Bill Gates supposedly said that he liked hiring lazy people because they figured out the easiest way to accomplish just about any task.
Maybe Bill would have hired Albert Einstein who was apparently very good at separating the essential from the non-essential.
The more biographies I read and the more I observe successful people, both well known and those behind the scenes, the more I see how they have an innate ability to control what they do every day.
The world is very chaotic. There is a lot that we don’t control. But there are a good number of things that we can control. Specifically with our own lives. And specifically with what we do every day.
Imagine a conversation with a good friend. They confess to you that they’re fed up with their job. They can’t continue down the road doing what they’re doing. They want to change their routine.
You would probably respond very encouragingly:
Quit tomorrow. Life is short. make that change and start doing what you want.
The friend probably thinks about it for two seconds before filling the void in the conversation with all kinds of excuses. They realize that maybe they just wanted to vent a little. Nothing changes. Life goes on the way it has been.
You might go home thinking about that friend. Thinking that they are making a mistake. From your perspective it doesn’t seem that scary to make a change. There is so much opportunity.
But when we flip that scenario around, we become the person making excuses when it’s time to take our own advice. We often have the same opportunities as everybody else. But when it comes down to it we’re all talk and no action.
The successful people I’ve observed so far in my life have a few key differences from others. One of those distinctions seems to be an incredible drive to do what they want every day. They’re so driven, whether they realize it or not, to follow a certain path to a certain type of life. They have a long-term focus on setting up their future so they can do what they really want.
And it’s not just about doing the work they want. Many successful people will do some incredibly dirty jobs a few hours a week so they can spend the rest of their time enjoying their hobbies or spending time with family and friends.
In order to setup your life like this you have to think about what you want to do each day. Maybe you want to have a list of problems on your desk every morning at 6:00 AM. You spend the morning figuring out those issues and talking with your team. Then you leave at noon to go fishing. Then you’re home by dinner time to see your family and after that you’re off for a drink with your best friend.
That doesn’t just happen, though. From that, the best people often start working on setting up that scenario. One step and one process at a time. They figure out processes. They delegate. Until eventually they arrive at their destination.
It’s not easy. It’s a sure thing. In fact, it rarely works out exactly as you imagine. But if you think about what you want your days to be then you can usually figure out a way to get there.
Let’s end with a good example…
During the biggest growth years of Walmart, Sam Walton spent his days piloting his own plane around to check out potential land for new stores. He also loved going into all kinds of retailers to take notes on what they were selling and what they doing.
That doesn’t sound like the most important job for the CEO of the biggest company in the world. But you have to think that at some point Sam decided that is how he wanted to spend his days and for decades he worked to build a business and life until it was reality.