本文與《創(chuàng)業(yè)者》雜志合作。下文最初發(fā)表于entrepreneur.com。 在創(chuàng)業(yè)者當(dāng)中存在一種普遍的心態(tài)——公司應(yīng)該永遠(yuǎn)排在第一位,不論你從事的是什么行業(yè)。它的重要性超越了一切,包括家人、朋友,尤其是健康。 我見過許多創(chuàng)業(yè)者為了公司成功而犧牲了一切,有時(shí)甚至?xí)?jīng)歷悲劇性的結(jié)局。我也曾是這樣的創(chuàng)業(yè)者,只不過我更加幸運(yùn)。在我將事業(yè)作為重中之重的那些年里,我的妻子一直對我不離不棄,我沒有給任何友誼造成永久性傷害(但也沒有培養(yǎng)任何新的友誼)。而且,我還活著。 驅(qū)動創(chuàng)業(yè)者的,并非貪婪。如果創(chuàng)業(yè)唯一的回報(bào)是金錢,我們便很難證明我們所做的犧牲是有意義的。金錢就像是游戲中的得分一樣。對于創(chuàng)業(yè)者來說,真正的動力來自創(chuàng)建了不起的事物,做一些能夠改變世界的重要事情。正是出于這樣的目的,創(chuàng)業(yè)者才會如此輕易地放棄其他事情。但這種觀念是錯誤的。如今我已經(jīng)幡然醒悟,所以,現(xiàn)在我對運(yùn)動的重視程度要高于我的公司。但這樣做并不容易。 我有一家成長型公司,有14名團(tuán)隊(duì)成員。他們相信我一定可以準(zhǔn)時(shí)支付工資,可以為他們及其家人提供福利,可以克服重重障礙,幫助他們完成工作。我們約有40名客戶,他們等著我拿出完美的成果,幫助他們的公司發(fā)展。 這意味著大量的工作任務(wù)和巨大的壓力。每天需要我為公司去做的事情幾乎有100件,其中半數(shù)是緊急任務(wù),但我能夠完成的不超過10件。盡管如此,我每周都會拿出至少10小時(shí)專心從事體育運(yùn)動。 我將體育鍛煉安排在工作日期間,并將其排在所有工作活動之前。鍛煉計(jì)劃是靈活的,但如果越野跑的時(shí)間和客戶會面時(shí)間發(fā)生沖突,我會重新安排時(shí)間與客戶會面。因?yàn)槲液臀业墓灸軌虺惺苤匦掳才乓淮慰蛻魰娴暮蠊?,即便這意味著失去客戶。但一旦我推遲鍛煉安排,我就會開始一次次錯過鍛煉的時(shí)間,最終的結(jié)果可能就是徹底停止鍛煉。 體育鍛煉必須放在首位,否則公司的成功就無從談起。 如果停止鍛煉,我的健康狀況就會每況愈下。而這將導(dǎo)致工作效率下降。我會變得沮喪。我將沒有動力去做那些能夠幫助公司成功的事情。我親身體會到,在生活中某個(gè)領(lǐng)域的卓越,有助于在其他領(lǐng)域?qū)崿F(xiàn)卓越。而體育鍛煉是我生活中最容易控制的一個(gè)領(lǐng)域。而且結(jié)果易于衡量。我要么堅(jiān)持鍛煉,要么放棄鍛煉。通過鍛煉,可以推動我生活中其他方面的發(fā)展,包括我的公司。 很長時(shí)間以來,我一直愚蠢地以為,不將公司作為重中之重,就意味著我并沒有為了公司的成功付出全力。這種觀念可以理解,但它是完全錯誤的。 假如我有10件優(yōu)先任務(wù),我不能簡單地說,將公司的優(yōu)先順序從第二位提高到第一位,便可以使公司獲益。關(guān)鍵在于弄清楚,這些任務(wù)的排序如何產(chǎn)生最大的總體效益。 例如,體育鍛煉讓我可以更好地扮演生活中的各種角色,不論是作為丈夫、父親、朋友,還是創(chuàng)業(yè)者。如果我感覺成為一名好的公司負(fù)責(zé)人更加重要,并因此停止鍛煉,最終的結(jié)果可能適得其反,我在這個(gè)職位上的表現(xiàn)可能比之前更糟。將體育鍛煉放在首位能夠?qū)崿F(xiàn)雙贏。 隨著公司的發(fā)展,我發(fā)現(xiàn)我的團(tuán)隊(duì)成員也陷入了同樣的迷途。因此,我們在公司制定了健康激勵,而且說起利用工作日進(jìn)行體育鍛煉,我也不會感到羞愧。我知道,如果我的團(tuán)隊(duì)成員將體育鍛煉和健康放在工作之前,他們工作的時(shí)間可能更少,但他們自身的感覺會更好,生活更加充實(shí),也就可以取得更理想的工作成果。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)) 注:本文作者喬舒亞·施泰姆勒是演說家、作家,并在數(shù)字營銷公司MWI擔(dān)任CEO。MWI公司在美國與香港設(shè)有分公司。 譯者:劉進(jìn)龍/汪皓 |
This post is in partnership with Entrepreneur. The article below was originally published at entrepreneur.com. There’s a prevalent attitude among entrepreneurs that the business, whatever that business is, comes first. It is the high priority that trumps everything else, including family, friends and especially health. I’ve seen entrepreneurs sacrifice all these things, sometimes with tragic consequences, to focus on making their businesses successful. I’ve also done it myself, although I’m one of the lucky ones. During the years I made my business my highest priority, my wife stuck by my side, I didn’t cause any permanent damage with friendships (although I certainly didn’t nurture any) and I didn’t die. It’s not greed that motivates us entrepreneurs. It would be difficult to justify the sacrifices we make if the only reward were money. Dollars become mere points in a sort of game. What it’s really about is building something great, doing something that matters and changing the world. That’s what makes it so easy to brush other things off. But it’s a mistake. I know that now, and that’s why today I care more about exercise than my business. But it’s not easy. I have a growing business with 14 team members. These men