The Smart Arse Rule

You hear people talk about 'working smart'.  They might say, it's good to work hard, but it's better to work smart.  And then some people insist you can work hard and smart.  Oh yeah - and be a parent, husband/wife, healthy, happy, blah blah.  Hmmmm.


All of this falls under a conversation in the pub around 'work-life balance'.  


Here's the thing.  Nothing comes for free in life. If you want results, it requires hard work.  In fast moving growth businesses, getting results from putting in a 9-5 day is extremely difficult, almost impossible.  Personally I've always wanted to do more in life than work, so I've tried to do that, with moderate success.  It gets quite challenging if I'm honest with 4 (lovely) kids aged 2 to 6, a job in a tech start-up and commuting in London.  


I don't claim to have balance as such.  Nor do I aspire to.  Instead I get by and I'm pretty productive at work and have a life outside of work.  Rather than describe it as a work-life balance I'd call it 'surviving on the edge of chaos'.  To survive, I have a simple rule that I apply when trying to balance the week.  It's called the 'smart arse' rule.


Before I explain the 'smart arse' rule and how I've used it, let's touch again on balance.  Balancing what?  What you want to get out of life is different to me - so this is a really personal thing.  For me I need the following; first of all, look after my health.  Keep fit, get enough sleep, eat well.  If I can do that, everything else follows.  Next, pay attention to and look after my family.  Maybe that should come first, but to be honest if I'm a grumpy unfit and sleep deprived shell I can't do it very well. So they go hand in hand.  And looking after my family means being with them. There's a time requirement,  I can't do it on 2 hours a week.  It's a big commitment.  Part of that involves chores, admin, sorting stuff out and running a household with my wife.  Stuff like doing the washing up, moving he lawn, sorting out the car insurance.  Blah. And actually spending time with my kids not doing chores.  Then there's work.  I am ambitious.  I want to succeed.   Not so that I can rule the world, rather it's really so that I can live life with a purpose and have a sense of achievement in having pushed myself to be the best I can be.  What else?  A need to learn, to absorb knowledge, to master skills and to teach others those skills.  Distil and synthesise thoughts, concepts and continuously chase the answers to big questions.


Just how to survive these chaotic ambitions?  


The 'smart arse' rule


About one or two decades ago I worked in a ski resort as an overseas operations manager for an upmarket ski chalet tour operator.  I was in charge of everything overseas, which for our company meant 38 chalets in 6 resorts in 3 countries, about 80 staff, 2 childcare centres, 6 vehicles.  Logistics, staff management, procurement, contracting, transfer days, troubleshooting.  Working in a ski resort sounds like fun, and it can be, but you have to work smart.  Really smart.  And the way I did this was to have a smart arse rule.


Ask yourself this question - what is the one thing that means more to you than work?


Everyone has something.  Even if you're the most driven workaholic entrepreneur, there's always something.


Next - block out your diary with when you will do this activity.


Then - work around this self-imposed rule.  If you do this, you're a smart arse and you have a smart arse rule. 


In the ski resort, my smart arse rule was this; go skiing at least 3 times a week, 4 times if all goes well.  This was broken down into; all day on one day off a week, then 3 afternoons (from 12 to 4) on the day before transfer day (which was often a 18 hour work day), the day after transfer day and one other day depending on my schedule.  This sounds like a lot, but even with that I worked about 60 hours a week.  I would start at 8am, finish up at 9pm and only go out in the evenings every now and then so as to keep my sleep quota.  As far as I was concerned the reason I was busting my gut in a stressful job in the Alps was so that I could go skiing.  Without the skiing, the very reason for being there was gone.  Skiing was (and still is) my passion.  


A real life example of the smart arse rule for city life would be if you are a parent and state that you want to see your kids at bedtime at least every other evening.  You allow yourself to work late on some nights if you need to but you block your diary to get home in good time on other nights.  Or - you are a football fan and buy tickets to your team's home matches.  Or - as a hard working couple, you make a date that Monday evening is movie night.  Or - as a martial arts enthusiast you dedicate 3 sessions a week to your passion at certain set times each week.


The important thing is to actually ask yourself what is the one thing more important than work.  Then - put these things in the diary up front and commit to them.  It could be a simple mental rule rather than a physical diary entry, but until you get this working for you, commit in writing.


The smart arse rule works because it forces you to work smart.  You might need to break out your laptop on the train, come in to the office early or schedule an evening conference call to fit everything in, but by committing to yourself first, you actually make it possible to work smart.  Then, if you work hard, that's a bonus too, but at least you'll be doing it for a reason.


Without the smart arse rule, how would you know if you are working smart?  By forcing yourself to work around self-imposed limitations, you develop skills over time to become effective in delivering your work commitment and at the same time - as a bonus - you reward yourself.


It is possible to work hard and smart.  You just need to be a smart arse. Get yourself a smart arse rule.