58.

Do as Little Work as Possible

Believe it or not, that's the goal in the department I supervise. Another way to phrase it is, how efficiently can you produce the results you need? Look at everything in your life—your time, your money, the environment in which you work, your body (the environment you inhabit). Are they aligned with your commitment to produce the best work you can, at all times?

All of the above are interrelated. Ask yourself: Am I getting enough sleep? Am I getting up early enough to handle the things I need to do to prepare for my day? These might include eating well, meditating, yoga, spending time with your family, reading and researching, having a healthy meal, etc. The things you have to do to honor your commitments might begin to feel less like chores if you approach them in the spirit of doing them to help yourself be more prepared. As J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, said, “Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.”

The same cost/benefit ratio that you use for money can also be used to judge what you're doing with your time. Playing Angry Birds is fun—but at what point does it begin to take away time from the project you've contracted to complete? Managing time means just that: You get to decide when it's time to play and when it's time to get back to work. Here's a time-management mantra that I've used for many years: “Does it cost me money or does it make me money?” Every choice I make in business is based on that phrase.

I recently taught a class during which the subject of procrastination came up. “Show of hands,” I asked, “how many of you have a problem with procrastinating?” Every hand shot up. It's my belief that if you have a goal and you want to achieve it badly enough, procrastination ceases to be an issue. We procrastinate about the things we don't want to do. If you have an issue with procrastination, maybe the problem isn't you—maybe you're just not doing something you want to do.