Jack was developing a new business system—originally estimated to take him 1,000 hours. Every weekday, he arrived at the office early and left late. He worked on most Saturdays. He wouldn’t take vacation time. Yet after three years, the project was only 25 percent complete. At this rate, he’d be lucky to finish in ten years.
His excuse was lack of time. Having to be everybody’s servant, he was continually being interrupted by something else that had to be done.
“Stop that,” the boss said. “If those other needs aren’t worth at least $95 per hour, they aren’t important enough to justify your time.”
Jack nodded and tried not to smile too much, since at least half of the other priorities came either directly or indirectly from the boss’s desk.
A year later, the boss became impatient enough to fire Jack from everything except Job One, and within three months, the new system was tested and online.
Hard work isn’t enough. We need to work smart, which includes having the right tools and asking for help.
If you’re even halfway serious about writing, you should do your best to attend writer’s group meetings. And you might also spend fifteen minutes to look at the Scrivener writer’s tool, which costs less than $50. Do that, and people might recognize you as a smart, hard-working writer.
