A quote that was said to me by a former manager while working in retail. It didn't resonate with me right away until I fully thought of the meaning behind it. That's when the light bulb came on and it all made sense to me. Here's how I work smarter and not harder.
For starters, I'm never going to be the guy who works 18 hours a day, that's not reality for me (granted if anyone does it, more power to you). CEOs who run companies or business people who do it, if it makes you happy and you're good sleeping 6 hours a night, do it. That's just not my thing and it never will be.
As a writer, blogger, author, podcaster, YouTuber, and every other thing you can think of, I spend time on things that are important to me. I stay ahead in my writing so there's always content to be shared. With this blog for an example, I'm always a good 5-6 blogs ahead and I write my content way ahead of time. I only post two blogs a week to not overload people with content because eventually, you burn out and you run out of things to say.
While other people probably feel pressure to think of new things to say everyday, I really don't. I'd rather spread out my content over a long period of time than to overload people and then everyone gets tired of me. That's just my thoughts on that so just know that this blog was written weeks ago and you're just seeing it now.
Another example is my books. Most of my books are written months ahead of time and they're edited and proofread I'm not perfect) at least 5 months before I publish them. I stay ahead of the curve so I can put my time into other projects (podcasts and recording my own audiobooks, more are coming in the near future).
My blogs don't take long to write because I have a general idea of what I'm going to say and my thoughts just flow. This is how I work smarter and not harder. Everyone does things their own way and most people are willing to work 15-18 hours a day to accomplish their goals. I love sleep and resting my mind so I'm fresh and not flustered in what I'm doing.
For me, as a writer, I need sleep and plenty of it. Monday-Wednesday I sleep 6-7 hours on average. Wednesday-Sunday I can get 8-9 hours of sleep which is much needed because of my work schedule. So resting my body and my mind is crucial to my success in my writing journey.
The point is, do what works for you. Prioritize what's important, keep a notepad on your phone or a notebook with what you want to do, what needs to be done and the amount of time you're going to spend on it. That's how you knockout what needs to get done.
I write "to do" lists every week and that's how I'm able to get so much done in such a short amount of time. Believe it or not, I spend more time thinking and brainstorming what I'm going to do. Then I just write everything down and go from there. Monday-Thursday I spend about 2 hours a day doing something that's going to get me closer to where I want to be. Friday-Sunday I work a good 5-6 hours a day just doing things that are going to help me with accomplishing my goals. That's a good 8 hours a week of quality work.
That consists of writing blogs, recording YouTube videos, brainstorming and marketing, recording audio books, planning out content for my podcasts, and reading content on how to get better at my craft.
Please remember, do what works for you, not what others tell you. While some of the people I follow and listen to always say how many hours they work, it's something I will never feel comfortable doing and that's totally okay. Anytime spent working toward your goal, you're just one day closer.
Be good and go accomplish your goals.
Jamell Crouthers
Aquarianmind
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