When I became an entrepreneur I had to reprogram my brain. This was extremely difficult for me because I was set in my ways from my time as an employee and a student. Early in my career I was often rewarded more for effort than I was for impact.
I was usually rewarded more for appearing to be trying hard. This would look like working long hours, coming in early, working weekends, being available, and doing things outside of my job description. In fact, if I was to hit my performance metrics but did not appear to be trying very hard I would quickly find my performance targets to be raised, an increased workload, and sometimes angry managers that simply did not appreciate seeing me appearing to not be trying very hard. Even if I was exceeding performance goals.
This was a strange paradox, I would be rewarded for appearing to try hard even if I didn’t increase my productivity and I was penalized for achieving goals quickly and efficiently. Effort and productivity aren’t always linked. Some of the highest value tasks don’t require significant effort. An example would be cold calling a potential client that ends up being a large client or having a conversation with someone that ends up being an investor. As an entrepreneur some of the highest value activities for your business do not require significant effort and some of the things that take significant effort may not yield much results for your business.
During moments when I find myself not having much to do I have to tell myself that it’s OK to have downtime. As a business owner if you have to choose between impact or effort try to choose impact. Work doesn’t always have to feel hard or like a grind.