4 Hours of Great Work Trumps the 8-Hour Survival Slog Hustle Fog Every Time
Building our side-hustles on top of our day job is one thing. Developing the ability to get things done with clarity is another.
We are natural brand ambassadors of brilliant work. Occasionally, we dread it.
That is true for all of us.
No one wants to do sloppy work, or simply, work we are not proud of. When it comes to our day job and side hustles, the academic homework mentality is professional suicide.
For us to punch way above our weight, we have to re-examine our relationship with time. The dot connector between time and work is our focus.
How we use time is the only definitive comparative advantage against any hustle-preneur out there.
“Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can’t buy more hours. Scientists can’t invent new minutes. And you can’t save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving.”
So, how do we sidestep that dreaded survival slog hustle fog?
First Thing First — What is the Survival Slog Hustle Fog?
It is a mental state we experience from time to time.
It is that sense of dread when we open our eyes and not wanting to get into a standing position. It is that sick feeling in the gut leading us to the toilet instead of our working desk.
We feel down, not upbeat about the possibilities the day may bring.
This is a survival slog. We drag. We take one hour to walk from the bedroom to the study room just 15 steps apart. It takes another 30 minutes to push the power button on our laptops.
And then, the hustle fog starts clouding our minds.
We start the working day by clearing emails. Check, delete, check, delete, oh, there is a discount by this brand today! Instead of purging the digital toxic from our inbox, we get sucked into the whirlwind of retail dopamine.
Maybe, we plan to create content today. Before we know it, we use our phones to mindlessly scroll through Instagram and Twitter instead of pushing out content on Instagram and Twitter.
The survival slog hustle fog is in play.
The Playbook for Squeezing Time to Work and Making Time for Things That Matter
“Men die of boredom, psychological conflict and disease. They do not die of hard work.”
There are plenty of opportunities out there, and we have to create the chance to excel.
Many people hate hearing this.
It takes effort, EFFORT, EFFORT to grow a business, developing a high-income skill, and working on a side-hustle that brings us joy and coins.
There are 3 anchors to doing great work. They are:
- Knowing what needs to be done and get it done.
- Take time to learn what works and what doesn’t.
- Make time to push the boundaries of our skillsets or acquire new ones.
Together, they make up the triangle of great work.
The Triangle Supporting 4-Hours of Great Work Today and Into the Future
We know what needs to be done.
Students know they have to do homework. Getting it done is the problem. You may not like what you do because you are forced to do it, or it is simply a component of your side hustle you do not appreciate.
For instance, I enjoy hopping on Live-Stream to share my work. I may not share that level of enthusiasm writing blogs to promote it.
To combat that, I up my ante in terms of work velocity. We have to get it done. So, instead of moping around, I will get it done fast, without sacrificing quality. That way, I am free to do what I want later.
And then, we need thinking time.
You want to squeeze work down to 4 hours to have time to reflect on the past week. Here are my reflection samples.
This genre works for publication A and not B. Okay, noted. Is it the headlines? Maybe. Okay, how to improve the headlines for publication B?
This client routinely cuts into my presentation and disrupts my thought processes. Should I pre-record a video presentation so I can focus on how he thinks? Is my presentation too long? Can it be more concise? How can I debone it from 40 minutes to 15?
When we engage in deep thinking, we know exactly how and what to improve on.
Lastly, and most importantly, we need to carve time out for improvement. I do not mean learning how to fly a spacecraft or a drone. I mean acquiring new skillsets that complement our existing ones.
This is about professional/personal growth.
Our ability to present is a good example.
Memorizing our way to efficiency can only take us that far. We need to learn how to use new presentation software to grab and hold attention. Learning how to present in different meeting room settings is equally as important.
In brief, we need to divide our time between doing great work today and preparing ourselves for the future.
Summary
Building a business or growing a side-hustle on top of our day job is a tough job.
We need commitment and laser-sharp focus on things that matter. Having great work done in less time means more time for growth and self-improvement.
We cannot multiply or grow time. It ticks away without our control.
That said, there are 2 things we can control.
How fast we get things done. How fast we can snap out of our survival slog hustle fog.
All the best!
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure. Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.