Getting Things Done
I’ve had the opportunity to follow Tai Lopez for sometime now, though it wasn’t until recently that I realized the potential impact of the work this guy is into. One of them includes reading & reviewing a book every single day. He then adds his own spin & reflections upon these for his audience. From what I’ve observed, these add-ons tend to set the reader up with a focused context & make the read more exhilirating.
The guy inspired me enough to get me back on my bum and reactivate my writing routine, after a month long unintended break. As I continued to read and understand about it from a wide array of differently successful people around, physically or via their books, the ‘Hustle’ or the ‘Grind' appears to have been the common denominator that cut across cultures and epochs.
Amish are a traditional & old-school Christian group and also some of the happiest people on the planet. In the Amish society, when a guy comes of age at around 22–23, he is supposed to find a girl he’s attracted to & get married. At that time, his father is usually referred to, to learn of the guy’s abilities. The highest recognition a boy could hope for then, is being called a ‘Shafa’, which refers to a worker. Another fascinating highlight of the Amish way of living is in the way of upbringing their kids. Upon committing a mistake, a child is denied of being of help in daily chores and asked to idle around, which qualifies as a huge embarrassment for the kid. In other words, the child is rewarded with work and punished through its deniability.
This is in stark contrast to how many of us are tuned to look at work early on. Most of us were incentivised by offerings of not having to work ourselves or be allowed to play video games or having a day off school as a reward, which goes on to become our philosophy of work later on in life. Jeff Bezos had replied famously in one of his employee Q&A sessions, when asked about the work-life balance at Amazon.
Jeff said that the purpose of Amazon and subsequently its employees in the marketplace is to GET THINGS DONE. Anyone with a different set of priorities wasn’t expected to be there in the first place.
The theme has been at the centre of talking points for many people who have enjoyed phenomenal success & riches in life. Charlie Munger has been an all time evangelist for failing & continuing to hustle.
Munger says that life is always gonna throw some incredible blows (which for him included the death of his own son). He however has been able to achieve fulfillment in life through what he refers to as GETTING THINGS DONE for a higher purpose.
Another famous hard to miss proponent would be Ray Kroc, for whom is quoted- “Columbus discovered America, Jefferson invented it & Ray Big Mac’d it”.
In his book, Grinding It Out, he mentions working a job daily till 5 pm, another in the music industry from 6–8 pm, followed by a third job from 9 pm till midnight. Upon marriage when his wife complained, he agreed to take one of the weekends off.
It’s a widely & commonly accepted belief in these circles, that your ability to get things done is what makes you win the game of business & of life. Over an extended period of time, it invariably puts you on the pedestal or implicitly qualifies you as the creme de la creme. And to take the analogy further, the cream always rises to the top!
