Tough love warning... Not to be a hater, just to offer an unfiltered
perspective. A little bit rant-ish but hope it's useful.
I think that it comes down to
a sense of urgency. I can't stand wasting time. I know that if I don't start doing something today, I might not do it tomorrow, in two days, or even in a week. Then you look back and realize you wanted to achieve something by today but kept putting it off for the last few weeks, months, or years. I absolutely hate this feeling.
I hate it so much because essentially, you're wasting your life. And you never know how much life left you have. If you don't have that sense of urgency to act today, to me
it feels exactly the same as burning cash, only you're burning time you can't EVER get back.
For example, I recently started writing a new book. I set a tentative goal to finish the first rough draft by this Friday. It makes little difference if I finish by Friday or later. By itself, it won't change my life. But it sets a precedent that it's okay to put things off because I'm already well off. It also makes me complacent and that poses a direct danger to my long-term results.
Which leads me to having the right motivation.
Firstly,
my performance sucks if I'm working on something not aligned with my strengths and preferences. This is why I decided to shut down, at a great expense, my new business, and go back 100% to writing which gives me most joy. The act of writing in itself makes me feel great so it's not hard to just start writing now.
What makes you feel great in your work? What drains you? Why are you still doing the latter and not focusing more on the former? You have the resources; it's just a case of optimization.
Secondly,
do you have any powerful, inspirational long-term goals? In my case, I want to have enough money to afford a rural property in a warm climate. Each time I'm cold (and I HATE cold weather) or feel otherwise displeased by where I live, I get another jolt of motivation to keep working, and keep working TODAY, not tomorrow. Each day I'm not taking action is one more day of waiting to get what I want. And remember, we might not have as much time as we think.
My previous biggest motivation was to make enough money to build a house for my parents. I had an extreme sense of urgency because I wanted them to have a happy, peaceful retirement in the countryside. I don't think I'd ever be able to forgive myself if I didn't give it my all to make this dream a reality as soon as possible while they're still healthy and relatively young to enjoy it. It's my sense of urgency that made it happen. I'm reminded of this every day as I see them living in and enjoying a place that's just perfect for them.
Also, in general terms regardless of other goals, I don't want to be poor ever again in my life. I don't want to worry about money ever again in my life. I don't want to ever have to rely on someone else to make money (aka have a job). A little bit of this fear helps maintain the hustler's mindset. Though I need to emphasize that today
it is harder for me to hustle than it was a few years ago when I was very, very hungry for success. But I still have a sense of urgency fueled by all the other things I mentioned before.
Clearly, you don't have the same sense of urgency I have. This part makes it clear:
Based on our collaboration so far, this isn't the case of getting it done now or a "little" later. A little later usually turned into a few days, if not more. So, this isn't just an innocent habit of doing something a few hours later.
I've also noticed that sometimes I requested from you something that took maybe 5-10 minutes to check. But you told me you'd check it the next day or on Monday.
I don't operate like that. Yesterday I was falling asleep, checking Messenger on my phone for the last time, when you gave me the green light to continue with one of the tasks. So I got up to turn on my laptop and email one of my contractors to continue the work.
I could have decided to fall asleep but we'd waste 8 hours. It cost me 2 minutes to avoid wasting 8 hours. I'd feel bad with myself if I didn't act instantly. And it would be disrespectful toward you as well. Of course, there needs to be some balance and time off so that we don't go crazy working all the time. I'm not dropping everything when I'm, say, hiking. But if I'm home, not doing anything important, and can act now on a task that takes a couple of minutes, why act later?
As for what you think makes me work fast:
- He has clear rewards for getting work done quickly - actually, the work in itself is often the reward. Particularly writing. I love filling pages with words. I procrastinated more on the other business that didn't rely on this unique ability.
- He has a great habit of just getting right into stuff and making sure it's done - true. This goes back to the sense of urgency, motivations, and fears.
- He focuses on only what matters most and really is good at cutting out what doesn't. Also true. I find a lot of peace in an empty calendar as I described in one of my recent posts on my blog (Finding Peace in an Empty Calendar | Think 80/20 if anyone's interested). The only tasks I want to have are the tasks I love doing that I do well.