our Australian Adventure - Part 5 - W4W

100830 Brisbane Australia

Ah, early Monday morning in Australia!  The quiet, the peaceful
feeling one gets from knowing that everyone in the East coast of North
America is just starting to think about Sunday evening dinner plans.
A time when I know that no one wants to hear from me.  A time I know,
despite my life long obsession to get up early and get going every
morning, that nothing is pressing.

Some people are 'early risers'.  Me, I'd rather get up at 3:00am than
go to bed at 3:00am.  Before 4:00am is too early, after that...well
sure up we get.

On this morning of quiet (at least in my mind - the garbage collection
people don't seem to understand about Eastern Standard Time) I can
reflect on the daily and weekly cycles I have, I realize now, come to
see as permanent, even sacred.  I guess, like everything else that
might be considered sacred, (at least by me) it turns out - it's not.

I'm an entrepreneur, I work for myself and aside from our friendly
and helpful bank (Hi Maria!) I only have my clients to answer to.  I can select
any hours I want to work in my virtual work space.

Much of our business communication is 'async' meaning they aren't real
time conversations - I send an email with questions - at some point I
get back the response perhaps with questions - I respond when I
respond and it goes on - asynchronously.  Aside from
conversations/meetings (of which I have precious few - as few as
possible in fact) there is no time in the day that 'matters' more than
any other from the point of view of putting in time.

When we do have a meeting I don't care if the meeting time is at the
beginning or end of someone's day, so long as there is an overlap with
my work time.

Out here it is more important to get the tasks done than put in the
right number of hours in the correct time period.  Most of the time
when I am awake, they are asleep anyway.

But is it just out here, on the other side of the world, when this
thinking is useful?  What am I learning here?

Maybe it is ALL about the tasks and NOTHING about the time.  Maybe
achieving the goals is all that matters not the clock at all - I begin
to hear the narrator's voice, Boris Karloff, in the 'Grinch Who Stole Christmas'
explaining to me why the Grinch's heart grew three sizes that day.

My best, most productive time, time where I get stuff done two or
three times faster than at other times and do my best work, is the early morning - say 5:00 am +/- to 10:00 am +/-.  Sometimes I can sprint to noon or beyond
in efficient mode but not often.  I'll fade between 10 and 2

Want a 6:00pm meeting with me?  Forget it!  See you at breakfast.

I've never written anything after lunch ;-)  I know a few alcoholics
that might make the same claim but that ain't why in my case.

If you put me in an office at 9:00am every day and asked me to be
efficient until 5:00pm with an hour lunch, I could do it.  But I won't
like it and I'd be much more effective in the morning and ok in the
afternoon.  In fact I have occasionally had to work in this type of
condition - what did I do?  I started coming in earlier and earlier,
then working at home before the going to the office.  Back to my own
pattern.

If this is so clear, why am I talking about it?  Guilt of course.
Guilt plain and simple.  It's 1:00pm Tuesday afternoon.  I have been
productive since the wee hours and now I see that I am not as
productive anymore, I am turning to little things, checking my office
supplies.  Should I tackle the next big thing on the horizon?  Well
even if the answer is 'yes', I'll still be busy with reviewing my email
until the whistle blows at 5:00pm and my conscience will let me leave
my office, and the next big thing will wait until the morning.

The self-appointed patron saint of entrepreneurs everywhere, Tim
Ferris (Four Hour Work Week) says beware of 'work for work's sake' -
W4W he calls it.

Make a list of the things you want to accomplish that day, do'em and
get out of Dodge.

I can see that if my peak work time was evening, after dinner say
until midnight, and I allowed myself to get stuck 9-5, then where is
the time for the rest of my life?  Early morning while I am sleeping
because I went to bed late?  After midnight, and make the morning
hours even worse?

The trouble is I should not be working part of that 9-5 - it's an
inefficient allocation of my LIFE.

Drop the after dinner work?  Ok, let's think about that.  I work
during mediocre efficient time, so my career and results are, surprise
surprise, mediocre.

I can hear it now, some people need supervision.  Some people must be
given task after task or they come to a complete stop.  Some people
like the routine of the hamster wheel.

Gee, where can I hire people like that?  They sound like the bedrock I
want to build my business on.

People like that are getting replaced by computer programs - trust me
I do this for a living.  Routine tasks, shuffling papers, being there
to answer the phone - it's all coming to an end.

Don't bother getting a new hitch for the hay wagon pa, get yourself a
Smart Car.  Times they are a changing'.

But start at home - start with you - I'll start with me (damn soap box
posts, I hate them too!).

Ok, so, I resolve;

1. To work in my most efficient hours

2. To stand guard against Work for Work's Sake (W4W) and the leave my
office when I find myself in that mode

3. To allow myself to turn away from work i) when I can without
destroying the company (some stuff just needs to get DONE)  and ii)
subject to "I" turn to non-work 'life-stuff' when the goals are done

4. To work to a task list of goals to accomplish and when accomplished
to walk away for the day

5. To help my team set goals to accomplish and help them to accomplish them

6. Allow my people, once they accomplish the set goals, to wander away
without thinking to myself - hmmm, I could strap some more stuff on
their backs now - it's not 5pm yet...

7. To stop getting frustrated at 9:00am when people don't immediately
start returning my early morning communications - where are they?  why
aren't they in the office?  It's 9 o'clock - they should be working...

So it's still early morning in Australia.  supper is on the table in
Toronto.  My article is done.  I think I'll go for a walk on the
beach.