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& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads | | JANUARY 28, 2004
By Dan Sullivan Working Smarter, Achieving More Too many entrepreneurs wrongly believe that long work hours are a measure of success. Here's a way to reclaim your life I work with a lot of entrepreneurs, and the way many of them talk about time is reminiscent of the talk about gasoline during the energy crisis of the 1970s: "There isn't enough to go around! It's running out!" To compensate, some adopt time-management systems as complex as the gasoline solutions. ("Only even-numbered license plates can fill up today!") What they need, however, isn't more complexity. They need simplicity. Ultimately, the fuel crisis wasn't managed by figuring out how to keep doing things the same way, but rather by adopting new ways of working with the resources at hand. Innovative technologies like fuel injection systems emerged, and the energy supply -- which experts projected would be depleted by now -- continues abundant. The same is true of time: It may seem to be a limited resource, but there is actually as much of it as you need if you learn to use it in a new way. Still, many entrepreneurs operate in a time system far more obsolete than a 1970s gas-guzzler. Indeed, theirs comes from the era of the Model-T. WORK MODELS. At the turn of the last century, factories revolutionized the way goods were produced and delivered to the public. With factory work came a different attitude toward workers. They were parts in a machine and could be replaced. While they were working, it was necessary to ensure that things ran as uniformly and predictably as possible. Every day's work was the same, and compensation was given in exchange for the length of time worked. Working long hours was a sign of loyalty. In sum, it was a bureaucratic time system. I call it the Time-and-Effort Economy. Today, bureaucratic systems are breaking down. Advances in technology have radically shifted our thinking, emphasizing the limitless creative potential of the individual. Entrepreneurs are on the leading edge of this trend, stepping free from old structures to innovate and create value with greater speed and adaptability than lumbering institutions, which are focused on perpetuating themselves rather than serving their markets. Entrepreneurs live in what I call the Results Economy. They get paid only for the results they produce, based on the value these results create for their clients and customers. For them, it is an entrepreneurial time system. Why, then, do so many entrepreneurs still operate as if it mattered how long or how hard they work? An unhealthy notion of virtue has become attached to burnout, regardless of whether the long hours have produced any results. This thinking completely misses the point of being an entrepreneur, which is freedom. TYPES OF DAYS. In 1988, I co-founded The Strategic Coach with my wife, Babs Smith. We specialize in creating breakthrough strategies and tools for highly successful entrepreneurs. Among our many offerings is Entrepreneurial Time System, the purpose of which is to create an ever-increasing amount of personal freedom for the entrepreneur, while generating the greatest possible results for his or her business. What follows is a discussion of its essential elements. At its core, The Entrepreneurial Time System completely alters an individual's relationship to time. It allows one's personal and professional lives to receive an equal amount of attention -- indeed, to be in balance -- and thus generate energy for each other. The program calls for dividing days into three distinct types, which we call Free Days, Focus Days, and Buffer Days, and attending differently during each. Free Days. A Free Day is a 24-hour period, midnight to midnight, in which you, the entrepreneur, do not engage in any business-related thinking, communication, or actions. Admittedly, it's a difficult concept for many company founders, who might feel they are abandoning their child when they take time away from the business. However, the opposite is true: You become a detriment to your business when you don't. When you refuse to delegate tasks, you slow down your team. When you run out of energy, you don't have the creativity to seize opportunities. When you become reactive, you harm the organization you want to build and protect. Your personal life suffers, too. One successful entrepreneur I know says, "I was boring! I only had one thing I could talk about: work."
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