The title of this article is a quote from John D Rockefeller. I think this is one of the best pieces of business advice that I’ve ever gotten. I’m not sure how I found it, but I’m glad I did, it prevented me from getting into something that I shouldn’t have. I did work hard over the last few years, but I also spent a lot of time thinking, learning, and setting goals. I’m glad I did this, and think I made the right decision as to what to do with my time. I didn’t work all day, but I made sure to work consistently. I consumed a lot of content and interacted with a lot of different types of people. I made many mistakes, but I’ve also gotten to a point at which I feel quite comfortable with myself and my earning potential. Writing articles makes a lot of sense to me, and I’m pretty sure I’ve found a way to use my skills for their best purposes. Here’s why choosing not to work all day allowed me to do that.
He who works all day has no time to come up with ideas
Inspiration is what makes a lot of business go round. Creativity can be the difference between a good toy and a bad one. It can be the difference between taking a risk and not taking a risk. Creativity is key in cutting edge fields, and a lot of professors, writers, and inventors spend a lot of time just thinking. If you want to come up with something cool, you’re probably going to have to think a lot. If you want to think clearly, you need to be relaxed and have a lot of free time. You need to have free time to think in a long, drawn-out manner. If you don’t have the time, you won’t be able to full develop your thoughts.
He who works all day has no time to learn
If you can’t learn, you will struggle to increase your earning power on a per hour basis. This means that you’ll be at the mercies of your investments basically. If you learn, you can learn how to make something out of nothing. You can resell information. You can sell your research skills, either directly or indirectly. The more you know, the better you do. It’s better to be poor in the short run, and learn a lot, than it is to be able to blow a bunch of money and learn nothing.
Get to a point where you don’t have to be working all day
You want to get your expenses as low as possible while making your income as large as possible. For those of us who don’t have wealthy family members, that means getting a job and finding a roommate. Save and invest (safely) for 3 years. You can start a business, but you’re going to be poor, and miserable by extension. A job will also give you skills if you’re young. Ironically, you should start a business if you’re in a poorer country or go straight into education. A random unskilled job probably won’t take you far where I’m from, although there are lots of skilled workers without official paperwork drifting about.
Create something for yourself
If you can work for yourself, you win. You want to get to the point where you’re making money easily and in your sleep. This is easier said than done. Only about 5% of people in any given country make it to that point at a young age. That being said, running your own business does make it easier to get by in the long run. If you have a skill and work for yourself, you should be able to do better than average by the standards of your home country. Just make sure you pick the right skill in a growing industry.
Focus on your health/lifestyle
Figure out what you want to do to stay healthy and happy. You want to create a life that makes sense. Don’t just spend all your time working blindly. I personally like to learn about health-related topics on YouTube. I watch lectures and interviews with doctors and professors. I find that I’ve learned a lot from this content, and that this content has given me a lot of clarity in life. I know how I want to ration my time and what I want to do with it in the future as a result of the studying and learning that I’ve done.
Realize that money isn’t really what you’re looking for
What you’re looking for is safety, comfort, lifestyle, and community. This can be hard to create in a world of depressed people, political turmoil, apathy, and constant inflation. But it’s possible if you learn a business model and become competent. Work hard, but take the time to be creative, and it’ll come to you.
If there’s anybody who I would take business advice from, it’s John D. Rockefeller. The man was sober, measured, controlled, and one of the wealthiest people in human history. His methods are likely highly replicable, given that he didn’t grow up wealthy at all. I would follow his advice before I follow that of some hustle bro making $100,000 per year. Be consistent, but don’t work too hard. It really will make it harder to build a successful business.
Thanks for paying attention.
