Do as little as you can to succeed

Last weekend I sat on a panel of business school alumni. We fielded questions from prospective MBA students. They all wanted to know…how do you manage your time when you’re studying part time and managing a full time job?

Clients don’t care that your studying and your lecturers and syndicate group members don’t care what your clients want. And what about your family and friends.

Somehow you’ve got to find a way to fit it all in. You sleep less, go out less and with a bit of practice you learn to produce much more, with a lot less effort. You simply have to.

You work out when to spend time reading thoroughly and when to skim. You come to understand the Law of Diminishing Returns and you stop re-reading and obsessing. You find the sweet spot of least input for maximum outcome.

Then you take that idea to work everyday and you start getting better results when you’re under pressure. You get great at fast and good work. And that is one of the best things about having no time, for years on end.

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2 thoughts on “Do as little as you can to succeed

  1. Consider as well, perhaps a corollary: get the culture comfortable with early and raw deliverables. I’ve witnessed a good deal of effort and delay incurred in gussying up output that could have been better spent elsewhere – like advancing that very same content to the next level of real value, rather than focusing on look & feel for the very short-lived. Mike

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