Many moons ago, when I worked in a flower shop, I heard a great line from one of the old guys working there to a young ’un who was hired to help him: “I do more work by noon by accident than you do all week on purpose.”
I laughed and remembered it to this day.
Now I’m the old codger saying this, but not just to the young ’uns. Based on my interactions with many business owners who are disorganized and distracted, I KNOW I get more done by noon than most get done all week.
Of course, when I tell people what I’m working on, they’re surprised I’m even working at all. I’ve been asked by dozens, “Why aren’t you living down at your beach house, enjoying life?”
Couple reasons.
First of all, work ethic isn’t something you turn off and on. You either have it or you don’t.
While my mother was far from perfect, I can at least thank her for drilling into me the honor of hard work. She didn’t have any money to give me, but she did impart to me a solid, unabashed work ethic, which is far more valuable than any financial inheritance she could have left me.
From the time I was 10 years old, she encouraged me to do whatever work I could to earn a buck. Shoveling sidewalks, cleaning homes, helping out moms with their babies, offering to help people with getting their groceries to the car or with dog walking. Sometimes all I earned was a couple of bucks as a tip, but I never resented the amount or the opportunity to make a little money.
If you dig into the autobiographies and stories of most top achievers and wealthy entrepreneurs, you will find this same commonality: childhood work and a strong, arguably compulsive work ethic.
Second, I truly believe that NOT working when you can is shameful.
Since selling the company, financial need is no longer the primary driver for me. Nor is trying to “prove myself” or rack up accomplishments I can post on social media in a desperate attempt for approval and “attaboys.”
I simply love contributing and building. I love helping MSPs. I love working on marketing and sales strategy—and I’m great at it. Why would I waste that talent by lounging on the beach, checked out? Phooey. Work isn’t punishment; it’s something to enjoy—and I do.
Now, let me leave you with one more big lesson about work.
While you should always remain grateful for any opportunity and never consider a job “beneath” you, I DO believe you need to break the work-money link so you stop thinking in terms of dollars per hour and instead start thinking of value per hour and outcomes, delivered through your acquired experience, superior systems, technology and automation, as well as the team you build.
If you only think in terms of dollars per hour, you’re going to get super-frustrated and overwhelmed, resenting work and killing your chances of getting very, very rich.
This should not deter you from working hard, but empower you to do higher-value work. There’s a TON of “self-running business” B.S. out there trying to convince you that you’ve got it “all wrong” because you’re working your tail off. Not true. You might be working on the wrong things, trying to please the wrong people, which you can (and should) fix.
But if you ARE working on the right things, with the right people, you will still be working hard, putting in long hours and dealing with problems, issues, frustrations, etc.
Trust me when I tell you that other than the few who were handed their wealth by their parents or by luck, there’s not a truly rich person who didn’t work hard to get what they have. Don’t resent the work.
