In 2014, entrepreneur Phil Drolet gave a TED Talk explaining why the way most entrepreneurs work doesn’t help them achieve success.
He described entrepreneurs as passionate and driven people, yet also commented on how unbalanced they can be. He said that “this combination can lead to world-changing innovation and incredible beauty… It can also lead to a lot of suffering and self-destruction.”
The entrepreneur opens up about his 30-day ‘work less’ challenge and its unexpected results.
He said, “For 30 days, I intentionally spent less time working and I spent extra time spending time with my friends, going out into nature… As you can imagine, it was a very enjoyable month. Was.”
The surprising result of working less hard? His business saw profits increase by more than 45%.
Drolet said that focusing excessively on work was actually detrimental to success. To do good work, we must completely change the way we work.
He detailed the reasons why working less was better for his business, including greater mental clarity, which allowed him to see opportunities clearly and act decisively. His creativity and productivity worked “at a whole new level”, and he was able to come up with ideas that he and his team could execute faster.
“I learned to create systems, I learned to delegate to more people, and I learned to focus on the few things that really mattered,” he said.
Drolet’s ideas counter the mainstream entrepreneurial narrative that our health, relationships, and emotional well-being must be sacrificed for success.
He saw even more opportunities coming his way, all thanks to taking time out from the daily grind.
Yet Drolet found himself falling back into his old patterns of overwhelming himself with work, until he became so exhausted that he could no longer continue. She realized that she needed to give herself time to recover from so much hard work and refresh herself.
Drolet compared his working method to that of a high-performing, elite athlete training so hard that it led to injury. “Sometimes we can have the best intentions in the world,” he explained. “But excessive pursuit of our dreams destroys us physically, mentally and emotionally.”
He had a second wave of realization that he needed to fundamentally change his approach to work, which he did by slowing down. He explored in detail how to align himself with his purpose, asking himself big, philosophical questions about what he really wanted.
“I decided to stop thinking of myself as a machine and accept the fact that I’m just human,” he revealed. They made the active choice to stop anticipating the future and start appreciating the beauty of the present.
YourTango related stories:
This significant shift in his mindset allowed Drolet to redefine what success meant to him and adopt a more balanced lifestyle.
He challenged himself to change his mind, rethinking his belief that working more hours meant he would have more success.
By championing the power of rest, reflection, and recovery toward personal happiness and professional success, he’s working hard to change the way we think about work, placing more emphasis on staying balanced to reach our peak potential. Is.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer for YourTango’s news and entertainment team. She covers workplace issues, pop culture analysis, and all things entertainment industry.
Source: www.yourtango.com
