What's up gang?
There's this notion that success is tied with working 80 hours per week, having zero hobbies or interests outside of work and being obsessed with making money. It's all over the internet. The motivational posts, the hustle and grind mentality of aimlessely working. Wanna know a secret? In most companies no one really works more than 20 hours a week and even if they did, the output would be the same.
We all know this guy. He claims he works from 5 am to 8 pm, he sleeps for 4 hours and he listens to Tony Robinson on his way to work. Although he is an obedient, hard-working bee, he hasn't accomplished much. Why's that?
Well, for starters he doesn't really work 15 hours. He spends 1 hour back and forth from work, he'll talk to his work buddies for an hour or two and then he will watch funny youtube videos, while scrolling through facebook. In reality, the actual workload could be done in 4 hours, but he spreads it out by being unfocused.
He's also very low in energy because he doesn't get enough sleep and he's always anxious and antsy, because he doesn't have a healthy way of releasing the pressure.
What no one told you is that working hard isn't enough.
It's very easy to tell you that you just need to work more and more. It's very easy to be Gary Vaynerjadhakjh or whatever his name is and make 20 minute videos about "doing the work". What's not easy to do, is to tell you that it takes luck, timing, skill, talent, genetics etc.
There's a term I like very much: Sprezzatura. Doing things in a nonchalant way and still get results.
"Only in recent history has 'working hard' signaled pride rather than shame for lack of talent, finesse and, mostly, sprezzatura"
-Nassim Taleb
He's right. You see, everyone idolizes the grind, the romanticized American dream of putting your head down and doing the work. I get it. It's alluring. The idea that all it takes is to show up. But come on, look at reality!
If working hard is enough, then children at sweatshops would be millionaires.
Instead, do hard work. Do things that no one else is doing. Solve problems and provide value. Provide services people actually want to pay for. You wake up in the morning and you just start doing things all over the place. NO! Pick a priority problem and solve it. Once that's gone, move to the next one. Be efficient with your time for fuck's sake.
Humans are able to do do deep work for 4 hours max. After that, our performance drops significally.
No, my monkey-like friend. It means that you should be focusing on getting shit done, rather than counting the hours spent working, capiche?
Also, you should be focusing on building skills. Skills that are relevant to your work of course. If you are a musician, what good it does to you learning design?
Look, obviously there'll be periods in your life where you'll HAVE to work long hours. You'll have to put in the hours and try new things, especially if you don't exactly know what you want to to in the future. You'll have to pay this life toll, sooner or later, but always remember: Sprezzatura.
-Thatredbeardguy
Social Compliance
Don't Lie To Yourself
Most People Are Dumb
