Redefining "Work"

By Anthony Hernandez

Imagine two identical piles of dirt that must be moved an identical distance. Person A uses a kiddy shovel and takes all day. Person B uses a tractor and moves the entire pile in one scoop.

Question: Who did more work?

At least 80% of the people I ask say Person A. I believe this occurs because we tend to equate "work" with "effort". Physics, however, defines work as results. Both people, therefore, did the exact same amount of work. The difference is that one struggled while the other obtained results with ease.

Society conditions us to define work as struggle. We are expected to spend 40+ years in a job with the goal of amassing enough money to live out our few remaining years in some semblance of comfort before departing this world. Talk about slavery! Even worse, self-employed people who struggle in their businesses (home-based and otherwise) are even more deeply indentured. A worker can quit and find a new job whenever s/he wants. Walking away from your own business isn't that easy.

I'll bet some of the people you know succeed at everything while others crash and burn no matter what they try. Is this luck? Does God, the Universe, or karma favor some over others? No. Everybody has the same potential for success, the same chance to accomplish anything they want in life. The key lies in our beliefs. The physical world we see, smell, hear, touch, and taste is nothing other than the sum of our perceptions filtered by our beliefs. I'm sure you've heard the maxim that 20 people witnessing the same event will provide 20 different accounts.

If you believe that success requires working a job for forty years, then you will get a job. Forty years later, tired and spent, you'll have achieved your result: a short time of relative leisure before death. Die too soon and you'll leave behind some of the resources you spent your entire life creating. Live too long and you'll expend your resources and die with nothing. How's that for depressing? The mechanics of this phenomenon are quite simple: Whatever one invests energy in grows. Invest energy in the idea that work equals struggle and struggle you will.

What about you? If you think that you "work hard" or feel that you can't or shouldn't do something because it's "too hard", then you define work as effort. I've lost count of the entrepreneurs I've met who feel absolutely overwhelmed because they're struggling just to stay afloat must less thrive. These unfortunate souls desperately want more from their businesses but dread the thought of thrashing even harder in the murky waters of their own making.

If this describes you or someone you know, then I have wonderful news: It doesn't have to be like this. There is a better way. Today I am challenging you to stop defining work as effort and embrace the scientific definition of work as output. Quit focusing on the effort and start focusing on the results you want. Do that and you will struggle a lot less while getting far better results far more easily. And why not? If you're in business (especially if you're in a home-based business) then that business should be serving you, never the other way around.

Freeing yourself from the "work equals struggle" trap is as easy as divorcing yourself from the idea that struggle is necessary and that the way you have been doing things is the only way there is. This can be difficult because nobody wants to admit being wrong. I see it this way: Your current methods have served you admirably because they delivered you to this exact point in your life. Sure, they may need some updating but that doesn't make you wrong. Think about your childhood. Were you wrong for using diapers and crawling on the floor or did you simply outgrow those habits? There is nothing whatsoever wrong with growth.

Next, examine your goals and seek the easiest ways to accomplish them. Be creative! Having defined your destination and the easiest way to get there, proceed in small simple steps being absolutely sure to reward yourself for every single step. The destination is nice, but never forget that life is a journey that you can choose to enjoy… or not.

The payoff can be absolutely spectacular. A contractor I know tripled profits while working 25 fewer hours per week. A healthcare franchisee expanded by 80% while trimming 15 hours from her weekly schedule. Another person experienced greatly reduced stress levels just by carving out one hour of personal time every morning. There is no reason why your results can't be just as good or even better.

Define work as results and seek ways to obtain the results you want with ease and you'll soon be struggling a lot less while reaping far more abundant results from your home-based business and enjoying life's journey far more. That's a promise.