{"id":30811,"date":"2015-08-24T04:45:50","date_gmt":"2015-08-24T09:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/?p=30811"},"modified":"2015-08-24T04:45:50","modified_gmt":"2015-08-24T09:45:50","slug":"no-you-dont-have-to-work-247-to-succeed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/no-you-dont-have-to-work-247-to-succeed\/","title":{"rendered":"No, You Don\u2019t Have to Work 24\/7 to Succeed"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love Amazon, but like many I was disturbed by what I read in the New York Times<\/em>\u2019 recent expos\u00e9<\/a>. Still, I was actually more disturbed by what came next.<\/p>\n\n

I read defenses of Amazon from entrepreneurs, leaders, tech writers, and others. Some were easy to agree with. It\u2019s a free country, after all. People can work where they want\u2014even high-intensity, always-on companies like Amazon.<\/p>\n

That wasn\u2019t the problem.<\/p>\n

What bothered me was the widely held assumption that this kind of environment is necessary for profitable, competitive companies\u2014as if entrepreneur<\/em> were just another word for workaholic<\/em>. Or that free market<\/em> is code for kiss nights and weekends goodbye<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Can we just label this what it is? Self-destructive and stupid<\/em>. I know because I\u2019ve proven it personally.<\/p>\n

Winning at Work and Succeeding at Life<\/h3>\n

Anyone who knows me, reads this blog, or listens to my podcast knows I\u2019ve always been a high-achiever. As an up-and-coming executive, business owner, corporate CEO, solopreneur, I\u2019ve always had big goals.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also made a lot of sacrifices at the expense of my family and health over the years. I\u2019m convinced the tradeoff wasn\u2019t worth it\u2014not only for my personal life, but also for my professional life.<\/p>\n

Now my mission is to help people win at work and<\/em> succeed at life. What I missed for years, and what Amazon seems to miss right now, is that these goals are only achieved in tandem. If we try doing one at the expense of the other, we eventually fail at both.<\/p>\n

Actions Reveal Our Values<\/h3>\n

The Amazon story jumped out for me because I was planning a strategic retreat for my company to look at the past year and set goals for the next several years. We also planned to review our values.<\/p>\n

Two of those values\u2014fast action<\/em> and consistent growth<\/em>\u2014would be recognizable to Amazon. But based on the expos\u00e9, another two would be less recognizable\u2014significant margin<\/em> and prioritizing our team<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This is a struggle in our business. We\u2019ve had plenty of times on launches or major projects where the team has had to put in excessive hours. But none of us is proud of that. Instead, we\u2019re actively improving our processes to preserve the team\u2019s time even in the middle of high-stakes initiatives.<\/p>\n

Why? Because we know our team members and their margin<\/a> matter for our ultimate success.<\/p>\n

3 Reasons Amazon Should Rethink its Culture<\/h3>\n

Jeff Bezos is known as a data guy. Me too. And with that in mind, here are three reasons Amazon\u2019s leadership should seriously reconsider the culture they\u2019re building.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Rested employees are better employees.<\/strong> One person in the NYT<\/em> story claimed she skipped sleep for four straight days. That\u2019s not heroic. That\u2019s dumb. And it\u2019s terrible for the business.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I\u2019ve written a lot about the importance of sleep<\/a> and margin<\/a>. What the research tells us is simple. When we cheat our sleep and recreation, we\u2019re less effective employees. Our productivity dive bombs along with our creativity, judgment, and everything else<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Amazon and its customers would be better served<\/a> if employees tucked in by ten and didn\u2019t check their email over the weekend.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. You can\u2019t easily separate work life and home life.<\/strong> Technology has erased the divide between work life and home life. Our phones and portable devices mean we\u2019re always on\u2014as much as seventy hours a week or more<\/a>. That\u2019s not all happening at the office. It bleeds into nights and weekends, which leaves little to no room for family.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      And this goes both ways. When our personal lives are out of kilter, it wrecks our professional performance. We eat up family time, and our family suffers. Then we drag that stress into the office. I can\u2019t think of one person I\u2019ve worked with in forty years who\u2019s productivity improved while their marriage ended or their kids were going off a cliff.<\/p>\n

      Bottom line: A culture<\/a> that encourages employees to work all hours will damage the support structure at home that makes those employees good at their jobs in the first place.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Burnout breeds cynicism.<\/strong> There\u2019s no way around this. Not only does burnout hurt the employee\u2019s professional and personal life, it breeds the kind of cynicism that kills offices and hinders customer relations. Why? Because employees get the message they don\u2019t matter.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        When employees think the company only wins when they lose, it\u2019s easy to get bitter and spread that attitude through the organization. It even hurts customer relations because the customer becomes the reason Dad missed his daughter\u2019s soccer game, or Mom missed her son\u2019s band performance.<\/p>\n

        And what for? Thanks to lower productivity, it\u2019s not like these employees are even making any real gains for their sacrifices. It\u2019s all about getting along in a wrongheaded office environment.<\/p>\n

        A Failure of Imagination<\/h3>\n

        I love making money as much as the next guy\u2014probably more. That\u2019s exactly why I\u2019m not only committed to consistent growth, but also instilling rest in my company culture. I want a business with increasing financial margin and personal margin for my whole team.<\/p>\n

        Our always-on culture is not only unnecessary, it\u2019s also counterproductive. If Amazon is truly interested in serving customers\u2014which it lists as its primary value\u2014doesn\u2019t it want employees serving those customers at peak performance, not sleep deprived, emotionally depleted, and drained of energy?<\/p>\n

        It\u2019s never too late to steer the ship another direction. Amazon has done wonders since its inception. Imagine what could happen if it were actually operating at full capacity instead of the mirage of it?<\/p>\n\t\t