It’s time to work harder.

On this blog I’ve been trying to say, “Work smarter,” for the past 2 years. I’ve been saying, “Don’t give your employer your whole life. Stop saying Yes so often. Find focus. Be productive.” I heard a bit of inspiration yesterday that really got me fired up for asking you to work harder, too.

 

Gary Vaynerchuck is an online business/marketing/media powerhouse. I don’t know much about him except he’s built super successful businesses from scratch many times. He’s super passionate (which you know I love!) and was ranting during a YouTube video about business owners complaining about not seeing results. Here’s the gist of his (positively powerful) rant:

Work harder. Work more. Execute on your ideas. Put in the time it takes to make your goals happen. Let go of your excuses.

This struck me like a lightning bolt. In years past, I worked really hard…like 12 hours days on the reg. And when I didn’t see the results I wanted, I swung to the other side and only tried to work smarter: be strategic, be efficient, etc. During the past year I’ve tried to balance building my business and being a foster parent with my husband. I’ve done both moderately well, and obviously each role (along with being a friend and a wife) take away hours from the other.

I’ve had to re-learn work-life integration for my multiple roles. During times of transition I’ve learned to be conscious of emotions and the energy they take to really feel them and express them (not my first instinct!). This past year has been very emotional too and required a lot of energy in that way. It has been a series of pushes and pulls in significant directions, but rarely did there seem to be a flow.

This is why Gary’s statement hit me so hard yesterday. Work harder. Execute. While I was trying to be patient with my emotions, I wasn’t executing as much as I needed to.

So if you’re feeling stuck, stymied, frustrated, I invite you to think about where you need to work harder. Where do you need to put in more hours? And of course what will you take hours away from?

Part of my 12 hour days often meant working at midnight to meet a deadline because someone else completely blew their responsibility. I would grow so frustrated but felt obligated to take on the work.

Of course, work harder with focus. Burn the midnight oil for things that are meaningful for and energize you. Don’t chase every bit of glitter, but put in more time on the right work and you’ll see better results.

Now it’s your turn.

Close down this post. Go work harder on those meaningful goals!