and women rely on me to make sure their paychecks come on time, that benefits are there for them and their families, and that obstacles are removed so they can get their work done. We have approximately 40 clients, who are depending on me to make sure they’re getting the results that will help their businesses grow. This adds up to a lot of tasks, and a lot of pressure. On any given day there are easily 100 important things I should be doing for my business, 50 of which are also urgent, but there is no way I can get more than 10 things done. And yet each and every week I spend at least 10 hours on focused, physical exercise. I schedule my workouts during the workday and prioritize exercise over all my work activities. There is some flexibility, but if there is a conflict between a trail run I need to get in, and a meeting with a client, I’ll reschedule the client meeting first. I do this because I and my business can survive the consequences of rescheduling a client meeting, even if it means losing that client. But as soon as I start pushing workouts off, I’ll start missing workouts, and once I start missing workouts, I’m close to stopping workouts altogether. Exercise must come first, or it’s unlikely to happen at all. If exercise stops, then my health goes downhill. With the loss of physical health my productivity at work goes down. I become depressed. I lose motivation to do the things that makes my business successful. I’ve learned firsthand that excellence in one area of my life promotes excellence in all other areas of my life. Exercise is the easiest area of my life to control. It’s easy to measure. Either I get it in, or I don’t. When I do, it lifts up all other areas of my life, including my business. For a long time, I was fooled into thinking that if my business wasn’t the top priority, then that meant I wasn’t doing all I could do to make it successful. This is an understandable way of thinking, but it’s completely wrong. If my life is made up of 10 priorities, then it’s not as simple as saying that if I move the business from being priority two to priority one, that the business is going to benefit. The trick is to figure out which ordering of priorities provides the maximum overall benefit. For example, when I exercise, that makes me better in every role I have, whether it’s as a husband, father, friend or entrepreneur. If I were to stop exercising because I felt that being a good business owner was a higher priority, then ironically I would end up a worse business owner than I was when it was a lower priority. Putting exercise first creates a win-win As my business grows, I see members of my team falling into the same trap I did. That’s why we’re working to institute health incentives, and why I’m not ashamed to talk about the time I take out of my work day to exercise. I know that if my team members put exercise and health before their jobs, they might work fewer hours, but they’ll feel better about themselves, have more fulfilling lives and they’ll produce better results with the hours they do work. Joshua Steimle is a speaker, writer, and CEO of MWI, a digital marketing agency with offices in the U.S. and Hong Kong. |