A Paradox of Productivity

If I had to pick one book, to keep with me on a desert island, it would have to be Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. The book is truly outstanding.

Csikszentmihalyi came to study the phenomenon, which he called "Flow," by observing artists. Subsequent to the book titled Flow, Csikszentmihalyi wrote a book called Creativity.

In the book, Creativity, Csikszentmihalyi tells a funny story about Peter Drucker. Csikszentmihalyi is on the faculty at the same school that Drucker taught at. Namely, Claremont Graudate University in California.

As Csikszentmihalyi was doing research for Creativity he contacted Drucker and asked if Peter would participate. At question was how Drucker was able to be so prolifically creative. Drucker replied that he was able to be so prodigious by not wasting his time on studies such as Csikszentmihalyi's. Drucker must have also saved a lot of time by being direct and to the point. HA!

What I am talking about, here, is an old but important idea. Indeed, it is a paradox. The key to doing more is doing less. I feel this needs to be repeated because of the rampant pride people seem to take in the concept of mutli-tasking.

Please allow me to state something unequivocally, multi-tasking is largely an illusion. Now, before you blow a gasket (while simultaneously feeding the dog and checking the mail) let me clarify.

It is true that humans can do more than one thing at a time. We are capable of walking and chewing the proverbial bubblegum. But, we are not really capable of doing multiple, difficult things at the same time. We can send text messages while driving a car but we end up doing neither very well.

Not too long ago, Greg McKeown wrote a book titled Essentialism and Gary Keller wrote one called The One Thing. Both books are talking about this paradox of productivity. The idea that we do more when we do less.

If we want to get really great (and I believe we should all strive for excellence) we need to focus our effort. It is for this reason that I do not use LinkedIn or facebook or SnapChat or Twitter or any of the other distractions that exist.

Speaking of great, several years ago Jim Collins wrote a famous book titled Good to Great. In the book Collins talks about what he calls the “Hedgehog Concept.” Collins would say, in order to become great we must crystallize our Hedgehog Concept.

Without getting too much into it, in order to clarify your Hedgehog Concept, you need to answer three important questions: What can you (your company) be the best in the world at? What drives your economic engine? What are you deeply passionate about?

Again, I am not going to get into it, for more details simply read the book. But, I do want to draw your attention to that second question. What drives your economic engine? The answer will be your One Thing, to borrow Keller's term.

Listen, the world is much too sophisticated these days. Excellence has become the price of admission. And, we are not going to become great at anything by multi-tasking.

Last week I talked about the fact that Peter Drucker was largely a psychologist. And, Drucker would say that the biggest reason to pursue excellence is psychological. Becoming excellent makes us feel good about ourselves. 

So, again. Focus on what is really important and you will be able to produce more by doing less.

Drucker on Procrastination

Peter Drucker is widely recognized as the man who create the science and practice of management. While that is accurate, Drucker was so much more than just a management guru. Among other things, in many ways, Drucker was also a psychologist. You will see what I mean in a second.

Now, John Flaherty was a professor of management at Pace University. Some years ago, Flaherty wrote a fantastic book titled Peter Drucker: Shaping the Managerial Mind. The book is quite excellent and I highly recommend reading it.

This week, I decided to grab an excerpt, from Flaherty's fabulous book. The excerpt is a section from the chapter on time management. Specifically, as you will see, the discussion is about procrastination. The following are Flaherty's words,

“It was debatable, Drucker argued, whether we were living in the best of times or the worst of times, but he was certain that it was the only time we had. Looking at procrastination from this point of view, he saw it as the greatest thief of time and the most obvious impediment to achieving results.

"In any discussion of time, Drucker said, it was crucial to address procrastination, the normal human propensity to postpone to tomorrow what should be done today, to talk about intentions rather than work toward results, and to delay actions until ideal conditions prevail. All these factors contributed to lost opportunities, exacerbated emotions, produced psychological fears, and generated unnecessary pressures. Equating procrastination with the fine art of staying apace of yesterday, he observed that postponement resulted in physical fatigue and psychological anguish that made the job seem increasingly difficult the more it was put off.

"Drucker realized that simply sermonizing on the ways procrastination inhibited action was useless. His recipe for avoiding these pitfalls of procrastination in the first place invoked an alliterative triad of steps: definition, delegation, and deadline. The executive needed to define the problem or the task, delegate accountability to a specific person along with responsibility for the specific thing to be accomplished, and establish a firm deadline for completion. The definition ensured a sense of purpose, the delegation identified who was going to do the actual work, and the deadline substituted action for inertia.

