Separation is the Key

The fact that you are reading this note tells me a couple of things about you. You are self-motivated thus working hard is not a problem for you. Yet you have come to realize at some point in your life that only hard work is not enough to achieve your milestones. It also tells me that you are definitely not someone who is easily satisfied.

Good news! These are all good things.

Not many people can say those things, when they assess themselves standing in front of a mirror – and I hardly need to tell you that a mirror does not always have to be a physical one. We all have a mirror in our heart. Being a human being, you are incapable of lying to yourself. You know exactly what you are doing and what your intentions are.

As long as you can be honest with yourself regarding the actions that you take, it will be easier for you to discipline yourself. The first thing, and I mean, the very first thing – that you need to master is the ability and willingness to categorize the work that you are doing (or planning to do) and allocate separate work-time for each of those categories i.e. you should not engage yourself in two (or more) different categories of work at the same time, no matter how good you might be at multitasking. This requires you to be disciplined.

Maybe you have a job and a side-hustle. This side hustle can be one of those many different things that we all have tried out at least once in our life or maybe, have considered trying but never really executed. Your side-hustle can be your consultancy services, making use of the skills that you have developed over the last five to ten years. It can be a local small business that you opened for selling your expertise, or goods, or both! It might just be your personal brand development so that you can attract more clients when you represent your core business.

Whatever your side-hustle is, it is extremely important to keep it separate from your core job. Also, there might be cases, where you might be dealing with multiple side hustles along with a full-time assignment. In this case, not only that you need to separate your core business from your side hustles, there should also be separation among those side hustles so that they don’t interfere with each other.

You probably have noticed that I have not even mentioned the subject of separating your ‘work’ from your ‘personal life’. The concept of ‘work-life’ balance, to me, is a sugar-coated fantasy.

Yes, you heard me right: sugar-coated fantasy.

The term ‘work-life balance’ sounds cool, and it has been on many of our wish-lists for so long that we cannot even remember who invented this mythical concept. That being said, we also do not know when was the first time this concept came into existence to mess with our mind. What we do know is that it is not healthy to run after ‘work-life balance’. You cannot afford to be driven by a myth when you have decided to lead a life that will help accomplish your goals as well as add value to this world – both at the same time.

However, it is not practical to label something as ‘mythical’ or ‘fantasy’ without trying to reason by looking into the arguments with genuine sincerity. The concept of ‘work-life balance’ is there to make people feel good about their life, when they are stuck with a typical routine job. I call it the modern form of ‘slavery’. This ‘work-life balance’ concept will have you listen to your boss to the last bit of his orders no matter if those instructions make sense to you or don’t.

Getting back to our topic, your focus should be on allocating your time for all your different hustles in such a way so that you do not end up working on multiple tasks at the same time. Work on one task at a time and give it everything that you have. This strategy, if applied consistently backed by a well thought-out plan, will bring out the best in you.

Every task is important. People around you are important, too. Unfortunately, people around you will often tell you that a task is just a task. In their opinion, a singular task should not be given as much importance as your business if it is not associated with gaining a large chunk of money or assets. They will do everything in their power to convince you to get over with a task as quickly as possible because that will leave you with ‘extra-time’ that can be used to do more. I am here to tell you that they could not be more wrong.

When you work on a task with a mindset of getting it done in shortest possible time, you are more likely to ignore the details of the assignment. A work done without being attentive to details eventually results in a low-quality product. Your reputation in the market will always be based on the quality that you provide, not how quickly you delivered. A quick delivery of a quality product is a bonus for the client and you will be appreciated for it. Heck, you can even charge more for the rush! But a quick delivery compromising the quality will throw you off the boat. This boat is called ‘Market’, and the market does not care who you are or what you did, it only cares about the value you are adding to the market right now!

This is why a clearly-defined separation of your work-time for different hustles that you are engaged in is the key to your success, along with all your businesses. It helps you focus on each and every single task that takes you one step closer to your goal, without getting distracted by ‘other important tasks’. It also lets you plan for each hustle, ensuring a uniform attention to all of them.