Are You Working Too Hard?
Andy has a thought-provoking post over at his Tropical SEO blog
The great entrepreneur-CEO is, at his/her core, smart and lazy.
Could you be working too hard?
Yes have commitment, energy, drive, ambition, but do not confuse those with “hard work”. Think of the old cliché “work smarter not harder”.
Many of the best programmers I have met have been lazy. They make good programmers because rather than do manual, tedious, grunt work they would rather get the computer to do it. Also because they want to avoid hard work they write elegant code that gets the job done in half the lines of a harder working programmers design. Of course there have been a bunch of coders who would just avoid work altogether, there is always going to be those who take things too far!
Rather than work you should focus on profitable systems.
When you have a good system then you will produce quality without so much effort and also without requiring specialist expertise in all areas of your business.
I once had a public blog debate with Seth Godin about this. His point was that you should hire the very best people at all levels. My argument was that you should only hire people good enough to perform your system faultlessly and make your systems as good as they possibly can be.
People are an expensive overhead, why hire a PHD to ad-lib when you could hire a teenager to work a brilliant system?
One of the reasons Google is so dominant is not because they hire PHDs it’s because they use all the brain power to use creating better and better automated systems.
Have a good look at your business. What can be done by others to free your time? Where can tasks be turned into systems to take out excessive thinking and discussion, and to increase quality consistency? What are you doing now that you don’t need to be doing? What can be automated?
You might find your profit goes up, your stress goes down and your output improves in quality.
Posted on June 07th, 2007 by Chris Garrett in Productivity
Good points. I would say this is the nature of this business (blogging) because it walks the fine line between marketing & content generation and the purely technical.
As programmers we all like to custom script stuff and spend lots of time tweaking layouts, scripts, and so forth. The downside is that we often use the tech stuff as a distraction from the real things we need to do like write content.
I was falling into this trap and when I actually started tracking my time was when I realized the incredible overhead I was creating for myself.
For instance, I was using an open source project management tool to work with my remote developers. I was spending 5-10 hours per month tweaking, adding upgrades, upgrading the server to handle the new features in the application, etc.
5-10 hours at my hourly rate is over $500!
So I switched to a middle tier subscription to Basecamp. At $25/month my upgrades are handled for me and I don’t have to worry about security patches on the server and upgrades and worrying about if my customizations to the app will affect the upgrades, etc.
In theory, I just gave myself a $500/ month raise.
-dm
PS: After re-reading that post it really sounded like a sales pitch for basecamp. It wasn’t. I’m not affiliated with basecamp in any way, and there are other project management apps out there that are probably just as good. Feel free to try them all out.
Basecamp is an excellent product. We used that back when I worked on performancing. While the project plan tool was basically a calendar, and not half as detailed as I was used to when managing projects (not sure if it has improved since), the whole thing together as a combined unit rocks.
I think techies are particularly prone to geeking out on stuff, it is hard for us to relinquish control over technical aspects we have a good handle on. It pained me to do it but my coaching forum was outsourced to a programmer friend. I worry that I should know more about the inner workings of it but I know deep down it was worth doing because of the time and head-space I saved
Great post Chris, we had a post over at Search-This awhile back called “Automate Your Workday” that talks about finding ways to automate the redundant parts of your life.
Also, congrats on breaking the 3000 subscriber mark! Here’s looking forward to 4000! I’m trickling along at 600 - hoping to eclipse that this month…
Chris - You’ve definitely got a point about not wasting money on someone overqualified to do the job you’re filling. I’d agree with you to a point.
But, Seth is all about pushing boundaries and constant improvement. You may find someone that’s just good enough to perform the job flawlessly, but you may be missing out on someone that’s able to go above and beyond for you when you need it.
I think this is a huge part of why Google is Google. Sure, they automate the crap out of processes that need automating, but they also have a team of employees that do more than take care of responsibilities and go home. They’re constantly reinventing the company as a search giant, office application suite provider, text/picture/video/audio ad service, blog host, rss feed provider and who knows what tomorrow.
You can consistently live in “good enough” limbo (K-Mart) or you can be the guy that brings “better” to the table (Wal-Mart). And we all know how that ends.
When I had my first software company I hired high school students because they would do what was asked without getting all caught up in trying to be overly technical. They were amazingly creative and very productive. They understood that good-enough was for the time good-enough. There were some issues like time at work and so forth but it was all worth it when they would bring in solutions from chatting with friends.
As long as I had free soda, candy, and a flex-time work schedule they and I were quite happy. I and the lead programmer designed the functions and they made it happen. In one case we needed to send multiple queries as the page loaded. We were using Cold Fusion at the time (1997). One of these geniuses figured out how to embed a “Post” in each colored ball that would appear on the screen. In this way were made CF multi-threaded when it was not supposed to be!
ALso - Cheers to you Mr. 3000!
When you have a new company I believe in hiring average employees that are steady eddies. You know the kind that make it to work on time everyday and just get the job done.
These people are great to have while the owner or owners are developing the systems and strengthening them. Once these systems are strong and you have a strong sense of security that is when I would bring in people qualified to expand on ideas and systems. It has been my experience that if you do not have your systems and security strong these over qualified people either try to take over or take your ideas and go off on their own.
Although if I had the creative genius and education of some of these CEO’s of fortune 500 companies I am sure I would have a difference of opinion. I would like to consider my self more as a touch above the garden variety business owner that is continually changing and learning.
3000 people are interested in the way you think, thats powerful.
