Everybody says they're willing to do the work.
But what does that actually mean?
We throw that phrase around constantly.
Do the work.
Work harder. Stay disciplined. Grind. Push through. Don't quit.
And there's truth in all of that.
But over the course of ten days on #LIVE365, I wanted to go deeper.
Because I've become convinced that doing the work isn't simply about working harder.
Sometimes doing the work means pushing.
Sometimes it means waiting.
Sometimes it means having the conversation you've been avoiding.
Sometimes it means working on yourself.
Sometimes it means putting the damn phone down and paying attention to the person sitting across from you.
Sometimes it means doing less.
Sometimes it means doing the same boring thing again.
And eventually, if you're building a business, sometimes doing the work means letting somebody else do it.
That's what this series became.
Not ten productivity hacks.
Ten different ways of looking at what it actually means to do the work required to build something meaningful.
Here are the ten lessons.
1. Do the Work When Nobody's Watching
It's easy to perform when there's an audience.
It's harder when nobody will know.
That's where standards are actually built.
Did you do what you told yourself you were going to do?
Did you make the calls?
Did you finish the proposal?
Did you train?
Did you keep the commitment?
There isn't always somebody standing there holding you accountable.
And that's exactly why it matters.
Every time you keep a promise to yourself, you're creating evidence:
I can trust myself.
Every time you knowingly break one, you're creating evidence too.
Private standards eventually create public results.
Who you are when nobody is watching eventually becomes who you are everywhere else.
2. Do the Work When You Don't Feel Like It
Feelings matter.
But they can't be in charge.
You're not always going to feel motivated.
You're not always going to wake up fired up about the day.
There will be mornings when you're tired.
Days when business sucks.
Weeks when nothing seems to be working.
That's where standards become more important than motivation.
You don't need to pretend you feel great.
Acknowledge the feeling.
Then ask:
What does the standard require from me anyway?
Your feelings get a vote.
They don't get a veto.
3. Do the Work Before You Need the Result
This is one of the hardest lessons in business.
We want the work and the reward to happen close together.
Make the call → get the sale.
Hire the person → solve the problem.
Start training → get in shape.
Change the process → improve the business.
Usually it doesn't work that way.
It's more like:
Work → Nothing → Nothing → Nothing → Nothing → Result.
That's why so many people quit.
They interpret the absence of an immediate result as evidence that the work isn't working.
But today's work often creates tomorrow's options.
The time to build your pipeline isn't when you're desperate for sales.
The time to develop your people isn't when you're already drowning.
The time to work on your health isn't when your body finally forces you to.
Do the work before you need the result.
4. Do the Work on Yourself
Business owners love fixing things outside themselves.
The team needs to improve.
Sales needs to improve.
The process needs to improve.
Communication needs to improve.
But occasionally we need to ask a much more uncomfortable question:
What if I'm the thing that needs to improve?
Leadership begins with self-leadership.
Can you regulate yourself?
Can you receive feedback?
Can you admit you're wrong?
Can you listen?
Can you make a difficult decision without blowing everything up emotionally?
Can you change?
Can you keep commitments to yourself?
If you can't lead yourself, eventually your ability to lead others gets capped.
Don't make a list of ten things you need to improve.
Pick one.
Then make it behavioral.
“I need to communicate better” isn't enough.
What does better communication actually look like?
Maybe it's holding a weekly team meeting.
Maybe it's responding within 24 hours.
Maybe it's stopping the interruptions.
Maybe it's clearly defining expectations.
Maybe it's having the conversation today.
Growth becomes real when behavior changes.
5. Do the Work on Your Relationships
High performers can fall into a dangerous pattern.
We give our best away all day.
Best focus goes to work.
Best energy goes to clients.
Best patience goes to customers.
Best attention goes to employees.
Best problem-solving goes to the business.
Then we go home...
fried.
And the people we claim matter most get the distracted version.
The short-tempered version.
The phone-in-the-hand version.
The exhausted version.
Don't give your best energy to the world and your leftovers to your people.
Relationships require work too.
And sometimes that work isn't doing more.
It's doing less.
Less talking.
Less fixing.
Less defending.
Less explaining.
More listening.
Call.
Text.
Schedule the dinner.
Put the phone away.
Ask the question.
Say thank you.
Say I love you.
Say I'm sorry.
Have the conversation.
No grand gesture required.
Just meaningful work.
6. Do the Work You've Been Avoiding
You probably know what THE THING is.
The conversation.
The decision.
The phone call.
The employee problem.
The financial issue.
The boundary.
The apology.
The thing sitting in the back of your head that you've convinced yourself you'll handle “soon.”
Here's the problem:
Avoidance doesn't eliminate the bill. It usually adds interest.
You don't eliminate discomfort by avoiding something.
You trade today's discomfort for tomorrow's potentially larger problem.
And there's another cost.
The thing you're avoiding is taking up mental bandwidth even when you're not working on it.
The thing you won't deal with...
is still dealing with you.
So ask yourself three questions:
What am I avoiding?
Why am I avoiding it?
What's the next action?
Not the whole solution.
The next action.
Then put a time on it.
Not “soon.”
Not “this week.”
When?
7. Do Less Work, Better
This might seem contradictory in a series called Doing the Work.
It's not.
Doing the work doesn't mean doing all the work.
Busy is a terrible scoreboard.
Being overwhelmed isn't an accomplishment.
Working 70 hours a week doesn't automatically mean you're doing the right things.
