"Successfull people have to work like crazy and give up the best things in life"

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by Orecle

by the way, even if steve works those hours now, if you have followed steve over the years you know he is not afraid to put in the hours when a deadline is looming.

That reminds me. There is a blog post by Steve somewhere where he talks about how once he restricted himself to working 30 hours on his game business, he became more productive compared to when he worked 50 or more hours. The blog entry is about counting the time you put into work.

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by Orecle

this statement is pointless as he owned the company anyway, so regardless he would have the glory.

You missed the point.

Jeff said that he ALWAYS had time to have breakfast AND dinner with his kids. From the time he started his new little unknown business, right up to the time Palm became a global brand.

In other words, he NEVER worked "hard".

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by seeker5

There is a blog post by Steve somewhere where he talks about how once he restricted himself to working 30 hours on his game business, he became more productive compared to when he worked 50 or more hours. The blog entry is about counting the time you put into work.

You see, Orecle?

Let me tell when I am most productive at work.

I am most productive at work, when I meditate in the morning, before going to work.

For me, meditation does something to my brain. If I have meditated well, when I go to work, my brain finds all the right solutions quite easily and effectively; it doesn't get distracted; it intuitively detects the bigger picture, and then everything just gets done.

[Daffy Duck]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

I am most productive at work, when I meditate in the morning, before going to work.

Same here! Taking those 10-15 minutes to "center" myself really makes the whole day go much better.

[seeker5]

Hey ACL, this is great what you're saying. It's reminding me of two things from my life.

First, I used to work in a big retailer. I'd work in the backroom stocking and things. During the Christmas season, which is very heavy, especially in the U.S, they required us to work 50-70 hours a week. Some of the guys would work what I considered crazy hours: 70+ hours. When the Christmas work season started around September-October, I told my boss that I would refuse to work more then 40 hours, and no more then 8 hours a day. My boss was quite unhappy with me, and told me ok, but when the Christmas Season was over, he was going to drastically cut my hours down to below what I would normally get since I was refusing to be a "teamplayer"

I ended sticking to my 40 hours a week, while everyone else worked crazy hours, from 60-70+. I was always productive during my time at work, I always came on time and didn't miss a day of work. The other guys, after a few weeks of this crazy schedule started spending time where they were quite unproductive where they really felt the need to goof off, they started coming in late, started missing work at times. So, even though I was working less then any of them, each hour I was there, I'm sure I was the most productive one. I definitely became the most reliable one.

After the Christmas season was over, instead of cutting my hours down as payback for refusing to work more then 40 hours, my boss instead kept me working full-time at 40 hours, and instead cut some of those other guy's hours down below 40. I had afterall, showed I was the most productive, and more reliable guy on the team despite the fact I refused to work more then 40 hours.

The second thing this reminds me of is this past year in school. I know there are times I've studied a good bit less then some of my classmates, and yet I got better grades. I remember once where I studied for 3 hours for an exam, while some of my classmates studied 15-20 hours, and I ended doing better then them. Not because I'm smarter, but I know when I studied for that exam, I did some very intense studying. I visualized a lot, I kept myself up in peak state, I went in there with full energy, I blocked out all negative thinking, and only had positive thinking, and used some memory tricks (not much, just a few) to help remember some stuff.

So, that's two examples now from my life that I use to help myself bust that belief.

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by Daffy Duck

Same here! Taking those 10-15 minutes to "center" myself really makes the whole day go much better.

How do you center yourself Daffy?

[Daffy Duck]

I don't do the "normal" meditation of sitting still and focusing on my breath. That doesn't work for me. My kind of meditation is kind of like a focused prayer. I sit still and focus on talking to God. This alone makes the day go much nicer.

But for a "full" centering, I like to do a few more things in the morning:

1. Prayer
2. The Mirror Exercise (see page 2)
3. Read one or two positive stories, from something like Chicken Soup for the Soul.
4. Morning jog for 20 minutes

If I do the above 4 things, I tend to be a hyper-productive-happy machine for the rest of the day. If I skip those 4 things, I tend to still be productive and happy, but not as much so.

Jack Canfield and Brian Tracy have been the two main mentors in my personal development since I was young.

[Brutha]

So, that's two examples now from my life that I use to help myself bust that belief.

Even when personal example are important, it's also important to have role models.

Who do you want to follow?

For me Jeff Hawkins and Nassim Taleb are important role models.
I like both because they are successful in multiple fields. Jeff Hawkins especially because I also like to go into Neuroscience.

Real life mentors are also a good thing if you can find one.

[Plays With Life]

Originally Posted by seeker5

That reminds me. There is a blog post by Steve somewhere where he talks about how once he restricted himself to working 30 hours on his game business, he became more productive compared to when he worked 50 or more hours. The blog entry is about counting the time you put into work.

I've noticed the same thing. When I've limited the time I will put to something - I end up getting more done. Something about the limitation just causes me to focus and produce more readily.

