Distraction: A Factor in Career Success

I work on the Internet. I work with sites like this and this. Talk about distractions. Not to mention, I’m an ENFP who starts many projects and sometimes has problems following through or finishing them.

When I read Jason Fried’s article in Inc., “Driven to Distraction,” I was immediately intrigued. Fried argues that “one of the keys to success is to let your lazy side guide you.”

Laziness in the workplace? Analogous to success and growth? Wait, what?

Read on.

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Fried recounts his first business, a solo Web Design company and as he grew, instead of feeling confident he was “accumulating doubt.” With large clients he would say “we” instead of “I” and feel nervous with the large proposals he would find on his plate. He realized he then began inventing problems and making things harder than they needed to be. He came to realize these things through his own laziness.

I got tired and let down my guard and wound up learning something important about myself: I love work, just not hard work. I think hard work is overrated. My goal is to do less hard work. And what’s hard? Acting like someone else, writing elaborate proposals I don’t believe in, and flinging mud at the competition. That’s hard and horrible work.

So I put my laziness to work for me. Instead of long proposals, I wrote short ones. Instead of worrying about competitors, I ignored them. And here’s what happened: My company got more work. I found better clients. I slept better. I woke up better. I was happier. And, most of all, running a business became a lot easier.

I understand what Fried is asserting but I think laziness could be mistranslated. Instead of laziness, his story portrays him boiling it down to a more simplistic approach; do what you need to get done, don’t worry as much about the little things, you’re going to be spend more time worrying versus actually getting good work done.

In this case, that laziness could be called: simplification or less is more.

As Fried believes, “most of the stuff you agonize about just doesn’t matter. Truth is, things are pretty easy and straightforward — until you make them hard and complicated.”

Although I’m not an entrepreneur (yet) I can see that this could be applied to an individual’s career, as well. There are times at work when I sit down at my desk and become overwhelmed and the big picture starts to creep into my mind, planting seeds of doubt. I say to myself, “How am I going to get this done? How am I going to meet this goal?” I literally have to shake my head to snap ‘out of it’ and when I hone in on the now, this very moment I am able to focus and excel, without being held back.

Truth is, until I fail, I’m not failing. And even if I fail, that’s a form of success.

I find writing a to-do list and actually marking each item off when completed, is the most fulfilling and simple approach for me. Creating problems (that often don’t exist) get you nowhere. Real problems will undoubtedly arise on their own, there’s no need to create more fake ones. Like Fried says, “Instead of spending your time worrying about what could, might, or may happen, spend your time on what matters now.”

Do you agree with Fried’s approach? Do you find the simplistic (or “lazy”) approach works for you as an entrepreneur or on the job?