Leverage Your Laziness - Free Preview

7/30/2019 Leverage Your Laziness - Free Preview

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sound wisdomShippensburg, PA


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Copyright 2012Bookbinder, Steve & Goldberg, Jeff

All rights reserved. This book is protected by the copyrightlaws of the United States of America. This book may not becopied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit. The use ofshort quotations or occasional page copying for personal orgroup study is permitted and encouraged. Permission will begranted upon request.

Sound Wisdom

167 Walnut Bottom RoadShippensburg, PA 17257

www.soundwisdom.com

This book and all other Sound Wisdom books are availableat bookstores and distributors worldwide.

ISBN 13: 978-1-937879-14-3ISBN Ebook: 978-1-937879-15-0

For Worldwide Distribution, Printed in the U.S.A.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 / 16 15 14 13 12


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I n t r o d u c t i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x i

Principle #1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Principle #2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Principle #3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Principle #4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Principle #5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Principle #6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Principle #7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Principle #8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Principle #9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Principle #10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Principle #11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Principle #12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Principle #13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Principle #14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Principle #15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Principle #16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97


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37

Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot

put your heart in it, take yourself out of it.

~ A

ost of us spend all of our time working in our

business, as opposed to working ON our busi-

ness, and were surprised that our business never im-

proves. Of course its important to work in your


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38 ~

business its how you get paid. But when you take

the time to work on your business as well, youll reap

great rewards. Taking the time to do nothing but think

about, How can I do things better? Differently?

More productively? More efficiently? takes practicebut brings substantial gains. When Jeff committed

to spending three hours per week, doing nothing but

thinking about how to improve his business, creative

ideas started flowing and his business took off!

Efficiency is intelligent laziness.

~ DD

GettingQBTTJPOBUFBCPVUMB[JOFTTsimply means

leveraging what you know about what should happen

next in a process that youve already done a lot of think-ing about.

For instance: Someone in our circle knows a

whole lot about search engine optimization, having

spent some years in that industry. Which one is it?

Well, well give you a huge hint: His initials are S.B.,hes swum a relay across the English Channel, and


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~ 39

hes got noticeably less hair than the other guy does.

Go aheadturn to the rear cover and check out the

author photos youll find there. Well wait right here

until you get back.

Got it? Great, lets keep going. This particularindividual isQBTTJPOBUFBCPVUMB[JOFTTJOIJTDIPTFO

GJFMEwhich means he does a good job of leveraging

what he knows about a process hes already quite fa-

miliar with and likes thinking about. In his case, that

happens to be selling. (By the way, its okay if thats not

your chosen field.)

When we say this guy is QBTTJPOBUF BCPVU MB-

[JOFTTJOIJTDIPTFOFMEwhat we mean is this:

He knows and enjoys talking to people, which is

his personal form of laziness. In his mind, talking

is fun, but writing proposals isnt. While talkingto people is right down the middle of his wheel

house (thats sports talk meaning that talking to

people in real time is a core strength and thus part

of his mission), writing proposals is not. In fact,

writing proposals is, in his view, a pretty frustrat-ing exercise. His thinking is that if you write the


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right thing, the prospect buysbut if you write

the wrong thing, the prospect doesnt buy. So,

when forced (that is asked) to write a proposal,

he leverages his laziness and talks the prospect

into writing the proposal with him! Writing theproposal with the prospect eliminates the boring

job he sucks at (creating a sparkling, impressive

document on the computer) and replaces it with

his passion: talking to people about why and how

he can add value!

Its worth mentioning that this particular guy

never would have come up with this solution had he

not listened to his inner lazy-muse, which kept whis-

pering these seductive words in his ear: Stay true to

your laziness; find another way.

Guess what he did? He listened to that voice. In-stead of returning to the prospects office with a pro-

posal, he returned with a proposal worksheet that

he could use to discuss his ideas for the proposal. He

told the prospect what he had learned about the com-

pany already, and what he assumed they were trying toaccomplish by buying his service.


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~ 41

This kind of thing happened over and over

again. Invariably, the prospects contribute their own

ideas, and their own wording, about what the service

should include, about their budget for that service,

and about other particulars they want to see in theproposal. In other words, not unlike Tom Sawyer,

this shrewd guyyou know, the one with less hair

and more experience in swimming the English chan-

nel than mosthas actually gotten the prospect to

write the proposal! Naturally, with all that help fromthe prospect, the proposal is now correctly written,

from the prospects point of viewall without our

hero having to go through the hated guessing what

to write part. By extending his love of talking into

the negotiating process, he has found a way to makethe creation of the proposal a win-win situation for

him and his customer. Both sides learn what works

and what doesnt. As a result, this handsome, hair-

challenged, intrepid navigator of the English channel

never has to waste time doing the thing he hates and

sucks at doing: writing proposals.


