Working harder doesn't make you more successful

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Hey! Sorry, this is a day late. Our kids ended up having an extra week off school because of the Omicron outbreak. Plus, my sister and her family had a last-minute detour on their trip home from a Christmas trip, so we've had guests for the last week.

Today I wanted to chat about the idea that "hard work = business success."

I often see successful entrepreneurs tout "hard work" as the secret to their fortune.

I don't believe it.

"Working harder," on its own, isn't sufficient to achieve your goals.

In high school, I worked at A&W and 7-Eleven. Later, I worked on construction sites, in a factory, and for a non-profit. I worked way harder at those jobs than I do now.

Building a successful business is more than just "brute force hard work."

For me, success has come from “consistently pushing forward, in the right direction.” To make progress, I wake up every day and push the rock a bit further down the road I want to go.

Success comes from consistently pushing forward in the right direction.

Justin Jackson @mijustin If your ship is sailing in the wrong direction… …going faster isn’t going to solve the problem. …motivating your crew isn’t going to solve the problem. …building a better ship isn’t going to solve the problem. Make sure you’re on the right course, then make adjustments. November 22nd 2021 17 Retweets 90 Likes

Before you can start taking action, you need to ask yourself:

Once you've figured out your trajectory, you can start applying consistent effort.

Most of my direction in business was determined by asking these questions:

1. How do I want my life to be different?
2. What do I want my average day to look like?
3. What kind of freedom do I want?
4. What are my values?

As an employee, my daily commute was a constant source of stress. It would take two hours a day. I'd return home feeling physically and mentally drained. I'd dread waking up, climbing in my car in the freezing weather, and battling traffic. I wanted my life to be different.

Here's how I wanted my average day to look and feel: waking up when I was ready, helping get my kids off to school, and then biking or walking down to my own private office that I'd rent downtown. On the way, I wanted to stop in at my favorite coffee shop and chat with friends.

I was also looking for other freedoms: I didn't want to ask my boss to go on vacation (that always felt a bit dehumanizing). I wanted to live close to the mountains and snowboard when it snowed. I wanted to make more money, pay off my debts, and provide a better life for my family.

And, after decades of working for other people, I'd determined the values that were important to me. Many of these learnings became the founding values that Jon and I outlined when we started Transistor (you can see them here).

I've worked steadily to achieve this vision from the age of 28 to now (41). I had many missteps but gradually made progress by building up my:

1. Connections: who I know and who knows me.
2. Skills: the value I can add to the world.
3. Assets: money, equity.
4. Portfolio: the things I've made (articles, podcasts, tweets, books, conference talks, courses, software).

It took ten years to go from starting this blog to founding a business that delivered the freedom I was looking for.

I've shared more of my journey in The Freedom Ladder and my annual reviews (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021).

Just because you're working hard doesn't mean you're making progress towards your goals. For example, one of my first businesses, a retail shop, took an incredible amount of effort to run but wasn't profitable.

Define how you want your life to be different, and then start heading in that direction. You'll make progress as you gradually build up your relationships, connections, skills, resources, and portfolio.

I hope that's helpful. If you want to share this on Twitter, the blog URL is here.

Cheers,
Justin Jackson
​@mijustin​

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