So try a different exercise.
If you were forced to eliminate 20% of what you're currently doing, what would go?
Twenty percent of your:
Meetings.
Responsibilities.
Services.
Commitments.
Recurring tasks.
Distractions.
Most people can answer surprisingly quickly.
Which means...
you already know.
Try three categories:
STOP. DELEGATE. FOCUS.
Stop one thing.
Delegate one thing.
Focus on one thing.
Create capacity and then protect it.
You don't need to become better at carrying everything.
You need to become better at deciding what deserves to be carried.
Less.
But better.
8. Do the Work Again
You worked out yesterday?
Great.
Do it again.
Made the sales calls?
Awesome.
Do it again.
Led your people well?
Do it again.
Kept the promise you made to yourself?
Good.
Now do it again.
Anybody can have a good day.
Anybody can crush a Monday.
The question is:
Who are you when Tuesday shows up?
We dramatically underestimate the power of boring repetition.
Five sales calls every day for a year beats 50 calls for four days.
Three workouts a week for two years beats seven workouts a week for two weeks.
One intentional date night every week beats one enormous romantic weekend once a year.
Build standards you can sustain.
Because eventually repetitions become evidence.
And evidence becomes identity.
I am somebody who shows up.
Repeatable beats impressive.
9. Let Other People Do the Work
This is where many business owners get stuck.
“Nobody can do it as well as I can.”
Maybe you're right.
Congratulations.
Now you've got a problem.
If you're building a business, you cannot be the answer forever.
Leadership isn't proving:
Look how much they need me.
Leadership is developing people until they can confidently say:
I've got it.
That requires you to communicate expectations clearly.
What does good look like?
When is it due?
What authority do they have?
Which decisions can they make themselves?
When should they come back to you?
What does success look like?
Because:
Unspoken expectations are premeditated resentments.
And once you've communicated clearly?
Let them try.
Let them think.
Let them struggle a little.
Let them solve.
Let them do it differently.
Coach them.
Hold the standard.
Hold them accountable.
But stop taking everything back.
If you're always the answer, you'll always be the bottleneck.
10. The Work Is the Reward
And this is where the entire series landed for me.
We spend so much of our lives waiting for there.
When the business reaches the next level.
When we finally have the team.
When we make enough money.
When the project is finished.
When we lose the weight.
When things calm down.
Then I'll enjoy it.
Except you eventually get there...
and discover another there.
Another goal.
Another challenge.
Another mountain.
I'm a huge believer in goals.
Chase something.
Build something.
Win.
Do something extraordinary with your life.
But don't become so obsessed with the summit that you miss the entire climb.
Because something else is happening while you're pursuing the result.
The work is producing you.
Doing the work when nobody's watching builds character.
Doing it when you don't feel like it builds discipline.
Doing it before you need the result builds patience.
Working on yourself builds self-awareness.
Working on relationships builds connection.
Confronting what you've avoided builds courage.
Doing less builds focus.
Doing it again builds consistency.
Letting other people do it builds leadership.
Maybe the result isn't the only thing being built.
Maybe the work is building YOU.
Don't Miss the Climb
Think about climbing a mountain.
We celebrate the summit.
That's where we take the picture.
That's where we throw our arms in the air.
That's the moment everybody sees.
But how much time do you actually spend standing on the summit?
Very little.
Most of the experience is the climb.
Struggling.
Learning.
Adjusting.
Falling.
Getting back up.
Helping somebody else.
Being helped.
Looking backward occasionally and realizing how far you've come.
Then taking another step.
If the only part of climbing the mountain you value is standing on the summit, you're going to miss almost the entire experience.
And I think life works the same way.
Maybe this messy season you're trying desperately to get through will someday be one of the seasons you miss.
Maybe these are the stories you'll tell.
Maybe these are the people you'll remember.
Maybe these are the days you'll look back on and say:
Those were the days.
So chase the goal.
Build the business.
Make the money.
Lose the weight.
Climb the mountain.
But look around once in a while.
Appreciate the people climbing with you.
Appreciate what the struggle is teaching you.
Appreciate who you're becoming.
And keep doing the work.
Because the work isn't something standing between you and your life.
The work is your life.
So What, NOW What?
If you read this entire article and recognized yourself somewhere along the way, good.
Maybe you've been avoiding something.
Maybe you've stopped doing something you know works.
Maybe you're giving your people the leftovers.
Maybe you're doing too much.
Maybe you've become the bottleneck.
Maybe you simply haven't been keeping the promises you've made to yourself.
So what?
No guilt.
No beating yourself up.
No 47-item improvement plan.
The only useful question now is:
NOW WHAT?
Pick one thing.
Make it behavioral.
Put a time on it.
Do the work.
And tomorrow?
Do it again.
Keep Doing the Work With Us
Every morning at 8:00 AM Eastern, I go LIVE for #LIVE365 and talk about business, leadership, accountability, personal development, and ultimately Finding YOUR Edge.
And if you want to go deeper than the daily LIVE, that's why I created The Edge LIVE — our private coaching and accountability community.
We meet three times every month for Business Development, Personal Development & Leadership, and Office Hours, where we work through the real problems, decisions, opportunities, and challenges people are facing.
Because information isn't usually what's missing.
Accountability is.
It's not just:
What did you learn?
It's:
What are you going to do?
And then:
Did you do it?
The Edge LIVE is $249/month. If you're interested, reach out to me and simply say EDGE.
The 10-day series may be over.