"To offset the perils of procrastination, Drucker's greatest single antidote was “to start.” Then, by doing a little bit on a regular and consistent basis, even the biggest project would diminish in size. Moreover, in commencing a task some degree of accomplishment was inevitable, and this achievement reduced the element of fear and apprehension. Drucker was convinced that a sure sign of the consummate professional was the capacity for “getting started.” However, he also worried that a robotic concern with the principles of time management could destroy the human side of executive effectiveness. It could lead to the sacrifice of family responsibilities, the neglect of friendships, the forfeiture of hobbies, and the loss of the satisfaction of serving others through voluntary activities. Drucker considered this too big a price for pursuing a successful career.

"Moreover, a virtue could disintegrate into a vice if the rigorous control of time created a workaholic. Drucker concluded there were few more pressing issues in effectiveness than the proper management of time, but when taken to extremes it violated the moral tenet that everybody needed a private life.”

Reluctant Modernity

One of life's most well-known paradoxes is the following, “The only constant is ______.” What goes in the blank? Everybody knows the answer is the word “change.” The only constant is change. This is an idea which is so well-known that it has practically become a cliché.

Even though we all know, in theory, that change is the only constant, humans fundamentally resist change. We are all wired with a way of thinking that the psychologists call the “Status Quo Bias.”

The Status Quo Bias is the name for people's tendency to hold on to the past. Joshua Knobe, a professor at Yale University, says, “The basic idea here is just that people have a bias toward choosing options that allow everything to stay the same as it was.”

The great Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, said life fundamentally exists in tension. And, here we have one of life's main tensions. People prefer for things to stay the same. But everything must change. This can create quite a lot of problems. The tension, between change and continuity, is ever-present.

Enter the world of business. Business is the first human institution that was designed to lead change. This is an idea I am borrowing from Drucker. Other human institutions are meant to preserve continuity. Have you ever thought about that?

For example, the church is organized around continuity. Let's take the Christian tradition. As we all know, the Christian tradition is based upon the Bible. And, like any other church, Christian churches are meant to go backwards.

That is to say, what we learn in church is to be more like Jesus Christ. A man who died about 2,000 years ago. Most people are aware that Jesus taught us various principles to live by. And, one role of the church is to preserve those principles. The church is not looking to change things.

Business, however, is all about change. Capitalism is, at its core, creative destruction. It is about change. The old is constantly killed off, and the new is born. Companies like Airbnb and Uber have been born and are making all kinds of noise. Meanwhile, Compaq, MCI, and PaineWebber have gone the way of the dodo bird.

Far from trying to hold on to the past, Richard Farson and Ralph Keyes say, “Economists consider a high rate of business failure a sign of economic vitality.” The Soviet Union's communist regime was doomed because they refused to let businesses fail. A healthy economy needs to make it easy for businesses to be started and closed.

In many ways business is the agent of change. Of course, this cuts both ways. Sometimes people get talked into buying bad stuff. This is inevitable. But, for the most part, business serves a valuable purpose. And, this is why it is so important to be a salesperson.

As we all know, businesses are started by entrepreneur. And, as I have stated repeatedly, the two entrepreneurial functions are innovation and marketing. I generally do not slice hairs when it comes to sales versus marketing. I use the two terms interchangeably.

In a well functioning society, the business, the entrepreneur, the salesperson, they are the change agents. They help people get over their status quo bias, and the resulting procrastination. A good salesperson helps people to make quality decisions that are in the client's best interest.

Done properly, businesses solve problems. The first problem is helping people overcome their resistance to change. Only then can a person enjoy the benefits of various products and services. When the refrigerator was invented a lot of people resisted purchasing one. They were content sticking with their old ice box. It is kind of hard to believe, but it is true.

What tipped the scales, and got people to buy refrigerators, were direct sales people. I think is this a great example because, in this analysis, we have the benefit of time. Looking back there is no doubt that a refrigerator is better than an ice box. The proof is obvious in that nobody has an ice box anymore. But, it took a while for some people to give up their old ways. The SQB is strong.

I guess the point of this post is a moral one. The job of an entrepreneur is to improve peoples' lives with quality goods and services. To do that we must help people overcome their natural tendencies and biases. In a word, the job of the entrepreneur is to SELL! It is quite a noble endeavor.

Money Advice

From time to time I like to repost articles from other authors. That way, if you like what you see, you can investigate some of the thinkers I tend to admire. What's more, a variety of perspectives is probably a good thing.

Grant Cardone is an interesting guy. He is a sales and business trainer who lives down in Miami, Florida. I recently read a blog post, of his, titled "Money Advice." Mr. Cardone is a self-made man who does quite well financially.

