Do less

I am reading my advance copy of Seth Godin‘s "Small is the new big" (I managed to get a copy before it was released a little while ago) and I read a piece called "Do Less" last night which really caught my attention.  The idea is pretty simple and perhaps a little counter intuitive.  Godin tells the story about a friend of his who is a property developer who has taken a conscious decision to do one investment deal a year despite being virtually inundated with proposals.  His rationale is that he would rather focus his time and energy on a smaller number of deals that will yield the best return than try to do as much as possible and perhaps never give any deal the attention it deserves.  That, at least, is my take on that story.

It got me thinking about how I work and how I tend to do as much work as I can in the hope that I build to a point where I have so much work I have to bring in someone to help me out and that would be the start of my new empire.  I am beginning to wonder if the way to go isn’t, as Godin suggests, to be a little more selective about my clients and take only the more rewarding jobs, cut out the clients who don’t pay, and dedicate more of my limited time to those fewer clients.  It sounds crazy for a growing business but Godin makes a good case for it.

Tags: do less, seth godin, be selective, fewer clients, better work, counterintuitive