[garentee]

I have to disagree only based on what I do for a living. As a farmer long hours ARE necessary and helpful etc...I cannot imagine doing what I do in approximately 65-70 hours a week in much less time...(used to do it in 80) I still do not get to everything that I need to even with some amount of outside help..It is generally believed in my circle of peers that if you have the time to get to everything, that you have not got enough planted. Sometimes too being at the mercy of the weather creates situations where 14 hour days for days at a time sometimes even weeks at a time are necessary..(not to mention the 7 day week..I have had maybe one or two days off completely since June 1st..the weeds will not take care of themselves)
There are many industries besides farming that people put in long hours because that is the nature of the amount of labor it takes to produce the items that are being produced. Very few chefs put in less than 50 hours..Really the point is there has to be a pretty enormous amount of love for what you are doing in order for success.. I really do not consider what i do work, its a lifestyle which demands a lot of time and energy... the proof is really in the pudding though... I do grow some really amazing produce if I do say so myself...oh wait I just did..

[Plays With Life]

Maybe the OP was talking about doing things you don't want to do / don't like to do .. rather than length or intensity of the action?

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by Daffy Duck

2. The Mirror Exercise (see page 2)

Hey, that looks a cool exercise! I went ahead and printed it and will start the 30 day trial of it .

Thanks for listing your centering habits.

I've listened to a good bit of Brian Tracy as I have a lot of his audiobooks, and even listened to him for an hour earlier today, but I really don't know much about Jack Canfield's personal development literature other then maybe one book I read that didn't help a while ago that wasn't really helpful for my situation. I love his chicken soup books though.

[Excellent Lodestar]

I think that the people we can agree to call "successful"--Those people did in fact Work like crazy and yes, "gave Up" to have their dream.

The thing is, to a man(or woman), If you asked them about the sacrifice and hard work, you might get a puzzled look...Because they view it as doing what they love,and to them it wasn't a sentence...Time was flying and they were so into the process of whatever their chosen activity was, that there was no concept of "sacrifice". Probably more like "man, I can't believe I get to do this!"...

[Thekla]

Hi Seeker,

Most of our deeply-rooted beliefs formed because they served us for a time and for a reason. Often, it can be hard to let these beliefs go until we recognize what we are getting out of holding onto them in the first. So, I'd ask how has this belief benefited or protected you in the past? What have you been getting out of believing that successful people must work hard and give up their relationships? And what would you get out of letting it go? Good luck and great conversation here!

Take care,
Thekla

[Daffy Duck]

Originally Posted by seeker5

Hey, that looks a cool exercise! I went ahead and printed it and will start the 30 day trial of it .

It's especially good to do right before bed. This is like a LOA technique. I was doing this long before I ever heard of LOA.

Thanks for listing your centering habits.

Thanks for asking, and thanks for sharing your personal work story.

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by Brutha

Even when personal example are important, it's also important to have role models.

You're right!

Who do you want to follow?

For me Jeff Hawkins and Nassim Taleb are important role models.
I like both because they are successful in multiple fields. Jeff Hawkins especially because I also like to go into Neuroscience.

Hmm, I don't really know either of these two guys yet. I'll look them up. I did get the 4 hour week book that I'll read through eventually. That should help.

Originally Posted by Plays With Life

Maybe the OP was talking about doing things you don't want to do / don't like to do .. rather than length or intensity of the action?

Yeah, I agree. The OP was thinking in terms of doing things he didn't want, and he...(ok, won't talk about myself in third term ) I realized halfway through this thread that part of it was I was thinking of forcing myself to do things I didn't like. But yet, when I view it through the prism of doing things that I connect and would love to, then I can see how it's possible to do a lot more, like what ALG described. It's when I force myself to do things I don't like to do, nor care to do, then I feel I need a lot of recovery time. So, part of becoming much more effective would be to stop doing things I don't connect with, and to connect much more with things that I really connect with.

Originally Posted by Thekla

Hi Seeker,

Hi Thekla

Most of our deeply-rooted beliefs formed because they served us for a time and for a reason. Often, it can be hard to let these beliefs go until we recognize what we are getting out of holding onto them in the first. So, I'd ask how has this belief benefited or protected you in the past? What have you been getting out of believing that successful people must work hard and give up their relationships? And what would you get out of letting it go? Good luck and great conversation here!

Thansk for the questions! I'll journal through them.

Originally Posted by Daffy Duck

It's especially good to do right before bed. This is like a LOA technique. I was doing this long before I ever heard of LOA.

Ah, that's cool. I've done it now three times in a row, I like it.

[Plays With Life]

Originally Posted by seeker5

Yeah, I agree. The OP was thinking in terms of doing things he didn't want, and he...(ok, won't talk about myself in third term ) I realized halfway through this thread that part of it was I was thinking of forcing myself to do things I didn't like. But yet, when I view it through the prism of doing things that I connect and would love to, then I can see how it's possible to do a lot more, like what ALG described. It's when I force myself to do things I don't like to do, nor care to do, then I feel I need a lot of recovery time. So, part of becoming much more effective would be to stop doing things I don't connect with, and to connect much more with things that I really connect with.

Totally. I realized while reading this thread that I can work danged hard on something I love doing, and do it for days and weeks on end almost nonstop .. but I wouldn't give it up for the world. If someone suggested I "slow down" or "take it easy" or "not work so hard", I might do a double take. Why in the world would I choose to NOT do something I want to be doing?

Working to achieve something is totally different .. then I have to pace myself, to not wear out, to not wane in energy etc. But things I want to be doing never wear my energy down or leave me feeling tired, even after extended periods of doing 'em.