Work Smarter & Harder

Hello Aspiring Chillers,

Just ask all the kids who bust their butts for years to get into an Ivy League school, only to find out it's basically a lottery ticket, and you could be the best candidate in the world and still might not get accepted.

Ever since I was a child, everyone said that if you work hard, you will make it. I think this might be some nonsense. I believe that if you work hard, you are ahead of people who are not working hard, but that's about all you can say about it. Everyone is capable of working hard but, there is a difference between working hard and working miserably.

Miserable work feels hard, but in reality, it usually is a task you don’t enjoy and, therefore, feels difficult. So let's put that to rest. If you hate what you are doing or even just slightly dislike it, then it will feel like you are working hard. You aren't. Sorry for the wake-up call, but those are the facts.

Maybe you hate what you do, or maybe it's just okay. The second one could be what is holding you back. I feel like this was true for me, especially at the end of my previous job. This is something known as the Region-Beta Paradox. A quick summary is that in situations where something is somewhat bad, we would actually be better off if it were worse. If it were worse, you would do something about it quickly. Part of this week's homework is to think about if you are in this situation.

If so, plan a way out now! Do not wait.

That leads me to the second important principle of today, which is Pareto's Principle (the 80/20 rule). Again, a quick summary is that 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes. Or, to put it better, 80% of your value/cash comes from 20% of the work.

Pay attention to what you do in a week and note what the 20% of things that produce the most value might be. Once you find the things that drive whatever you do, then do more of that. If possible, automate, delegate, or eliminate the other 80% of things you are doing.

This is where we can make exponential improvements to our work and lives.

1. Automate - anything that involves the same steps every time.

2. Delegate - anything that absolutely needs to be done by a human but is not mission-critical to driving more output. Normally, you can pay someone less than the value of your time for a net positive.

3. Eliminate - Everyone's job/life has fluff. Remove it. Talk to your manager about the things that add no value to the company and routinely take too much of your time. Show them your time is better spent on the 20%.

These three steps will not only have you working smarter, but to everyone else, you will appear to be working harder.

In the end, it's not the person who works the hardest that wins; it's whoever produces the most valuable output.