Myth Understanding

Myth Understanding

It's essential to work 60 hour weeks, constantly hire employees and add clients, and fix major problems by yourself. True or false?

Most business owners and entrepreneurs are convinced that in order to succeed, they must work extremely long hours. And that may be true, particularly during startup. But at established companies, executives working night and day may be unwise financially and socially, according to a survey released last month by Schwab Institutional, a division of Charles Schwab & Co..

What are some of those myths?

Well, the first is that every business problem can be solved if the owners and employees simply work longer hours. But what the study showed is that increased hours don't necessarily result in increased productivity. This is a problem for small business owners who think they won't succeed if they're not in the office constantly, and for those who evaluate their employees based on hours worked, instead of performance results.

Read about some of the other myths over at BusinessWeek

I could never understand the concept of the 9:00 am "Face Time" simply to fill up the office to create the illusion of a productive, successful and busy environment - just in case anybody's looking or a client might come by.

God forbid that at times, some employees might be off-site researching or fine tuning an important aspect of an account or catching up on some well deserved rest time after working late. Why it's more important to look productive that to actually be productive - I just don't get it. And the "team player" smokescreen does absolutely nothing to help the client other than persuade them to eventually go somewhere else because the deliverables they're receiving are less than stellar and nothing like what was promised during the initial dog and pony show.

Living the lie is boring, exhausting, and a waste of time, I've tried it. Playing the game for a paycheck made me lazy and my work boring and predictable but it was safe (for a while). That is until one day you ask yourself why you do what you do for a living and realize it's simply a half-ass interpretation of your initial aspirations. Living your life and truly being involved with your clients and folks you work with is so much more satisfying and real, not to mention it's a heck of alot more rewarding and fun.

I used to think that the only way I'd be really happy and successful would be by working on big, high profile accounts with lots of exposure and visibility only to find that what really makes me happy is having the luxury to work with people I not only trust, respect and admire, but people that I really like and want to work with and truly enjoy as human beings.

Like the song says - "What's gonna set you free? Look inside and you'll see".

That's Right.

HMK