. 80 percent of your results come from 20 percent of your effort. This is where the “work smarter” portion comes into play. If you ignore the 20 percent of the work that is getting the most results, you’ll be working tirelessly and seeing almost nothing in return. So make sure you are smart about where you are focusing your attention.
From there, you have to work harder if you want to achieve excellence. The first 80 percent of the results should come relatively easy just by doing the right things. But if you truly want to be in the top 1 percent, you’re going to have to work really hard in addition to working smart.
Make sure you are working in this order though (smarter then harder). You don’t want to work really hard and feel like you’re going to burn out because you’ve wasted all of your time and money…Once you get 80 percent of the results, you will have stabilized your income enough so you can afford to take on greater challenges.
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein.
Albert Einstein has been attributed with saying, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” I don’t know the context in which he was speaking, but that’s almost irrelevant, as the statement applies to nearly every situation.
Whenever you encounter difficulties/challenges/obstacles/hardships, whenever you are frustrated by something, there is an opportunity for you to improve yourself or to improve the situation. It’s like when you hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up. Sure, most people aren’t at rock bottom, so the situation could possibly get worse as well, but if you are cognizant of your surroundings, your mindset, and the actions you are taking (or not taking), you can usually find a way to make things better.
Another way to think of it (especially when it comes to frustration at work) is that if it was easy to correct, everyone would do it and the solution would be devalued. Your worth to an employer would decrease, because if they could pay a teenage kid with no education in that specific field to do it at a cheaper cost, they would. Or if the data could be plugged into an algorithm and a robot could use artificial intelligence to solve the problem, you would be out of a job. So, the next time you get irritated by your work not going as smoothly as you want, follow these simple steps…
First, try to figure out what went wrong then stop doing that. Where did things go south? Was it something within your control? Then do something different. Was it something someone else did? See if you can walk alongside them and work through the issue with them so it doesn’t happen again.
Second, develop systems/standard operating procedures so next time a situation like that occurs, there is a manual for you (or someone on your team) to refer to without wasting too much brain power. Tweak this as you get more information and follow the results.
Third, be thankful that your work can be challenging. Humans need to overcome challenges to feel satisfied. If it wasn’t challenging and you were bored out of your mind every day, you would eventually hate your job. And remember, if your job doesn’t require skill, you are expendable to the next cheapest laborer.
To summarize, use challenges as a learning experience of how to NOT do something, or if it causes enough pain/frustration to you and others, then work to capitalize on that by creating a better answer. Solve the problem to not only help yourself, but to help others too. The more people you help, the more you will be compensated. (This is what Matthew McConaughey recently discussed on The Tim Ferriss Show and The Joe Rogan Experience, referring to it as the egotistical utilitarian…Why shouldn’t you aim to do something that gets you what you want, but also helps others? That’s a win-win scenario.)
We all should practice the art of waiting more. We have become so used to this “microwave world,” where we can have nearly anything we want instantaneously.
Don’t want to sit through commercials? Hit skip ads on YouTube.
Can’t find anything good on tv? Go to your favorite streaming service.
Bored? Scroll mindlessly on social media.
The list goes on and on. It’s even that easy to buy something we want. Don’t get me wrong, I love Amazon because it’s so convenient, but that’s their business model (and they’re very good at it). They make it so convenient that you don’t think twice about buying an item you literally just discovered.
But we would be better served in the long run if we waited to get that “thing.” Try waiting for 48 hours before you buy it. Would you still want it? If you think you still want it, go to the store to buy it. Is it worth the inconvenience of you getting your shoes on, driving into town, waiting in line, and then paying for it? And what if you only allowed yourself to pay in cash? That way, if you don’t have the money right then and there (both in your bank account and physically, in your hand), you can’t buy it on credit. It feels different when you hand over some money and get less in return (as opposed to handing plastic over and getting the same piece of plastic returned to you). Psychologically, it feels more painful, even though you’re paying the same amount for the same item. While I like to optimize every aspect of my life (working on efficiency and convenience), it is important to remember we should focus on effectiveness over efficiency. Just because something is easy doesn’t make it better…
And if you can teach yourself to not always get what you want, when you want it, you will be better off in the long run. Better off financially (not spending money), mentally (building up a resiliency so when things don’t go your way, you’ll be able to cope better), and possibly better off spiritually (giving you more time/money to focus on loved ones and the environment around you, instead of focusing on material objects to eventually go in the trash).
So, how long can you wait before you get that next “must have” item? Don’t let lifestyle creep take over. Don’t let your inner child take over (“I need this toy now!”)…Practice patience. Practice waiting. Practice being fiscally responsible. You will be better off for it.
What does success mean to you? For the longest time, I thought it was being great at your job, making a lot of money, winning (even in competitions you didn’t realize you were/are in). But none of that matters without happiness. If you are able to do those three things, but you’re not happy or those who matter most to you aren’t happy, then what’s the point? Granted, in order to feel happy, you need to feel useful. But you can be useful by doing other things – by helping around the house, by making others feel good when they’re around you, by having a good balance of achieving goals but still relaxing with friends and family…not everything needs to be about hitting goals. If that’s your life, you’ll eventually discover that “winning” something only brings temporary happiness and it never loves you back. Take care of those around you, try to achieve balance in your life, and work at being happier each day. Because, if I have to choose money or happiness, I’d choose happiness.
Everybody has their own “thing” that they want right now – something that makes them feel good or gives them joy in some way. And while we should always work at being happy, we should also prioritize our future selves over our current selves more often than not. If you always live for optimum happiness/pleasure and are not willing to make any short term sacrifices, understand that you’re doing so at the expense of your future.
This can be the case for anything from your financial health, to mental, physical, and beyond. For example, if you want to buy a new expensive product instead of buying a used one (or better yet, not buying anything at all), you have less money to save or invest. If you want to sit around and watch mindless tv, you are sacrificing time which you could be reading or working on a project. And if you want to eat fast food five days per week, you are sacrificing your wasteline and clogging you arteries with trans fats and saturated fats.
Each decision you make today affects you in the future. If you can somehow manage to align what you like doing and what is healthiest for your future self, that’s where you can really make big wins because it won’t feel like you’re sacrificing anything. It all starts with changing your habits for the better. Talk a 5-10 minute walk after every meal. Exercise for 60 minutes per day (it can be cumulative). Eat non-processed foods that consist of a variety of vegetables, lean meats, nuts, seeds, some fruits, little starch, and no extra/added sugars. Meditate, pray, or write down what you’re grateful for when you wake up. Read at least 10 minutes per day. Try to make it a game to see how little you can spend each week. Other than investing and paying for your mortgage/rent, utilities, cell phone, car/car maintenance, and groceries, do you need to spend on anything else or can you wait? The longer you can hold off or sacrifice on doing things that don’t promote long term benefits, the better off you’ll be.
