It’s Not Just About Working Harder; You Also Need To Work Faster

I had a question recently on the #AskGaryVee Show about working when you’re already exhausted. They wanted to know, more specifically, how to grow their own brand when they’re busy working on other brands all day. Whenever they finally got the time to sit down and focus on their own stuff, they were wiped out. They wanted to know: how do I both?

The answer is simple: you need to work harder and faster.

Not just harder, but also faster.

That part might confuse some people. I always tell people to start working harder, to hustle. I truly believe that people could watch an hour less of Scandal and instead do some fucking work. But there’s another variable that I don’t talk about enough: be much faster in the hours you’re already in. Train yourself to do a little bit more in each hour than you normally would. Every day add something, and get it all done. The first few days you may not get it all done, but keep adding on, and you’ll get there. It’s training for a marathon. It takes time, but once you’re done, you’ll see that you’re doing much more in a day because you’re moving faster.

There are other ways you can achieve this too. Some work well by the method outlined above, others may not. But the bottom line really is there is no excuse for not learning to work more and faster. We may all function in different ways, but that doesn’t mean some of us should work less. Get it?

Maybe you just need to schedule non-negotiable time for a project if it’s that important to you. Don’t let anyone else take that time. Stick to it. Maybe you need to work odd hours. I said it before, but being a morning person isn’t necessary to success. If you hustle at three in the morning, stay up till three and sleep till noon. I don’t care. Just get the work done, yes?

Some people say they work a full eight hours a day, but then when I audit them (meaning yes, I truly go through their Twitter and check them out), there’s fifteen minutes here and there where they watched a YouTube video. Or took a quiz about what God knows what. There is not one second that I’m down during the work day. On my team, we fight for minutes on my calendar. Even seconds. Every second I am doing something.

I used to think I was the biggest workaholic that lived. From twenty-two to thirty, I really thought I was all in. But I had enough time to bullshit about baseball with friends. I had time. Now, I’m dramatically faster. And I’m working more hours. That’s how it’s happening. That’s how I got to where I am. I had to realize it for myself, and now I’m telling you.

That’s the real answer. Working harder. Faster. Better. Stronger.