37signals

Check out a blog entry that "nails it":

http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1686-the-lifestyle-business-bullshit

David talks about how there's a nonlinear connection between how much work you put in and what the rewards are. Word.

This all links to what I have been preaching for a while;

Defining problems is way more valuable than solving them.

The one who defines the problem effectively owns it. Owns all the business that comes out of it. And can often just buy (or have others make) the solution to solving it.

Defining problems is pretty much the highest end of the value creation chain and it all starts from there.

In theory you can set up a business based on a problem you have defined in a way that all stakeholders and actors in your business simultaneously drive it and its growth in a way that it fuels itself. Then you just almost sit back and watch it grow. The best kind of Internet, software and social media cases are very much like this.

You define, empower, enable, and watch how it spreads.

I have heard plenty of talk about how entrepreneurs somehow NEED to put in long hours, and how "you cannot success unless you work around the clock".. this simply isn't true. There's no correlation between the two.

First off; It's not healthy. You need to stay in shape, sleep well and exercise. Trust me; the long hours are not as valuable as your health. I'm sure the occasional billionaire with cancer can pretty much write a book about this one topic alone; money cannot buy you health. So take good care of the one body and one life you have.

Not sleeping isn't an option either; if you don't sleep the first thing that goes out of the window is your ability to learn, to be creative and your memory as well. People that don't get enough sleep also don't learn. They start repeating the same, often obsessive, patterns and are stuck with actions that don't produce value. They are inflexible; trying to apply what they know best to every situation - regardless of the situation.

Being an entrepreneur requires that you are flexible and possess wits, know your shit, and you think it through by making smart decisions. You cannot make smart decisions if you are too busy and you "don't have time to think". A smart entrepreneur schedules himself enough time to think and process things through. A smart entrepreneur says "NO" to a whole lot of things and finds the nonlinear points where a little work done yields massive results.

Entrepreneurs have to make a lot of judgement calls; and making judgement calls especially is difficult in a hurry. Your judgement gets compromised quite quickly if you cannot even concentrate to the dilemma at hand. This is also especially true for Board of Directors strategy level work; try making your strategy in a hurry and see how well it works out for you..

Also; great ideas, innovation and valuable views are often born from the grey areas in between and from cross-disciplinary space. And they are born from sleeping well; having your brain in shape and in an alert state to be creative, freely associating (combining seemingly random things), and open minded. You can't have any of this if you are too busy putting in long hours to your operations.

What to do then? Stop for a while. Take a step back. Look at what you are doing - and what you should be doing. Put in less hours, smarter hours, less actions - more valuable actions. Learn to say "no" to things, or at least "not now".

.. and have fun! It's your only life, It's ending every second and it's up to you how you are going to spend it. "don't worry that you're gonna die, because you're gonna" (William Shatner).