My buddy Bryce is newly married, about 15 years younger than me. Getting a startup off the ground. Hot in pursuit of the entrepreneurial dream. All the usual drama of getting his chops busted, landing new customers, building a portfolio, scrambling for cash.
His wife is a schoolteacher and her day ends at 3:30. As soon as she finishes grading papers.
When does his day end?
If he doesn’t set his own boundaries — his day might never end. Just work work work, 24/7 :^> Do ya relate?
He comes up to me and says, “Man, this is challenging, keeping all these balls in the air. In my apartment, work is always 10 feet away, beckoning me. Bryce, Bryce, Bryce, there’s all this stuff you still need to do. It’ll only take a minute….”
I say to him, “You just put your finger on THE #1 professional challenge of the 21st century. The fact that if we don’t set up barriers for ourselves, work is nagging us. ALL. THE. TIME.”
30 years ago only a few people had this problem. Now everybody has it. Add a laptop-based business to a personality whose energy never shuts off anyway, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for massive brain-overload!
“Bryce, I’ve got some advice for ya. Take it from a guy who’s ran 24/7 for years, that kind of pace takes a toll on your marriage and your family. At least one day a week you need to shut it ALL off and go have some fun.”
Here’s a contrarian way for you to think about work. It’s 180 degrees different from everybody else.
Most people think that work earns them a weekend. Work hard all week. Friday comes and it’s Miller Time. Sunday night comes and freedom is spent, time to go back to prison.
The problem is, when you run your own biz, Friday comes and you might not feel like you earned your day off. Maybe you didn’t earn a dime all week. TAKE IT ANYWAY. JUST DO IT.
And here’s the Big 180, courtesy of Dan Sullivan:
—> When you’re an alchemist, work doesn’t earn you free time and fun. Rather, free time and fun recharges your batteries so you can do your alchemy. <—
Sabbath rest or Sunday off. Backed by 4,000 years of tradition. You can laugh at them Jewish folks and their funny black hats, but they do know how to have fun and they know how to run a successful business.
Right?
When you come back rested on Monday, you’re less frantic, you’re more creative, more resourceful, wound less tight, more capable of tackling whatever comes your way.
Most of the creative people I know say their best creative ideas come when they’re playing.
Perry’s Dual Principles of the On/Off Switch:
1) IT’S IMPOSSIBLE FOR A HACKER TO BREAK INTO YOUR COMPUTER WHEN IT’S TURNED OFF.
2) IT’S IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO CHECK YOUR EMAIL ON YOUR COMPUTER WHEN IT’S TURNED OFF.
So…. just turn it off. At least one day a week. That one day a week of having fun and spending time with the people you love is your fuel cell for the other six.
Trust me on this.
Perry Marshall
P.S.: Yes, I know, your computer brought you this message. You might even be reading it on your phone. Ah, the irony. Courtesy of a guy who believes you shouldn’t be chained to it. Same with your Smart Phone. Liberate yourself and watch your income rise.
P.P.S.: Yeah, I know…. you’re saying to yourself, “That’s crazy. It could NEVER work. My business is different.” I’m talking to YOU, pal.
P.P.P.S.: When your schoolteacher wife asks you why you’re suddenly taking Sunday off and taking her out for lunch and when she asks you finally paying attention to her for a change, tell her that Perry Marshall guy sent you an email and told you to. That’ll make her like me better. Then she’ll let you spend money at my seminars and stuff.
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About the Author
Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.
He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.
16 Comments on “What I believe about…. Work”
Man it’s hard to turn off the computer. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have mine. Plus, the world is at your finger tips…Just where do you want to go. I do on occasions (particularly on Sundays) do take a break.
And yes Perry, I keep telling my daughter to turn off that computer but I don’t think she’s listening. I believe she wants it to break down so that she can get a mac.
thanks for the info
Perry’s philosophy is right on target. Clyde’s comment above defines my belief to the tee.
Awesome Perry! Who knew that casual Sunday afternoon conversation could be parlayed into an international business advice column… well, I guess you did. Thanks again for the advice and thanks to you I finally found the power switch on my computer!
All the best.
Perry,
Thank you so much for your words of encouragement! You are the reason I haven’t given up on my e-ventures, because I believe that I have what it takes to make something happen on Google.
I have yet to make any sales from info product Writingadsthatconvert.com which is up on PPC for terms like “how to write ppc ads” and “learn adwords” but I’m hopeful that I will learn from you some way to make it happen.
Thanks for being someone this 6’7 300lb man can look up to! :)
Regards,
Marshall Adler
Perry,
I am huge fan of your work, your books and your style of writing. I am a freelancer and just starting out in the world of pay per click management & SEO for small businesses, so having someone to “look up to” in a dark and weary world is without a doubt much appreciated!
I consider you to be the “Godfather of Google”!
I recently finished your Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords book and I learned so many things I was doing wrong for the past 2 years that I feel destined to learn from you and those you recommend.
I am going to buy your Definitive Guide today and I hope one day to come to your seminar and learn to be even more successful.
Great post btw..and thanks for giving us something to look forward to…a better life!
God Bless,
Marshall Adler
Marshall,
Best wishes to you on your freelance adventure. There’s a lot o’ stuff out there that needs to be fixed!