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42 ~

Once you know how to leverage what you know

and do well you can compress your process operate at

peak efficiency and get paid more!But you cannot

leverage what you know and do well unless you are

willing to stop and think about it on a regular basis.

No problem can withstand the assault of

sustained thinking.

~V

Never be afraid to sit awhile and think.

~LH,

A R S

You and I are not what we eat;

we are what we think.

~WA

Invest a few moments in thinking.

It will pay good interest.

~ AU


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~ 43

Thinking is like loving and dying. Each of us

must do it for himself.

~ JR

Few people think more than two or three

times a year; I have made an international

reputation for myself by thinking once a week.

~ GB S


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How can you leverage your knowledge about thatprocess? How can you use that knowledge to help oth-ers and increase your own personal efficiency? Howcan you turn your particular brand of laziness intomoney?


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Controlled chaos is one way to get creativity. The

intensity of it, the physical rush, the intimacy creates

the kind of dialogue that leads to synergy.

~ RH

o you remember the premise of the classic playand television showThe Odd Couple?Two re-

cently divorced men try to live together in one New

York City apartment without murdering each


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other. Felixthe neatnikis a detail guy who

lives to restore order to chaos, and finds a whole lot

of chaos to work with in his roommates unkempt

apartment. Oscarthe slobis a big idea guy who

likes connecting to people, and cant be bothered to

do the dishes or pick up the dirty clothes that he oc-

casionally leaves lying around the living room.

Ready for a surprise? If you leave out the part

where they argue about domestic issues, get on each

others nerves, aggravate each other, and almost com-

mit homicide over whether its spaghetti or linguinethat Oscar just flung against the living room wall

Felix and Oscar represent a pretty good model for

the partnership relationship you want to build into

your world.

Felix and Oscar may have had mismatched per-

sonalities for living together, but Oscar really didneeda detail person in his life, and Felix really didneed a

big idea person in his. Their big mistake, we think,

was trying to live together. What they really should

have done was start a company together! Were like

that, too. Steve is a creative, big idea guy; Jeff is a bornnurturer and implementer. Neither characteristic is


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~ 47

necessarily better than the other, but together, we

think we make for a great teama team that comes

up with terrific ideasandgets things done.

All of us, whether we realize it or not, have limita-

tions and blind spots that a good business partner can

fill. For us, the act of trying personally to compensate

for those blind spots is likely to feel a whole lot like

(gasp!) work. But for our partnerwho knows? It

could be something that he or she was born to do

like making the perfect linguine, or writing a great

sports column on a deadline.If you can find a Felix, or an Oscar, who doesnt

drive you crazy, but instead compensates for your weak

spots and lets you spend more time doing what you

know you do well think about establishing a part-

nership relationship with that person. This shouldnt

be your twinit should be someone who actuallycomplements your unique array of strengths, weak-

nesses, and interests. Youre looking for the accoun-

tant to match up with your born salesperson, the

driving, goal-oriented visionary to match up with

your born administrator, the music to match up withyour words.


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Interestingly, many of the entrepreneurs and exec-

utives weve talked with over the years have considered

the task of finding the right partner as being similar to

the process of finding the right spouse. In fact, many

people weve talked with have told us that the process

of locating the right partner is more important than

the process of finding the right spouse! Why? Because

you are likely to spend more time at work on any given

day than at home.

Thats a debatable point, perhaps, but this one

isnt:If youre going to be lazy, you need a LAZINESSPARTNER, someone who covers for you on the stuff

you suck at and helps you see and do things that you

dont usually see and do optimally on your own.

Great work often gets done in pairs. Have you

noticed? Thats because the partners cover each others

weaknesses and blind spotsand let each other focuson the items that belong in their own private zone.

Who will be Lennon to your McCartney? Jobs to

your Wozniak? Felix to your Oscar? You dont have to

move in with the person, of course. You definitelydont

have to let him, or her, take over your apartment andif you ever spot your partner flinging hot pasta around


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~ 49

the house during a disagreement, its probably time torethink your choice.

Once you have someone in mind, ask yourself:Does this person have the greatest potential for pow-erfulsynergywith me?

A synergy describes the situation where differententities cooperate advantageously for a final outcome.If used in a business application, the word means thatteamwork will produce an overall better result than ifeach person was working toward the same goal indi-

vidually. (Specifically, synergy is:)r "EZOBNJDTUBUFJOXIJDIDPNCJOFEBDUJPOis favored over the difference of individualcomponent actions.

r #FIBWJPS PG XIPMF TZTUFNT VOQSFEJDUFE CZ

the behavior of their parts taken separately

r 5IFDPPQFSBUJWFBDUJPOPGUXPPSNPSFTUJN-uli, resulting in a different or greater responsethan that of the individual stimuli.Wikipedia


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Leverage Your Laziness - Free Preview