[Dale Wiley]

I picked up a couple of magazines early last month at San Diego airport and flopped them on my coffee table when I got home. I was cleaning the house yesterday and picked on up to look at and came away with some good ideas.

These are from Entrepreneur magazine October 2005, a regular feature called Be your own boss / success coach.

It is not about the number of hours we spend on a goal, but the ultimate outcome of our efforts.

Remember that time is not an adequeate measure of hard work. It is simply the action of applying effort to produce favorable outcomes.

Hard work does not have to be associated with pain or long hours.

We have been taught that to attain economic freedom and professional success, we must spend many hours with our noses to the grindstone.

No one else can define the number of hours you must spend working, it is an individual choice. The true measure of your hard work is the personal awarness that you have worked to the best of your ability to complete a goal.

These are some pretty simple concepts, but some that I have ignored and are trying to correct.

[rosenlof/lucas]

Thanks for posting those Dale. It seems like so much of success is perspective. These statements remind me of that. It also seems like sometimes the "truths" (for lack of a better term) are simple and seem almost obvious as you encounter them. I read a book called the Tipping Point, highly recommended, that has become the cornerstone of our approach to marketing. It all seemed so simple and obvious when I read it and yet they were ideas that I hadn't really framed that way.
To me, sometimes words like grindstone, no pain no gain, etc almost kind of bum me out. There are points during the season that I almost get panicked we are working so hard. There is something soothing about the ideas you put up.

Thanks,
Matt

rosenlof/lucas

[HardDaysKnight]

Interesting stuff Dale. I've noticed that on really hard jobs
that we put in a 4-5 hour day here and there in the work week.
It's amazing how thew next morning we finish where we
left off and it takes us 2 hours to do what would have taken 4
because we were spent putting our noses to the grindstone.

[Dale Wiley]

Another couple I ran across is

" Time spent worrying about anything, is time squandered"

" Stay focused on winning. You are in business for just one thing, to make money, enabling you to take care of your family and to PROVIDE FOR YOUR FUTURE."

[Stonehenge]

I guess I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of work/family balance - yeah, I love my family more than anything, and will do anything for them....which sometimes means working insane hours to do what I need to for them.

A few years ago John Allin (probably the largest snow plowing contractor in the US, if not the world) told me that I should work to achieve a balance. So I asked him how many hours he put in every week. 80-90 was the reply. I said "Yeah, practice what you preach." I walked away from that conversation with the belief that in anything there have to be sacrifices - work long and hard, sacrificing some time with family (but hopefully providing more for them in the process). Spend more time with the family, sacrificing some time spent on the business (possibly providing a little less for them in the process).

I'm sure there are people out there who are better managers than I am, and can get more done in less time. But I've found that other than the burnout that happens sometime in July-August every season, I don't need much away time to keep chugging away at what we need to do. I enjoy it quite a bit (most of the time).

So I guess what I'm saying is do what you need to do for your situation. You may be in a spot where you need more time with the fam - you oughta do that. You might be in a spot where if you don't make hay, the family doesn't eat - in that case, put sleep and every other luxury on hold for awhile and get crackin'.

[Dale Wiley]

I picked up another one today, at a website I found.

You are where you are in your business and your life because of the decisions that you and you alone have made. If your business isn’t on the road to providing you a good retirement, then you have made some bad decisions. If you have made too many bad decisions, then you are probably in the red. That means it is time to make some changes.

I went to this website, and although it is building related, I have found much to help me. You might give it a look.

Mark up and Profit

[nclandscaper]

I set a rule for myself 10yrs ago when I started biz. No work on weekends for me or employees! We work our butts off all week and weekends are time to play.
I've stuck to it except in emergency situations.
The past few yrs I've been able to stick pretty well to 7am-5pm hrs.
It's all about the people you have. The hardest thing for me to do is let og of responsibilities and delegate. I still have trouble with it but I HAVE to do it to grow and keep my sanity.
I'm working on increasing our net and I thinkn I've just got to stop being such a nice guy. I've created a good work atmosphere but I think the guys take advantage a litle. Then again, if something costs me a couple bucks but keeps morale up, then it's worth it.
the things botherin' me now are side jobs I've been slack about and needing to tight up and be a hard ass withthe guys about a few issues.
Otherwise, there's only so much time. When your 3yr old grows up, you can't get that time back. Enjoy your time now.