Hey and welcome to another one of the Myth Busters. And today we’re going to be busting the myth, I must work harder to do better. So let’s look at this idea for a second. And sometimes it’s true. If you’ve got not much work on, so you know, you’re sitting around, you know, three days a week or two days a week, or even one day a week. And you’ve got not enough work to keep you busy, then possibly you need to work harder to do better.
But most business owners I meet are working five, sometimes six and often seven days a week, and on the sixth and seventh day, if they’re not working with clients, then they’re working in their own business. They’re doing their own keeping and stuff, which is crazy. But you know, they’re busy enough. There is very little scope for them to work harder.
And so my question here is, you know, is it really true that to do better, you need to work harder? Let me bust this myth. I’ve picked a bad phrase. Let me bust this myth. And with a couple of maybe an example or two. Let’s take, for example, so Richard Branson here is a man who owns or has part ownership of over 400 businesses.
Now, by anyone’s standards that is working beyond home. If you know where most of us are finding it quite hard and quite busy to work just one business, he is a man who’s working 400. So clearly just working harder isn’t essential to do better because otherwise he would have a day that probably last four years long.
And unfortunately, like the rest of us. He has got 24 hours in the day and he needs to sleep. And so it is a myth to think that you have to work harder. And in fact, it is a myth that keeps businesses is working hard, and not progressing, not making progress in their income. Not making progress for their business sales, not making progress for their profitability.
Not making progress from a cash flow and not making progress for how they and their family benefit from this incredibly brave step of opening another business of opening a business. And, honestly, I love business owners because I know how hard they work.
To me, they are the salt of the earth because they do extraordinary things to build an income for themselves and their family. And in the process, if not, the main process is to help their community or society or the world by what they do, the services they offer, or whether it’s, you know, making products or whether it’s offering services, or anything like that.
You know, I believe it is, that they have a really incredible part to play in the wealth of the nation. And it helps provide for all the social requirements that we need in a civilized society.
So for example, in the UK, we need business owners to provide taxes and employment for to finance the national health service, the police, the roads, and so on and so on. And so, if it was true that we had to work harder. I think that’d be no hope. But fortunately, that myth I’m hoping I’ve busted it by now is, is completely wrong.
The thinking is going to be wrong. All you need to do is work differently. I’d like to say work smarter, but that would suggest that you’re not working. You’re not smart. I wouldn’t mean that in any shape or form. Most business owners have everything they need. Except the ability to break out of a routine that they’ve fallen into of thinking, you know, this is as good as it gets. I can’t do any better.
And that thinking, you know, I can’t work any harder because there aren’t any more hours in a day is the root cause of that. So let me just give you, if you’re in the river of thinking, I need to work hard and I’ve got no more hours in the day, let me throw you a lifeline.
You don’t need to work harder. You can’t work harder. You’ve got a family probably you’ve got, you know, things you want to do. You’ve got hobbies. You want holidays, you want to go on, you’ve got the things you want to do personally. You want to, you know, just relax, kick up your shoes and just, you know, watch a bit of TV or go and catch a movie or go for a lovely meal.
You’ve got ambitions to do things for your family or better schools or a nicer house or a nicer cars, got a holidays, whatever it is. It doesn’t require working harder. You do need though to break out of that thinking and think, what do I need to do differently to take my business to the next level?
And in that respect, I hope some of my blogs, some of my videos, some of my thinking helps you along that path at least a little bit. You know, what I can do for free for the community that has served me so well as I’ve served them incredibly well. You know, I love my clients and I’d like to think that they like me too, because they’d been with me.
You know, I just got a client to retirement the other day and he’d be with me for 35 years. He was my first client; he’s just retired and lovely man. And, you know, great family and he’s you know, absolutely, overjoyed for him to be able to retire financially secure in his future.
Anyway, that’s it from me. Got on this one because I think it is so important to understand. I hope you get something out of it.
Have I busted that myth? If I have, let me know. If I haven’t, tell me what you’re thinking. And let’s keep the conversation going.
All the best. Take care. Goodbye.
