in this article The Logo Creative discusses The Devotion to Grinding and its a fundamental desire to control your own destiny and ranks very high on most entrepreneurs’ lists of reasons for starting your own businesses. This need is so strong and powerful that entrepreneurs will risk family, future and careers to be their own boss. Unable to feel truly fulfilled grinding for someone else, these particular individuals will never be truly happy following someone else’s plan and taking orders from a boss. Most of the time we are often convinced we have a better way, or an idea that would really revolutionize our industry—or at least our portion of it—and working within a corporate structure is simply stifling that improvement.
The Devotion to Grinding https://t.co/65RvhwLi6Z#ATsocial #entrepreneur #smallbizuk #uksopro #smb #biztalk pic.twitter.com/vWvODtmpji
— The Logo Creative™ (@thelogocreative) April 19, 2017
Table of Contents
If you weren’t working, what would you be doing?
If the answer is spending time with my family, sitting on the beach in an exotic country, playing golf or what ever sport your into, backpacking and traveling the world, then why not go and do just that? You need to figure it out – Working in education, or working on a cruise ship, or maybe you want to be a traveling salesman. If the answer is anything but what you’re doing now, or what you’re working towards, why waste the time?
The grind is who I am – it’s ingrained within me.
It doesn’t matter where I’m working, what I’m doing, I am always looking for ways to improve, change, affect, be involved. This is why i left traditional employment – doing my job was never enough, I always seemed to figure out better ways of doing things, and yes most of it was empowered for that change to be made but when your working with people who are less passionate then yourself those people who only care about the money and receiving their payslip those are the people you don’t want around you.
If I sold my business for millions, I’d probably start another one. Or fully invest my time into creating the best content for people to learn and get inspiration from. Or figure out how to help other people like myself achieve their dreams. Whatever the mission, I’d be 100% invested. It’d consume my thoughts the way my business does now.
The key difference is – I truly enjoy it.
There’s adrenaline in the pursuit. The risk is thrilling. The constant challenge keeps me alert. The looming threat maintains my focus. Each summit brings a new slope in view.
It took a long time for me to figure all of this out. I have struggled to feel truly satisfied. The eight hour day was either not long enough to accomplish what I wanted, or way too long because I wanted to be working on my own business goals and aspirations, and i had some really great jobs that i did like but was not enough for me regardless of it been as a Lead IT & Network Technician working in a secondary school / Sports College, The lead contact and project manager working to support local primary schools within my area, or the Operations Director for an IT company working with client allover the world it made no difference i was destined to be my own boss, grinding to build my own empire. Don’t get me wrong i am very great full of my opportunities but people move on, they grow into something different, and aspire to create bigger and better opportunities and my employers knew this they understood what i wanted and respected my wishes when i left even though they did everything to try and persuade me to stay no amount of money or privileges was more important to me than my goals and dream!.
Honestly, I think this article has merit – but only for a very specific group of people. Employees who are able to increase productivity to the point where they accomplish their tasks before a requested deadline should be allowed to leave, and earn the same salary. It’s pay for performance. But these are hardworking people. Many times this “4-hour workweek” trend is used as a scapegoat for those people who expect to work at the same pace, but shorten their hours.
If you only work four hours a week, you better be out of breath by 16:00.
I don’t think this article has any application for people who are growing businesses. We need to be the first in and last out. If you have an employee that works harder than you, you better up your game or get ready to lose them. And if the life of an entrepreneur doesn’t appeal to you, why bother?
Self-employment / Freelancing is a different beast in the game, MAYBE – if you can learn to hit deadlines quicker and earn more per engagement, you can simply reduce the amount of work you take on. But don’t expect to scale – that’s reserved for the grinders.
And as far as relationships go, the hustlers and grinders out there have a reputation for ruining them – but I think that can easily be blamed on two things: a lack of focus, and a lack of priorities. When it’s family time, my phone is away from me, I don’t respond to emails, text messages, and my mind is completely absorbed in the moment. Focus is not an easy thing to do for a grinder, but it’s absolutely essential to keep those plates spinning. Prioritizing is also vital – without fail, My wife brings our kids into the office at least three times per week for lunch or trip to the park. In the past, I’ve moved meetings to make that happen, and I’ll do that again in a heartbeat.
To what end?
I’d like to be busier than i already im. I’d love to be known as an influencer and have speaking engagements that require travel just like some of my idols Gary Vainerchuck, Aaron Draplin who wouldn’t!. I’d love to have my time valued at such a level!. Perhaps it’s a little narcissistic, but I believe that I have a lot to offer, and I absolutely LOVE helping people.
And yes, this probably means I will have to do things to avoid burnout. Things like sleep. And exercise. And then get back to work. It wouldn’t be the first time i have suffered from burn out and my passion and enthusiasm have kept me going, but as an entrepreneur you learn how to deal with how your wired and the type of person you are.
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