There is no virtue in working hard. Not when you can get the same or better results with less effort.
Robert A. Heinlein said, “Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.”
In fact, that’s a pretty good definition of the word productivity. Getting more results with less effort.
To do that first requires an appreciation of the difference between effectiveness and efficiency.
Effectiveness means “doing the right things”. It means doing things that are consistent with your long term vision and short term goals. It means doing what’s important, primarily, and finding ways to minimize or eliminate everything else.
If growing your practice and advancing your career is important to you, you are effective when you focus on delivering value to your clients, building relationships with key people, and getting better at marketing.
Eighty percent of your results come from twenty percent of your effort. To be more effective, identify those twenty percent activities and do more of them.
Efficiency, on the other hand, means “doing things right”. It means getting things done faster or better.
You become more efficient by using forms, checklists, and templates to streamline your work. You become more efficient by hiring better quality employees who deliver better results. You become more efficient by improving your skills through study and practice and dedication to personal development.
These are some of the things that allowed me to quadruple the income in my law practice while reducing my work week to just three days.
But while there’s no virtue in working hard, there’s nothing wrong with it.
When you are effective and efficient, you might increase your effort-to-results ratio from one-to-one to one-to-ten. If you are effective and efficient and ALSO work hard, you might increase that ratio from one-to-one to one-to-100.
Earn more and work less through leverage
