Do you feel that sometimes, you just can’t get ahead? You work really hard and yet, you see no real results? Watch the video or keep on reading to find out how getting stuck with a truck taught me a business lesson.
About three years ago, my husband and I travelled to Haiti with Heart to Heart, a 25-year-old organization that takes care of orphans. Heart to Heart began out of necessity and love after an earthquake decimated the country and many of its people. After Pastor Luke and his wife welcomed approximately 10 orphaned children to live with them in their home, he soon realized there were many more children who needed their help. Eventually Pastor Luke created an organization which now houses over one hundred orphans. Pastor Luke continues to live on the expanded site, where he has also built a church, a school for 600 children and six other satellite schools in the mountains. Establishing schools in the mountains was a huge benefit to the area because in Haiti, if you want to make a living as an entrepreneur and you want to have a garden, you can't live in the village because the ground is not suitable for agriculture.
Before Heart to Heart, children who lived in the mountains could not attend school because the only schools were in the Village which is about a four hour walk and with no roads.
My husband and I arrived in Haiti about three weeks after another earthquake. One of our tasks was to help deliver food to the satellite schools. To do this, trucks would have to drive through a river (which was more rocks mud than anything) and follow footpaths up the mountains. Needless to say, our truck got stuck.
The people living in the mountain couldn't really see us from up above and were anxiously waiting for the food we were delivering. When they suspected we may have gotten stuck, they walked down to help. There we were, four volunteers and several residents all frantically pushing a huge truck. It looked absolutely hilarious because there were four or five people pushing one way and eight or nine pushing the other way. Seriously! When that didn’t work, people began putting rocks underneath the tires for traction: at the front and the back at the same time! Again, the truck didn't go anywhere. Everyone was working really hard, but there was simply no progress.
After an hour and a half, Albert, the leader of our group came out and saw what was happening. He immediately took control of the situation and gave instructions: “You put some rocks here, and you put some there. You push from there. You remove these rocks. You guys all go push from the back.” In less than ten minutes the truck was out. That's what happens when you work smarter.
You can work really, really hard, but if you’re not working smart, you will never make the progress you need. I think that's what's happening right now, especially for entrepreneurs. If you’re like me, you’re frantically trying to save your business. We haven't been in a normal world for almost four months now and we're trying to figure out ways to hustle and reinvent ourselves so we can create a different kind of income for ourselves. And we’re working hard. Really hard. Sometimes it's not about working harder. We also need to work smarter. Sometimes we need to get out of the truck and say: “Hey, is this making sense? What I'm doing right now? How could I work smarter?”
Are you looking at exactly what it is you are doing? Ask yourself, am I working smarter here, or am I just pushing frantically on every side of the truck? Take the time to organize yourself, to organize your time. Debate with yourself if you have to: “Do I really need to do this? Is this really what I need done right now? Does it make sense?” Are running around trying to do everything at once: start a podcast, open up your social media, start a new webinar, do some training? That’s a lot of stuff!!! Or maybe you’re thinking: I have to change my website, or create a new brand, or both. It can go on and on. STOP. Tell yourself to wait a minute. Ask yourself what really needs to be done? Ask yourself how you can put your efforts into the things that matter most or that will generate the greatest income? How can you work smarter? Well, that’s what I teach my business mentorship clients. I help them focus and channel their energy into high value actions that will create revenue for them right now. Then, with that money, they can invest in the next high priority task, then the next task and so on. We keep moving, accomplishing and seeing results. So, let me help you stop working harder. Together we can work smarter.