It's absolutely true. I work less now and get far more done (I would say more than 3x) of what I did when I was pulling 7-days-a-week work marathons.
People waste lifetimes thinking they are working hard but are really just puttering around.
It's been stated by authors (I mentioned Tony Shwartz in another comment and I highly recommend his book) but I offer this analogy:
Consider you are standing next to a roaring river. It is treacherous. It is dangerous. On the other side, it looks like it's a lot nicer (more grass, nicer setting, maybe a picnic table all set up) than the side you are standing on.
Sure would be nice to get over there. But man, to swim that current...dangerous. So maybe you could build a raft? You start looking for wood, something to put it together. Can't find anything. You try looking at the river to see if there's an easier way to cross. Maybe some shallows? Not sure.
Then, behind you, suddenly there is a pack of lions. They look hungry. They ARE hungry. And they see you. And they start loping your way, drool dripping from their teeth. This ain't Hobbs. This is real. These lions are going to literally rip you apart and it's going to happen in a few seconds.
How long does it take you to get across that river now? Are you still going to try and build a raft? Still going to look for a shallow end?
Still going to worry about getting wet?
Focus is a curious thing. We think are 100% committed to something, but we are really not. We achieve what we are truly focused on.
I mean, it sure FELT like you were working 100% on getting across the river when you were trying to lash together a raft and when you were scouting the river for an easy way across. But when it meant getting across or being eaten, THAT'S when you focused truly 100%.
The secret is learn how to FOCUS, truly focus, put your entire mind intensely on the most important task...then take a break, recover. Then do it again. And wow...does it ever work.
I'm not saying that focus isn't a key to improved productivity. My question is, what does it have to do with being at a startup? His argument is that focusing AT A STARTUP can make you 3x more productive...it makes no sense. Focus alone can make you more productive, I don't see why the setting of a startup changes that multiplier.
You are conflating focus with fear and risk/reward evaluation. Those are not at all related, though, when focused you might be able to see another way out that was not apparent when you were just afraid and not focused.
A panicked jump into a roaring river can kill you just a surely as a well reasoned one.
But that smoldering fire to your left contains a branch long enough that waving it around a couple of times creates a flame an lions are scared of fire.
(If you can conjure up Lions, rivers and green grass to make your point I don't see why my imaginary fire is an illegal device. It could have been a machine gun for the same money, you'd dine on lion steak and congratulate yourself for not trying to swim to the other side of the river).
People waste lifetimes thinking they are working hard but are really just puttering around.
It's been stated by authors (I mentioned Tony Shwartz in another comment and I highly recommend his book) but I offer this analogy:
Consider you are standing next to a roaring river. It is treacherous. It is dangerous. On the other side, it looks like it's a lot nicer (more grass, nicer setting, maybe a picnic table all set up) than the side you are standing on.
Sure would be nice to get over there. But man, to swim that current...dangerous. So maybe you could build a raft? You start looking for wood, something to put it together. Can't find anything. You try looking at the river to see if there's an easier way to cross. Maybe some shallows? Not sure.
Then, behind you, suddenly there is a pack of lions. They look hungry. They ARE hungry. And they see you. And they start loping your way, drool dripping from their teeth. This ain't Hobbs. This is real. These lions are going to literally rip you apart and it's going to happen in a few seconds.
How long does it take you to get across that river now? Are you still going to try and build a raft? Still going to look for a shallow end?
Still going to worry about getting wet?
Focus is a curious thing. We think are 100% committed to something, but we are really not. We achieve what we are truly focused on.
I mean, it sure FELT like you were working 100% on getting across the river when you were trying to lash together a raft and when you were scouting the river for an easy way across. But when it meant getting across or being eaten, THAT'S when you focused truly 100%.
The secret is learn how to FOCUS, truly focus, put your entire mind intensely on the most important task...then take a break, recover. Then do it again. And wow...does it ever work.