I'm reading this and seeing myself. 'Most people work hard with tunnel vision' - that was me. Putting in 70+ hour work weeks brought me zero accolades.
I was teaching a guy in our lab who had a long-term vision. His lack of experience was more than compensated by the funds he was raising. He won two research grants and hired two PhD candidates. He had a team so he got more done in less time.
I still work hard but my focus is on things that could buy back my freedom. Writing online is one of them. Great post, Tim.
This popped up after 25 years of hard work as a cop. I bought into it. I believed in it. And you couldn’t be more right with every letter you wrote. I did some good. This is the blueprint for my second act. Great work.
Hard work isn’t the problem. Not loving what you do is the problem because that makes it HARD TO WORK. I have made all the money I have working for others. Now I am working for myself and I haven’t made any money for a year - except payouts of deferred from previous job. We are going to have to restructure our personal balance sheet and income statement to accommodate this change. I will make money again but we will restructure regardless because it’s time. It’s not a bad thing. Reducing overhead gives you more freedom to exhale and feel less pressure from things that don’t add anything anymore. Or, the things they do add have added what they add and now they can leave. Thanks for your service - Mari Kondo-style. You can’t force yourself to write if you don’t have the urge - after trying. If you have the urge and don’t - that’s a shame. I feel as if I have a Tasmanian writing devil running around inside my chest that just has to get out. But, it needs to be tamed and shaped, so that’s why I have taken the twitter Badassery course and am signed up for the 4/28. It needs to be focused and trained so I can get better. RANT RANT
I think I have to push back on this and maybe rephrase what you want to say. I really don't agree with the statement "Hard work is BS", but working impossible hours at the wrong task is BS. Hard work isn't a bad thing at all, and it's a necessity for success. But hard work is a vague term that is too open-ended. Maybe "Working as many hours as possible is a Bullsh*t Lie..." To be great at any one thing, it takes long-term, dedicated focus. Whether that's working 2 hours a day or 10, whatever is possible for you, it's still hard work. Hard work is still required and still completely necessary. However, to completely agree with you, burning yourself out by working impossible hours on something that doesn't suit you or your goals is a complete internet driven fraud a lot of people do believe and leads to failure inevitably.
Almost at the end of my first year in a first proper office job at 27 having done all sorts previously. I like focused work for myself, not hard work for corporations.
Honestly I’ve lived a lot worse than this cushty London tech job.. but not much future in it and time to move on. Sizing up a move to Albania where I can work remote 2 days a week for money, and 3 days a week building a YouTube channel around my interests (green economics).
Did the same as a lawyer. Doing the same as a tech co exec. At some point it becomes part of who you are. I deeply admire people who can break out of this, but I also admire the nobility in endurance. Both are human.
Hard work in terms of grinding it out and working harder not smarter 100%.
I think having the self-control to identify and zero in on high-value goals, make yourself cut out what doesn't achieve them, and form one life you want from the endless possibilities is the important 'hard work'.
Nothing worth having is easy- hard work is unavoidable; but it should be smart and worth your struggle as well
Hard work is critical to starting a career, but it shouldn't be a lifelong virtue. The goal should be to work smarter and more efficiently, thus incrementally reducing your reliance on grinding hard work...It's like a transmission in a vehicle. You've got to start in first and rev the engine a bit to get going and build momentum. But you eventually shift into higher gears, go faster, and cover more ground by working the engine less. Success is doing 70 mph on the highway in the highest gear at 2,000 RPMs. The old-school "work hard till you die" mentality leaves many people redlining their engines in first or second gear their whole lives.
I tried the hard work thing for 5 years in a software company and realized that exchanging time for money is a closed loop I can't get out of. So I started a company and went for a graduate degree simultaneously. Everybody called me crazy. Even after getting the degree I never stopped learning and the first company has gotten a little sister 8 years ago.
Good stuff. I worked way too long in the corporate world where the badge of honor what who's spouse was the maddest because of never being home. Need to fly to Australia, better fly on the weekend because you need to be in the client's office at 8am on Monday. It nearly killed me. Thank God the company was sold and my entire division was axed. Best thing that ever happened to me.
I did that for many years because I couldn't find a better way. I just became a full subscriber. I want to know how to do it. I was admitted to a Master's program for this fall that's expensive. I need to get my ass in gear.
'Because an employer can make you work as many or as fewer hours as they like. How many hours you work is based on the demand for your skills.'
A broken, unfair system indeed! In our ultra-capitalist system, in many workplaces, the workers sadly don't have much rights and aren't treated properly.
This is so true. I’m learning more skills now and finding my natural abilities to boot that 9-5 hid from me all those years! 💜
I'm reading this and seeing myself. 'Most people work hard with tunnel vision' - that was me. Putting in 70+ hour work weeks brought me zero accolades.