@mark - Thanks, I am sure you will be able to double that figure
@Adam - I agree but my point is not that you shouldn’t hire brilliant people but that you don’t have to fill your company with brilliant people and in fact in some cases a brilliant person in the wrong job can be worse than a merely competent person in the same post. There are some things where creativity is required, and others where creativity would be a disaster. Also brilliant people tend to at some point realise it then you have to hire all over again
The main point though is systems are good, I think we all agree on that 
@Roger - If you get good AND cheap then rock on!
@Colbs - Continous change and learning are critical. Business is like being a shark. If we don’t keep moving we sink.
Hey Chris,
Your point about Google is right on.
We’ve had mixed results in the past with long-distance outsourcing.
This post has just inspired me to pick up the phone and call the local high school. (I’m looking for help with Analytics and Testing, a Blog Master, and marketing assistance.)
Thanks!
Sheila Martin
in Beautiful British Columbia
P.S. When you move back to Canada, what province will you be heading to? Did you know that BC is a hot bed of entrepreneurs and geeks? (Hint, hint)
As well as recruiting students look at virtual assistants, if you know what you need doing and want to build up a working relationship with someone rather than constantly be going back to freelance bidding sites or battling a language barrier, with a good recommendation they are an ideal solution.
My wife is just getting into doing VA work and has been talking to other people doing similar things, it seems a growing industry and there are people who specialise in all sorts of areas.
We love BC, Vancouver especially (we will be there for the games!), but had our sights set on Calgary as that is where I was born. Unfortunately the property prices have just gone bonkers so we are holding off while the bubble bursts
I’m as lazy as they come. It’s the key to my success! :p
oh man, I absolutely love Vancouver! The wife and I made a stop there two years ago on our way to Alaska and we both loved Vancouver. I could definitely live there.
Yes, we have several good VAs already. For project work, though, I’m realizing that it’s a heckuva lot easier to communicate face-to-face, in real time.
We’ll just need to keep our Google mini-fridge stocked with soft drinks.
What’s your wife’s URL? I’ll bet a lot of your readers would like to know….
Cheers,
Sheila
Chris-
Great post and a good point- I think it’s a (like most things in life) a yes/and situation.
I like the distinction that Jim Collins made in Good to Great about knowing your Hedgehog Concept. And, you want to hire the best, buy the best, even create cutting-edge customized applications when it has to do with your hedgehog.
However, if it doesn’t, then ‘good-enough’ will do. I may not need the world’s most whiz-bang bookkeeper, but I may need the world’s most whiz-bang information/creativity in my speciality.
And, I do like the concept of ‘lazy.’ When I was a paramedic, many moons ago, I used to teach what I called ‘lazy CPR’ to the lay public. What I saw on the ambulance is people who had learned CPR and were all flustered, quite naturally, when they saw someone who was hurt- so they would just jump in and do CPR, whether or not it was needed. Once we responded to a woman who had tried to do chest compressions on her husband even though he was sitting up in a chair and awake at the time! (There may have been other issues…
)
So, I’d teach them lazy CPR- check for breathing and pulse- because you don’t want to if you don’t have to.
The same applies to many parts of our business. And yet, as Jim said and Seth Godin suggests, if it’s the hedgehog, I will go overboard, and push beyond the beyond to try for the WOW factor.
Again- thanks for bringing this up.
@Chris: You have good points there. I realized that while I was in college and used to FAIL ( lol yeah I did) in may papers. Slowly I realized I was not working in right way or like you said a smart way. Then I changed my strategy and talked around with people and got the idea of How to smart work. Thats what the Human Resource people do they follow the 80/20 rule and Thats what bloggers should also do.
This is a really solid post. I don’t know that it can be emphasized enough that a lot of stress is bad, especially as we, when we work too hard, tend to think about everything we couldn’t possibly control, all at once.
I have recently realized that I am working WAY too hard (kids are good for letting you know that) and this article came at the perfect time. There will definitely be some changes being made in my business. Thank you.
Excellent article! No one ever posts about their blog as a business, only how much money they make. I’ve always wondered what they did with that money. Did they use it like a business would, or did they throw it away?
@Desty: Blogging is business in true sense. The way we deal with customers there we deal with readers and people coming through search engines. We can apply the same rules of business with little bit of modfications and polishing here and there
I have felt at times I am putting in too much effort. I think that it is so important to delegate in this life if you can. I don’t know if you have heard of Tim Ferriss. He was interviewed by Pro Blogger Darren Rowse. He talks about a service that he uses called GetFriday.com. I am thinking about doing it. There does come a time when you give up quality if your quantity input is too much.
@Gary King - Keep the laziness, it’s working for you!
@mark - Yeah it is so beautiful but unfortunately lots of other people with more money than me think so too
@Sheila Martin - Will let you know when she is all set up
@Mark Silver - Definitely - hedgehog concept is a new one on me, cool stuff
@Ashish Mohta - In most fields you will find 20% of your effort brings 80% of results, it’s finding the 20% that is the challenge
@ashok - Yup, some people say there is such a thing as “good stress”, I don’t buy that, but perhaps it is a matter of definitions. Yes it is good to have a little nervous edge to keep you on your toes but stress is just draining
@Genesis - Especially with kids around you have to balance where you put your energies!
@Desty + Ashish - Blogs are businesses once money comes into it, the same rules ought to apply, I don’t really follow the philosphy that people should announce their earnings
@Cade - Tim Ferriss is being massively hyped right now. It’s supposed to be an excellent book but I haven’t gotten round to looking it up