“Genius begins great works; labor alone finishes them.”
Joseph Joubert
Recently I’ve been reading a lot about marketing in the 21st Century. Included are contrasting opinions on that plain old four letter word ….. work!
In his book “The Four-Hour Workweek” Timothy Ferris essentially lobbies against work. In a Success Magazine audio interview, wine guy (and huge marketing success story) Gary Vaynerchuk says the opposite: that only long days and lots of them will bring success.
Who’s right? Like one of my favorite philosophers, Forrest Gump, famously said, “a little of both?”
Certainly we can benefit from Ferriss’s counsel to focus only on high value added activities and delegate the rest. That said, I really have never seen an example of extraordinary success that did not include lots of hard work. If you’re doing what you love and are 100% committed to, it might not seem like work, but the hours and days necessary for great results are still required.
As always, your feedback (if you can fit it in while working hard …. or not) is welcome by commenting below.
With love and respect,
Robert
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3 comments:
This year I wrote a book in only five months. It was a labor of love and passion, and it came quickly and easily at times. However it also took damned hard work and discipline, done during at time of high travel and work demands, and with the help of a capable book coach. Now, as we approach publication, is the hardest part- the detailed proofreading, the fine work, the hard stuff to make it perfect. The easy flow part is over with, now it's the slogging to get it right. For me to have a great product in hand in four weeks' time will cost me a lot of hard work- ultimately worth every bit of time, sweat, blood I put into it. Sure, there is genius in the writing ( I hope so anyway) but the hard labor is in details, and then of course the marketing to get it out there to people. It takes both- in all projects human and animal, there is a price to be paid to stand at the pinnacle and accept accolades. If it were all genius and it all came easily, where would be the triumph in it?
While I love the idea of a four hour work week (LOL oh how MUCH more I could achieve with the other 76 hours)... very few of us will ever actually achieve that. For those of us graced with the entrepreneurial spirit, every time we delegate a task there are at least 5 more waiting to take it's place. It does bode well though for the longevity and success of my virtual assistant/marketing consulting business! :-)
What brilliant readers I have!
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