Most people work like a gazelle instead of like a lion. Gazelle spend hours of their day grazing with very low intensity. They ‘work’ on and off, eating here and there. There’s no intensity—just long hours.
Lions, however, hunt in short bursts of intense focus. When they hunt, they go all-in. They don’t let anything distract them. They have one mission and go out of their way to accomplish it.
Once the hunt is completed, they deeply recharge and rest for hours so they’re ready for the next hunting session.
We should do the same thing when it comes to our work — work in short bursts (3–4 hours) with high intensity instead of spending eight hours grazing on and off with low intensity.
Three hours of deep, focused work beats eight hours of working in a state of semi-distraction.
In today’s knowledge economy, the intensity with which you work matters more than the number of hours you work. Get the job done in less time by working with full intensity.
Then, once the objective is completed, disconnect from work. Truly recharge. Get ready for tomorrow’s next ‘hunting’ session. Go completely ‘off’ so you can be completely ‘on’ again the next day. Work like a lion, not like a gazelle.
Practice The ‘Weniger, Aber Besser’ Principle
Dieter Rams, a German industrial designer and retired academic, was credited for the term weniger, aber besser, which means less, but better.
Nowadays, this design principle is used by many successful companies, Apple being one of them.
The ‘less, but better’ mindset embodies the 80/20 principle. It recognizes that most things don’t matter. Most things are inessential. It’s clutter. It’s noise. It distracts us from the few things that are essential.
“If you seek tranquility, do less. Or (more accurately) do what’s essential. Do less, better. Because most of what we do or say is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more tranquility.” — Marcus Aurelius
Less, but better is an essential mental model for today’s hustle culture, which is obsessed with more. Work more hours. Start more side-hustles. Do more. Read more. Produce more. Take on more projects.
For most of us, more leads to overwhelm. More leads to spreading ourselves too thin. More leads to burnout. More leads to a lack of focus. Paradoxically, more leads to less (less happiness, profit, and impact).
This is why the ‘less, but better’ principle is so powerful. It can be a game-changer for our productivity and careers:
- What if you worked less, but better?
- What if you took on less, but better (more important) projects?
- What if you have fewer, but better meetings?
- What if your product has less, but better features?
- What if you created content on fewer social media platforms, but created better content?
- What if you have fewer, but better products?
Less, but better is not only useful for your work, but it can also be applied to your personal life:
- What if you have fewer but better friends?
- What if you have less but better stuff?
- What if you ate less but better foods?
Less, but better is the key to staying focused on the ‘vital few’ instead of getting lost in the ‘trivial many’. Use this principle in your career and personal life, and you’ll be one of the most effective people in your field.
Think More Before Acting
As peak performance coach Brendon Burchard said in his book High-Performance Habits, “To become a high performer requires thinking more before acting.”
This might seem counterintuitive productivity advice. I mean, don’t we want to take as much action as possible?
Well, yes and no.
Of course, without execution, nothing will get done. You won’t move the needle forward. Your dreams will merely stay dreams.
However, without carefully thinking your plans through, you might end up chasing the wrong goals. You might pursue a project that’s doomed to fail in the first place.
And, as legendary management expert Peter Drucker said, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
It’s a mistake I’ve made many times in my life.
I tend to easily get excited by new projects or business ideas, so I sometimes pursue them without carefully thinking my plans and ideas through. Unfortunately, this has cost me many months of hard work with minimal reward.
That’s why, as Brendon Burchard said, becoming a high performer requires thinking more before acting. When you’re about to start a new business, side-hustle, or project, ask yourself a few key questions:
- Is this new project the best use of my time right now?
- How much will this new project distract me from my current goals/projects?
- What are the obstacles I’ll likely face when pursuing this new project? And how likely am I to overcome these obstacles?
- Has someone already achieved success with a similar type of project in the past? (If not, this might be a difficult project to finish)
By asking yourself these types of questions, you ensure you think well before acting. This helps to pursue only the projects that make the most sense and have the highest odds of success.