I thought this post was good stuff, so I decided to pass it along. Let me point out one lesson within the lesson. As you will see, Cardone makes a lot of mistakes in his writing. I find that inspirational. As you know, I tend to be a perfectionist. And, whenever I am tempted to head down the perfect path, I try to remind myself of Grant's story. Cardone does very well and has zero concern for perfection.

Here is the post, in its entirety:

The following are 100% true statements that will guarantee you never have money: a penny saved is a penny earned; a home is a great investment; money doesn't grow on trees; get a good job; get a good education; work hard and save your money; invest in a 401k and on and on--they go with the promise that you will live happily ever after. Are you nodding in agreement? Well, these are all the things you were taught that at one time might have been true for your grandparents but today will only ensure you are a mere slave to your finances--or lack thereof. These false ideas about money, saving, investing, working, and education have trapped hundreds of millions of people. The illusion of the middle class is sold so well that many who read this will think I am being sacrilegious.

I remember my father telling me, "money doesn't grow on trees." The point here is that money was a scarce commodity that needed to be protected, conserved, saved and budgeted. The problem with that mentality is it suggested that money is in a shortage, but it is not. Money comes from a cotton bush and is printed by groups approved by government agencies. There is no shortage of money on this planet and never has been. The only shortage is people going out to meet people that have abundances of money.

If you were raised like me I know you've heard, "a penny saved is a penny earned." Uggh wrong, a penny saved is a penny. This thinking is why so many people never have anything. The biblical saying, "ask and you shall receive" is true and today that means get into sales, marketing and the business of asking for money and then learn how to ask often and ask for more.

You focus on pennies you get pennies.

Do you remember your mother telling you, "eat all your food and be grateful, there is someone starving somewhere in the world." My mom told me this at every meal, comparing our situation to someone else's that was worse off in order to make me grateful and a little guilty. The reality is she was right, but me comparing my financial situation to another that is doing worse than me will never improve my financial condition--much less theirs.

Many people believe that scrimping to save and hoarding money to make them wealthy. But no one has ever gotten truly rich saving money, they just get old. I don't want to wait until I am 90 to have money. You aren't rich if you can't spend your money, you are just a miser. Why have money if you can't use it? The real key (to wealth) is to have multiple flows of income that are indestructible due to economic conditions or technological developments.

Quit focusing at the expenses portion of your finances, that is playing defense, not offense. The budget is to spend and I want you to spend (invest) your time learning new ways to increase income and stop investing in things that don't produce other flows of income. The sacred middle-class that was sold to each of us as a state of financial nirvana is no more than a hoax of hope.

The home as an investment is just another complete lie or delusion at best to prop up an industry. I hope all my real estate friends don't hate me, but a home is another trap immobilizing people. Sold as the American dream is more like the American nightmare where people can't move, don't ever truly own and must continue to spend to keep. Go back over the last 50 years you will only see about a 1-2% increase in home values per year adjusted for inflation.

Compare that to apartment ownership which doubles in price every 10 years while producing income to the owner and paying down the debt, the maintenance, and property taxes.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't own a home, but I certainly wouldn't own one until you are rich. You never think a home is a way to create financial freedom. A house should be looked at as an expense, not an investment and merely a place to live. I hope this gives you something to think about today.

I hope this gives you something to think about today. If you feel a little irritated as a result of this article, it is because you should, but don't take it out on me. You have been lied to and at best misguided. Now that you know, it's your job to change the way you approach money. Just a few things that I started with to get me moving in the direction of financial freedom.

Just a few things that I started with to get me moving in the direction of financial freedom:

1. Income matters more than expenses. I got into sales and learned everything I could about it. I hated sales in the beginning, but it gave me the ability to control my income and not be limited. Now I have my own sales training university, CardoneUniversity.

2. Get multiple flows of income, not just one. This does not mean you need to get a second job. Look for other opportunities where you work now that can make second sales (income) or bonuses. Also I joined network marketing groups as a way to broaden the people I knew and give me another flow.

3. If there is no income don't invest in it. Sell your house and buy rental property. I know this sounds crazy, but rent where you live and own what you can rent to others. This will create amazing wealth for you and your family over your lifetime.

Bizarre advice you might be thinking? Only if you are so committed to what your mommy and daddy told you. That was a different time. I suffered with the middle-class mentality most of my life and everything changed for me when I started studying people that had attained financial freedom. Google my name and money or Grant Cardone net worth, it's low, but at least it may give you a little more confidence in this advice.

You have been brainwashed and it's holding you back, the middle class is not what was sold to you. It is filled with traps and you need to get out. Don't hate on the rich or wealthy, hate on the scam and get out.