Perry
Sooo true!
One day a week! Ha! Maybe for you work aholics. Just taking Sunday is not enough for me. The reason I became an entrepreneur in the first place was to have the freedom to take off as I see fit therefore I take off 3 to 4 days a week and at least a month of vacation per year minimum (more if possible).
Work smart not hard! If I wanted to be a hard worker, I would go back to construction work.
My needs are simple and I choose freedom and time over money and the result is that money always finds me. I can easily work 30 hours over a 3 day period and when I’m at my best I get more done in those 30 than most do working 60. To be at my best I need a lot of time at the beach :)
Great message Perry.
When I moved my office OUT of my house, my
ability to chill out jumped 10 fold.
When I had my office in my house, that room
was always calling to me.
“David, come check your email. David, come
write a newsletter. David, come waster your
time on a forum.”
When I moved my office a couple of minutes down
the road, that all stopped.
One might say that I just bought myself a job
again because now I go to an office.
Not so. I can choose to go to my office if I want.
Some days I stay home and work. Right now is one
of those days.
I have a place to put my employees (As you know,
I dislike having virtual employees who are core to
my business).
But a quote that has helped me immensely over the
years was said by a man named David O. McKay.
He said, “No success can compensate for failure
in the home.”
No truer words were ever spoken.
All the best.
David
>and when she asks you finally paying attention to her for a change, tell her that Perry Marshall guy sent you an email and told you to. That’ll make her like me better. Then she’ll let you spend money at my seminars and stuff
Made me laugh!! You are outrageous!! Love it!!
Perry,
What do you think about the (duplicitous, lying, dishonest, misleading, sleazy) inaccuracy of the Google Adwords Keyword Tool? Last month, some folks on Dave Naylor’s blog showed how inaccurate the Google keyword tool was:
http://www.davidnaylor.co.uk/why-the-google-adwords-keyword-tool-shouldnt-be-used-for-seo-a-case-study.html
I do SEO and rely exclusively on this tool to determine keyword demand. Now it seems like Google is showing more “accurate” results:
http://www.davidnaylor.co.uk/is-google-adwords-keyword-tool-now-more-accurate.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+davenaylor+%28David+Naylor%29
How has this effected you as a paid search marketer?
It reinforces what you say… sleep with one eye open.
Raza
You always need to take these tools as giving you RELATIVE data, not absolute. You can’t even trust the adwords reports. The only thing you can ultimately trust is the money that enters and leaves your bank account.
Hello Mr Perry Marshall, as usual I totally agree with what you’re saying. You simply gotta switch off one day a week or you will get total exhaustion. God made that rule and he knows what he is talking about. After all, he made us and so he knows how we operate.
Entrpeneurs are a different breed of people and we would work 24/7 is we could. We work till we collpase and till our hair sticks out in all directions and we look like homeless bums from being so exhausted. People look at us and say “what’s wrong with YOU?” and we say “What?” and they say “you look exhausted man”
But we don’t care, we keep working anyway because we love what we do. If we have to go to a family function, family members have to “peel” us off our computers and threaten us with violence before we will go. And as soon as we get home we run to our computer and switch it on and keep going all night. That is why we simply must stop and rest and spend time with our loved ones once a week.
Entrepeneurs, we sure do act different to the usual people who flop onto the sofa with a bag of chips and a beer at the end of the day (not that there’s anything wrong with that- to each his own :-)
Ps- I always notice that entrepeneurs look on the bright side of life always. Here in Australia there are floods and most people are sad about them, except a bunch of people who went jet skiing through the streets and had a wow of a time, I bet they are entrepeneurs! :-) One guy even jet skiid down the street and right up to his mail box and checked his mailbox. That guy said: “it’s about as good as it gets”
Here is a link to the article. It just shows you that there is always a positive way to look at things:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/locals-take-jet-ski-ride-to-check-mail/story-e6frf7kx-1225915549984
Perry,
It’s taken me a long time to see the light.
For me work is fun, I don’t think about work, I think about what I enjoy doing.
Its something I like to do.
And, it’s taken me a long time to realize that to enjoy what I do, means taking time out. I’ve learned the hard way and if you keep pushing and pushing something eventually has to give.
I think sometimes entrepreneurs love what they are doing so much, sometimes they get lost unto themselves and eventually ‘burn out’ without even realizing it.
When a ‘time-out’ is eventually called, it’s remarkable what a weekend away can do for personal relationships, business and overall happiness – and enlightenment!
I’m all for the Sabbath and thanks for the reminder to take it Perry! lol
John
Great advice Perry! Hard driving entrepreneurs never like to sit still. My wife is always telling me that I never just do nothing. One point you or someone else may elaborate on is when to call it a day and unwind. A solid quitting time each day followed by unwinding so you can sleep. I have a hard time shutting the brain down if I don’t unwind and disengage from mental activities. Sleep is very important for sharpness the next day.
Amen, bro!
Rest is really important to recharge our creative batteries. What you said about the Jews is totally true, they are a minority race yet they achieved more than most races added up together. Their secret – R.E.S.T
Personally, I don’t do work on weekends though I do switch on my desktop to do other stuff like messing around with android apps.
I also never check my email on my mobile at all times.