THE DIARY OF A HUSTLER

“I would rather earn 1% off a hundred people’s efforts… than 100% of my own.”

These are the words of Jean Paul Getty, an American industrialist and founder of Getty Oil Company. In 1957, he was named the richest living american (you can always learn from the wealthy).

So what exactly does he mean by this?  He is describing the concept of leverage—-Achieving Much More with the Same or Less Effort

To do a push-up, you could do it the regular way, the “girlie” way, or using a tool, such as the Perfect Pushup, bars, or an exercise ball.   I personally use the Perfect Push-up and the ball.

Which approach is wiser? Will you succeed without using leverage? Maybe depending on your upper body strength. But you can do so many more on the exercise ball and do it so much more easily!  And the Perfect Pushup device allows you to target different muscles all while putting in the same amount of effort!  In this case you are leveraging your strength by using a device.  The results are: more easier pushups accomplished and more muscles targeted than the normal pushup.

So what has this got to do with your life and career?

The answer is “a whole lot”.   In fact, you should apply leverage  to every area of your life, when possible to maximize your success.  Without leverage, you may work very hard, but your rewards are limited by the hours you put in. With leverage, you can achieve much more.

Some Key Levers of Success : Time, Knowledge and Education, Technology, Financial

How do you work SMARTER and not HARDER?

In this post, I am going to focus on the leverage of Time (yours and that of other people).

Leveraging your time is a key component of success.  Since we only have 24 hours in a day (5-8 in which we use to sleep) leaving us with 16-19 left, we only can accomplish so much with our time.  And if you are trying to build a business along with working a full-time job and raising a family,  such as myself, it seems like there is never enough time!

I am learning that in order to leverage my time I must do the following:

1. Practice effective time management- for me this means having a plan. I plan my day out either in my head or in writing (I stick to it better if it is in writing because I can see things getting acomplished).  But either way will do, as long as there is a plan of the day in place.  I will shut my phone off when I am working (which drives my family and friends crazy) but hey, I am a long-winded person and talking will become a distraction.  Time is so precious… it waits for noone and you can never get it back once it is gone.   I hate wasting time.   I try to take advantage of every hour of the day.  Tip 1. Eliminate the activities that are not helping you to reach your goal for the day. Tip 2. Use technology to automate everything that you can!  Read more about how to do this on my leveraging technology post.
2. Put everything into perspective-   It is so easy to get wrapped up in unnecessary activities that will not give you a great return on your investment.  For example, online marketing requires  networking, but it does not require spending hours aimlessly viewing pics or chatting on facebook (I’m guilty).  It is so easy to spend an hour  or more checking your email, IM, facebook, myspace, twitter, blog stats and everything else(I’m guilty).  For those of you who are new to online marketing, if you don’t take any other advice from me please listen to this: Find a way to control and monitor your networking and information seeking.  It is so easy to get caught up reading material that is not helpful toward your daily goals.  If you come across something interesting, bookmark it and save it for another time so that you will not become distracted.  Put a limit on how much time you will spend on everything and focus on that task for the duration of that time, check it off at the end, and move on to the next task.
3. Set short term and long term realistic goals-     Be very clear on what you want to accomplish every day, by the end of the week, month, year, and in the next five years. Ultimately, you are creating a blueprint for your long-term success. Dreams and ideas are great, but what good are they if not acted upon? Then, they are just intentions.  A person can have the best intentions in the world, but if action isn’t taken, it’s useless.  Setting small goals is like a road map to success. It is important to note that your goals and timeframes should be realistic so that you won’t feel like a failure.  For me, if something isn’t completed, I come down hard on myself by either getting frustrated or disappointed that I wasn’t able to reach my goal.  Sometimes I have to demand less of myself in the timeframe given or admit that what I am trying to accomplish will take a little more time than I expected.  So set goals, write them down, and now it’s time for action!
4. To leverage your time, you cannot and must not procrastinate! “Procrastination is like masturbation, you are only screwing yourself.”  Sorry to be so expressive, but hey sometimes we need to hear that in order to really get the point.  Procrastination is something that I struggle with, but I find that the best way to handle it is to do what you don’t want to do first.  Get it over and done with.  That is why many people exercise in the morning…it is over and done with and you can move on with your day (unfortunately my schedule doesn’t afford me this luxury).  Procrastination can eat away at your time and leave you feeling awful that you haven’t accomplished anything.  I have literally thought about how many things I needed to do for so long that the day would be nearly over and I hadn’t did not one thing!  I have gotten much better, but sometimes that nasty habit creeps up on me.   A great book tovercome procrastination is “Eat That Frog.”  It is on my must read list.

Okay so I have talked about some ways to leverage your time on your own, but now let’s look at how you could use other people’s time to leverage your time.

1. Learn how to delegate work to other people-  Of course you have to make sure the person is cut out for the job and if they are Great! I love when my mom helps me grade papers, while I am doing lesson plans… This is leverage at its finest.  If you can find help… use it!
2. Train and teach others-  When my students master a concept, I use them to teach other students who may be still struggling.  If you can train or teach someone to do something, it can pay out for you in the end because now you have a qualified person to either help you with a task or move you to the next level of what you are doing.
3. Outsource- Even the smartest person do not know everything.  And if you don’t know ask right?  Well in business, it could sometime be wise to hire people with the experience to do them more efficiently.
   Money that you invest in leveraging other people’s time is usually well spent.  If you are trying to create a website for your company, it might be better for you to pay someone to do it, so that you can focus on other things.  It depends on your needs. For me, I like to learn all that I can so that I can do it myself and this could be a double edge sword.   It is important to distinguish when to use someone else’s expertise and when to learn something for yourself.

Remember that it is normal for us to take on the world and be self-reliant, but this will limit you to achieving only those things that you can do by yourself which could be a complete hinderance to your overall success. 

Check out my other posts on leveraging of knowledge and education and technology resources.

ttyl, Na’sia

My motto: Learn, teach, inspire, and you shall receive all that your heart desires!