Work Less and earn more, you must be kidding! When I first heard that concept many years ago, I thought it was a salesman’s clever pitch. I was sure this was not so. My family, probably like yours had long preached the gospel of hard work and having a good work ethic. Hard work – that was the key to success – paying your dues. Now someone was telling me I could work less and earn more money.
I have to admit that I was curious but skeptical. That was many years ago and today my life is far better than I ever imagined possible because I do work less and earn more.
Many years ago there was an article in a Toronto newspaper. The article highlighted the results of a survey on working women. The number one priority as reported in the survey was to have a balanced life. I believe if men had been included in that survey, the results would have been exactly the same. Now it’s interesting though, that neither the article nor the survey appeared to have provided a definition for a balanced life. So what does it mean to have a balanced life? How would you be living if your life were in balance? To me, it means:
Having the amount of money to live the way you choose and the time to enjoy it.
Isn’t that something you would want? Isn’t that something most people want?
For many people time and money are a real balancing act. Imagine an apothecary scale with time and money situated opposite each other. If you have an abundance of time, your income is most likely suffering and if you have lots of money your available time typically suffers. To get them in balance and keep them there seems to be a real juggling act and one that requires incredible sacrifices… or so I thought.
Back then, my own plan for success had me working vey long hours so that I would hopefully reach a point where there was more money in the future and when that day came I would have the luxury of working less. In other words my initial plan was to sacrifice time today with the hopes that I would have more on the back end. I realized that plan had some real flaws when my first husband died at the age of 28. We both had been working that plan and when he died I realized that you cannot stockpile time or money… you may not be around to enjoy it.
When I started down this path of working less and earning more, I was clear on two points: One I wanted a career. I wanted to spend time at something I found challenging and satisfying; something that would keep me growing and moving forward in life…that would interest me and keep me interesting. Second, I wanted that career on my terms. I wanted to be in control of how I worked and the money I earned.
I didn’t want a career that controlled and consumed my time any longer and I certainly didn’t want to hit any ceiling, glass or otherwise when it came to my compensation. I truly believe that the things I wanted are the things that most people want out of life; probably what you want. And for you to have them, you will have to be clear on exactly what it is you want.
For me, working less and earning more was not an easy transition. I was not programmed to think the way I needed to think…I was not programmed to act the way I needed to act to accomplish my objectives. In fact, I don’t think I even realized it was a skill that could be learned.
The key to working less and earning more is really about accomplishing more in less time. Now I know on the surface this may seem like a paradox. How could you possibly accomplish more without working more? It just didn’t make sense to me either but it’s not only true….it’s the way every successful person operates and it is a skill that can most assuredly be learned.
One of the most effective people I know and the person who showed me this method of working and thinking is my husband, Bob Proctor. I have had the privilege of working with and observing Bob for many years now and without a doubt, he accomplishes more in a day than most people do in a month. When I met him I thought he surely must have been born under a different star than I had been.
He was so different. It seemed so easy for him to accomplish so much in a day. Comparing his daily accomplishments and the ease, with which he did them with my own, truly made me want to give up in the very beginning. How could I possibly duplicate the things he did? It just didn’t seem possible. But it was possible and it’s possible for you too.
I think we all understand that there are skills that must be learned in order to accomplish anything in life. Let’s take driving a car for example. But keep in mind this example would work the same for learning a sport, typing or learning a new language. If you are to become good an anything, in this case driving a car safely, there are certain things that must be learned about the car and certain driving skills that must be acquired. We understand that. In fact, so much so that most of us wouldn’t think of trying to teach ourselves. We would seek out someone who has the knowledge and skills we desire and train under them.
In the beginning, my biggest problem was that I did not see working less and earning more as something that could be learned. I figured the people accomplishing these incredible feats had to be different or that perhaps this was something that developed over time. It never occurred to me that I could learn what they knew. It certainly never occurred to me to ask for their help, or better yet, to mentor under them.
I truly wanted better results. I wanted to have the amount of money to live the way I wanted to live and the time to be able to enjoy it and I was prepared to do what was required to achieve it. But my way was not delivering those results. In fact, I seemed to be working more and more with less and less time for the things I really wanted to do. The good life I truly envisioned was always in the future and I didn’t know how to bring it into the present. Most days the future seemed to be getting further and further away and so were my dreams.
When I met Bob I had been struggling in sales for several years. I had gone into sales with the expectation of earning a better than average income. Not only was the income not there….I was working very long hours. There were many times I considered just “throwing in the towel” and settling for a job with guaranteed hours and guaranteed pay. But something inside of me told me to stick with it…to keep trying…maybe the success I wanted was just around the corner. Unfortunately, had I not met Bob, I don’t believe that success would have come.
You see, at the time I thought the key to success was to try harder….that’s what I was taught; that’s what I was doing. What I didn’t realize was that trying harder at the same thing will not produce significantly better results. I needed a new approach and that’s what Bob gave me.
I remember that first meeting with Bob very clearly. After some small talk he asked me if I could see myself earning $100,000 a year. Now keep in mind that was 30 years ago when $100,000 a year income was pretty scarce. I remembered giving him a feeble answer that indicated I sure would like to have the income, but I really had trouble believing that I could accomplish that. You see, at the time I was earning a little over $20,000 a years in sales and was cold calling 200 people a week to earn that.
When he asked if I could see myself earning $100,000 a year, all I could see was having to cold call over 800 people a week to earn that income. First of all, I really didn’t think it was possible to cold call 800 people a week and even if it was, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to do it. That was my conditioning and most likely that is yours. But that is not what Bob asked and certainly not what he suggested I do to earn that income.
When he realized my dilemma, he asked me to trust him and do what he suggested. Ultimately my belief in his ability to deliver results and his belief in me to duplicate those results gave me the confidence and desire to follow his direction.
Yes, you can earn more and work less. You can have the income you truly envision. It is not a clever pitch and it is not a lottery, but it will not happen by accident. It will happen with an objective, a plan and a serious commitment to that objective and plan. If you’re truly committed to the idea of Earning more and Working Less it is available and waiting for you… so let’s get started.
If you’re keen to move forward – send me an email right now – use the contact form to ensure it comes direct to me – do it right now! Let’s work together… enjoying time and money freedom!
~ Linda Proctor
