Are You Working Smarter, Not Harder?
In This Issue: Are You Working Smarter, Not Harder?
Accident Attorney: Ramiro Rodriguez, Jr.
Pull Quote: “If what you always do is fly out of a room through the window, and that window is closed, then you can’t expect to get what you’ve always gotten from doing what you’ve always done. It’s just not going to work.”
As much as we might hope the opposite could be true, this pandemic is going to be a part of our reality for a while yet. It’s only getting worse as time goes on, and small businesses are taking the brunt of the economic downturn. Even though many cities and states have allowed most businesses to open back up with some restrictions, they’re still having trouble making ends meet.
Because of this trend, I’ve noticed that a lot of small-business owners are trying to overcompensate for the loss of business by putting in more hours — sometimes as many as 60–70 per week! While I can see how that would seem logical, working more does not always translate to a better outcome. As the old saying goes, sometimes you have to “work smarter, not harder.”
I recently pulled out a book that I actually read five or six years ago, but I think there’s one analogy within its pages that’s especially relevant to the current plight of small-business owners and how they can overcome it. The book is called “You 2: A High Velocity Formula for Multiplying Your Personal Effectiveness in Quantum Leaps” by Price Pritchett, and it is about how to generate success without expending nearly as much time and effort as is traditionally believed to be necessary.
To help illustrate his point that simply working harder is not always the best way forward, Pritchett likens it to a fly trying to get outside through a closed window. The fly buzzes and zips all over the window, desperately trying to get back outside, only to be met with resistance at every point.
To paraphrase Pritchett, the fly ends up burning out the last of its short life’s energy while attempting to fly through this window pane, all while there’s an open door on the other side of the room that the fly could have used to get outside if only it had known that just trying something a little different would lead to success.
Tony Robbins once said “If you do what you have always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” Unfortunately, if what you always do is fly out of a room through the window, and that window is closed, then you can’t expect to get what you’ve always gotten from doing what you’ve always done. It just won’t work.
Similarly, if working more hours is what you’ve done in the past to keep your business afloat during hard times, but now, there’s a cap on how many customers you can have in your business at one time, then those hours will mean less and less. You’ll expend all the energy you have when instead, you could have just found another door to help you reach your goals.
With that in mind, if you’re a struggling business owner exhausting yourself to little avail during the pandemic, it might be time to pick up a copy of “You 2” and start asking yourself some questions. In what areas of your business could you work smarter, not harder? Where could you expend less effort but gain more output?
Before you start another day of flying against the closed window, look around the room and make sure there isn’t an open door that will ultimately get you where you need to go.
GA Injury Advocates
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