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Good morning everyone!
Aren’t you sick of all the productivity hacks, books, and webinars?
Every time I see one of those I’m like…
HEY IDIOT, I DON’T WANT TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO CRAM 5,000 MORE TASKS INTO A DAY. I WANT TO WORK LESS.
All caps might have been a little dramatic there.
But seriously, that’s what we all want isn’t it?
The good news is, you can be just as productive and work way less.
So much less in fact, you will feel super lazy doing this at first. That’s a good thing.
Per usual, I didn’t come up with this all on my own.
These are proven concepts from a number of world famous books and articles, all melded together.
Concept 1) The 80/20 Rule
Many of you know this rule so I’ll go quickly.
Basically some dude a 1,000 years ago (i think his name was Pareto)
Noticed that 80% of the land in this one place was owned by 20% of the people.
And that 20% of the crops produced 80% of the yields at a farm.
And on and on.
Basically the rule applies to anything.
Here’s the key point.
20% of your actions produce 80% of your results.
Stop again and read that again above like 7 more times until it really sinks in because it’s true.
Did you do it?
I’ll wait.
…
…
…
Before I let that concept sink in above I was..
Overworked
Underproductive
And stressed for literally no reason.
NOW, all of that is in the past.
I’ve actually even taken it a little further than that so let me get onto concept number 2…
Concept 2) The Power Rule
Stole this from one of the best books ever, Peter Thiels “Zero to One” (which I’ve read like 12 times).
Basically what he says is that 80/20 is for sissys.
It’s more like 99/1.
Peter is a billionaire.
He founded Paypal with Elon Musk.
And now owns a bunch of other companies.
And invests in companies too.
What he learned early on is that ONE COMPANY in a GROUP of companies he invests in…
WILL OUTPERFORM ALL THE OTHERS COMBINED.
Here’s another place for you to stop and read what I just wrote again…
I’ll wait.
…..
Basically, let’s say you invested in Facebook + 20 other early stage start up companies back in 2010.
It’s almost a guarantee that Facebook will have made you more money than the rest of the 20 companies combined.
THE SAME IS TRUE FOR EVERYTHING IN LIFE.
1% of your actions will produce 99% of the results.
1 customer segment will be better than 99 others combined.
1 daily habit will have more impact on your happiness than 99 others combined.
1 decision will have longer term affects than 99 others combined.
You get the idea, it applies to literally everything.
Which leads to concept number 3.
Concept 3) Essentialism
Maybe I’m just not that smart.
But it took 3 books for me to actually make practical this concept.
1) The “4 Hour Work Week” taught me that 80/20 rule above
2) “Zero to One” taught me the Power Rule
3) And “Essentialism” taught me this last part
(No need to link all these authors lol just search it in amazon they are the one with the most 5 star reviews :)
Essentialism really is just EXACTLY WHAT THE TITLE IMPLIES.
RUTHLESSLY CUTTING OUT EVERYTHING THAT ISN’T “Essential”.
Can you see how this ties everything together?
If 20% of your actions produce 80% of the results, should’t you try to eliminate that 80% of wasted effort?
YES.
If 99 of your 100 actions don’t really move the needle, shouldn’t you try to eliminate those 99?
YES.
“But Kale, how do I actually do that??”
That’s a good question, and it’s different for everyone.
However, the KEY is this. BE RUTHLESS.
I never actually got to be “Lazy” and do “99% less work” until I became ruthless.
Not mean.
Not cruel.
Just 100%, totally HONEST with myself, REFUSING to compromise on my MOST IMPORTANT ASSET, MY TIME
I literally forced myself to SLOW DOWN.
For every decision.
Every task that I would normally just race off and do without thinking.
I would stop and really ask myself.
Is this ESSENTIAL right now?
Is this ACTUALLY moving the needle?
Or am I just “working hard for the sake of working hard?”
I can’t really prescribe how to do this for yourself personally.
For your individual life, business, marriage, etc.
It’s too unique for me to do that.
I think the key with me was actually BELIEVING the concepts above, because without fully trusting in it, there is a HUGE temptation to just DO.
Just GO.
Just work work work work.
It’s so tempting because appearing busy is the standard.
But it doesn’t have to be.
YOU CAN break free.
This is a longer article today but I’ll leave you with a story that I think makes it stick home.
Stole this from “Hell Yeah or No” by Derek Sivers.
Basically, Derek had this gorgeous bike ride he did every day in Santa Monica.
Along the coast.
Those that have been there know how awesome this bike path is.
But Derek wanted a workout, so he would do the 43 minute ride…
HEAD DOWN.
RED FACED.
Huffing and puffing.
All out.
43 minutes, every single time.
Obviously, Derek got sick of this (like we all do when working out hard for an extended period can I get an amen lol)
He started to dread the ride.
So one day he vowed to just enjoy it.
Head up, he watched the waves crash.
He felt the wind in his hair.
He smelled the ocean breeze.
Wonderful ride, enjoyed the hell out of it, no stress, barely even noticing he was pedaling.
When he got home, he looked in disbelief at his watch.
45 Minutes.
You’re telling me…
That all that huffing and puffing…
ALL that stress…
Was just for an extra 2 MINUTES?!?!?!
Yep.
and that’s how it is with EVERYTHING in life.
All that extra worry.
All those emails that you HAVE to answer.
All those customers that you NEED to help, right now.
That job that CONSUMES you.
Probably isn’t apart of the 1% of things that actually matter.
Hell, it’s probably not even apart of the 20%.
I hope this helped you, if it did, please share it with 10 of your closest friends and drop me a comment so I know you read or listened this far :)
Kale
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