Being busy isn’t what matters. It’s how you work, not how much. Are you efficient? Do you follow the old adage of “working smarter not harder”?
There is no intrinsic value to working harder or for longer periods of time.
We all know that poor sap that has to be the first person in the office and the last one to leave, because he needs to get that promotion. “The Partners know who’s working the hardest”, he says. Well guess what, those partners probably have no idea who’s providing the most value to their firm or agency.
Scott Berkun refers to those guilty of working hard in order to look like they are working hard in his book Mindfire.
“People who are always busy are time-poor. They have a time shortage. They have time debt. They are either trying to do too much, or they aren’t doing what they’re doing very well.” – Scott Berkun
Don’t fall for this, instead focus on sparking insight, solving big problems, limit repeat mistakes, look for efficiencies, and build scalable strategies.
One response to “Are You Time Poor?”
Jesse, this is so true! Thanks for sharing that quote too.
People who are working crazy hours to get ahead may succeed in their professional life, but they fail in the rest of their life. Then at some point it comes crashing down and they lose passion for their work. I have seen a lot of freelancers burnout this way and then give up their dream to go work for someone else. Working for someone else is NOT necessarily bad. That is unless you have to give up on your dream, lifestyle and freedom to do it. Then it really sucks!