I was teaching a guy in our lab who had a long-term vision. His lack of experience was more than compensated by the funds he was raising. He won two research grants and hired two PhD candidates. He had a team so he got more done in less time.
I still work hard but my focus is on things that could buy back my freedom. Writing online is one of them. Great post, Tim.
This popped up after 25 years of hard work as a cop. I bought into it. I believed in it. And you couldn’t be more right with every letter you wrote. I did some good. This is the blueprint for my second act. Great work.
Hard work isn’t the problem. Not loving what you do is the problem because that makes it HARD TO WORK. I have made all the money I have working for others. Now I am working for myself and I haven’t made any money for a year - except payouts of deferred from previous job. We are going to have to restructure our personal balance sheet and income statement to accommodate this change. I will make money again but we will restructure regardless because it’s time. It’s not a bad thing. Reducing overhead gives you more freedom to exhale and feel less pressure from things that don’t add anything anymore. Or, the things they do add have added what they add and now they can leave. Thanks for your service - Mari Kondo-style. You can’t force yourself to write if you don’t have the urge - after trying. If you have the urge and don’t - that’s a shame. I feel as if I have a Tasmanian writing devil running around inside my chest that just has to get out. But, it needs to be tamed and shaped, so that’s why I have taken the twitter Badassery course and am signed up for the 4/28. It needs to be focused and trained so I can get better. RANT RANT
My time at Stratton Oakmont (The Wolf Of Wall Street) https://t.co/M9b7aaSsNQ
I think I have to push back on this and maybe rephrase what you want to say. I really don't agree with the statement "Hard work is BS", but working impossible hours at the wrong task is BS. Hard work isn't a bad thing at all, and it's a necessity for success. But hard work is a vague term that is too open-ended. Maybe "Working as many hours as possible is a Bullsh*t Lie..." To be great at any one thing, it takes long-term, dedicated focus. Whether that's working 2 hours a day or 10, whatever is possible for you, it's still hard work. Hard work is still required and still completely necessary. However, to completely agree with you, burning yourself out by working impossible hours on something that doesn't suit you or your goals is a complete internet driven fraud a lot of people do believe and leads to failure inevitably.
Almost at the end of my first year in a first proper office job at 27 having done all sorts previously. I like focused work for myself, not hard work for corporations.
Honestly I’ve lived a lot worse than this cushty London tech job.. but not much future in it and time to move on. Sizing up a move to Albania where I can work remote 2 days a week for money, and 3 days a week building a YouTube channel around my interests (green economics).
Did the same as a lawyer. Doing the same as a tech co exec. At some point it becomes part of who you are. I deeply admire people who can break out of this, but I also admire the nobility in endurance. Both are human.
Hard work in terms of grinding it out and working harder not smarter 100%.
I think having the self-control to identify and zero in on high-value goals, make yourself cut out what doesn't achieve them, and form one life you want from the endless possibilities is the important 'hard work'.
Nothing worth having is easy- hard work is unavoidable; but it should be smart and worth your struggle as well
Hard work is critical to starting a career, but it shouldn't be a lifelong virtue. The goal should be to work smarter and more efficiently, thus incrementally reducing your reliance on grinding hard work...It's like a transmission in a vehicle. You've got to start in first and rev the engine a bit to get going and build momentum. But you eventually shift into higher gears, go faster, and cover more ground by working the engine less. Success is doing 70 mph on the highway in the highest gear at 2,000 RPMs. The old-school "work hard till you die" mentality leaves many people redlining their engines in first or second gear their whole lives.
I tried the hard work thing for 5 years in a software company and realized that exchanging time for money is a closed loop I can't get out of. So I started a company and went for a graduate degree simultaneously. Everybody called me crazy. Even after getting the degree I never stopped learning and the first company has gotten a little sister 8 years ago.
Good stuff. I worked way too long in the corporate world where the badge of honor what who's spouse was the maddest because of never being home. Need to fly to Australia, better fly on the weekend because you need to be in the client's office at 8am on Monday. It nearly killed me. Thank God the company was sold and my entire division was axed. Best thing that ever happened to me.
“But the real luxury is this: going slow.” I love this.
I did that for many years because I couldn't find a better way. I just became a full subscriber. I want to know how to do it. I was admitted to a Master's program for this fall that's expensive. I need to get my ass in gear.
Thanks Tim for this reflection. Now, I need to get back to my chosen work, being a real estate broker.
'Because an employer can make you work as many or as fewer hours as they like. How many hours you work is based on the demand for your skills.'
A broken, unfair system indeed! In our ultra-capitalist system, in many workplaces, the workers sadly don't have much rights and aren't treated properly.