Three Costs of Saying Yes

At one time or another everyone has experienced the desire to do more things that interest them than they have time for. It might be traveling the world or trying multiple sports or musical instruments. A few people, prodigies, manage to conquer several musical instruments at once.

In business we see hyper-productive titans of business tackling business after business with endless energy. Small business owners are lulled into a false sense of ability when they try to multitask at the same level.

In our personal lives we might attempt to read several books at once or even write multiple books at one time. After all, we dug deep into a handful of textbooks simultaneously in college.

At work we crack open several projects at once. Before long we stall out as our brain freezes. Why does this happen? Only a minor percentage of the population manage it and they are considered prodigies. Why not me?

Back from Holiday

One of my favorite authors, Ryan Holiday, wrote about this issue a year ago.

People demand as much as they can get from you. I get a steady stream of emails from readers stating they wish they could find a local accountant like me.

Clients demand I, and only I, touch their tax return.

People demand every step be taken personally by people they admire. But they don’t know what they are asking for.

Does anyone believe I personally prepare a thousand tax returns annually without a bit of help?

We want to think our heroes are really superheroes!

If only your favorite accountant could be an awesome husband, father, business owner, and blogger without help from another living human being. Or maybe I am the best person I can be by focusing on what is most import, what is in front of me.

A New Brand of Superhero

Business leaders are not doing the incredible at the level outsiders think.  If you watch closely, leaders focus on the task at hand and put everything else out of mind. They do one thing at a time. Multitasking is for amateurs.

With so many facets to business it seems as if the CEO of a multinational corporation is doing a dozen things at once. At least to outsiders. Small business owners seem to do the same on a smaller scale.

Focus is key. Focus allows for a higher level of performance. It also increases productivity. One task at a time. A lot of work can be done in a day when the mind is focused.

Most people are thinking about the time they should be spending with their spouse and kids when at work. At home they are preoccupied with work matters.

All this is insanity! You can only be where you are. When your mind wanders to a project you are away from you end up nowhere. The wife and kids don’t get your undivided attention. Later, when exhausted from all the mental anguish, you underperform at work. You end up spiraling down.

In college you read several books at once as you worked through each course. The same happens in your personal, work, and/or business life.

Why it worked in college (if it worked for you in college) is that you were in Sociology when you were in Sociology and not in Algebra! It sounds like common sense, but we tend to lose this skill set once we enter the workforce or start a business. We allow disruptions which leads to multitasking which leads to burnout.

Business owners are the worst! I’ll vouch for that.

Demands come from every direction. As a business owner you want to solve everyone’s problem. But you can’t!

Nobody is helped when you are spread thin.

But business demands constant attention. When a client arrives without an appointment you own them answers to their problem, right?

No, you don’t!

You owe the client who scheduled an appointment who happens to have her stuff spread across your desk at the moment.

If you take every call, constantly check your email, or allow every interruption you will end up exhausted without getting anything done you wanted to accomplish. The client is screwed and so is your family when you get home. The stress is unbearable.

Back on Holiday

Ryan Holiday is a writer. Writers need plenty of free time to allow the creative process to work.

Last year when I attended Camp Mustache SE in Gainesville, Florida, the facilitators informed me they tried to get Holiday to attend. Holiday immediately sent them to his agent who said the fee is $15,000, plus expenses. The fee is high as a way of saying “no”. There were some complaints at Camp when this was revealed, but Holiday’s career would spiral out of control if he attended every offer.

Readers who pay close attention can tell when I’m rushed. It shows in my work and the scattered mental process.

Holiday talks about keeping his calendar as open as possible without harming his career. He says “no” to almost very distraction. He admits to lapses, as any honest individual would. Still, lapses evolve into serious issues if allowed free rein.

Holiday calls it “calendar anorexia”. By keeping his scheduled appointments down to a minimum he keeps ample open time to think and create.

I wish I were as good at it as Ryan. Writing a blog is a business all its own. A tax practice is a business requiring serious time commitments.  People reading this blog know they can dig for 30 seconds and have my office phone number. The call is corralled long before it gets to my office, but it does take time from my team members. Now all calls go to voicemail.

Distractions are common in an accounting office. If I’m to get any work done distractions must be avoided.

I spend more time at the office than I should, but I enjoy the work environment. I take time to read and research, manage my business, review my budget (what budget I have), and investments. Tax returns take plenty of time during tax season. Managing a small business is a time sink, if allowed.

People will wear you out if you let it happen! They’re not bad people. They lack discipline so they just “drop by” for a quick question. Not a good idea if you want the “correct” answer from me.

The Cost of Yes

Yes costs more than money.

Every interruption has a cost. Each distraction takes more than the “few minutes” the client/potential client/salesman promises.

It takes time to push paperwork (or any project being worked on) to the side to do something else. Your mind has to shift focus to the new task. This takes mental effort and you only have so much each day!

Once you are finished with the “few minutes,” you need to refocus again on the original task. Research says it takes on average 23 minutes to get back up to speed on the original project. The “few minutes” squanders as much as a half hour of productive time. And that’s assuming the “few minutes” were really only a few minutes. It does not take many of these “quick questions” to ruin a day, week, month, career.

Take a couple personal calls and client interruptions and you’re productivity collapses to nothing while you end up exhausted! Worse, the boss is ticked you aren’t getting anything done. If self-employed, you can’t understand why there are no profits.

“Yes” costs more than money; it costs peace of mind, satisfaction and tranquility. Interruptions are stressful!

Every “yes” is a “no” to all the other things you could be doing with that time.

Good for Business?

I get asked to attend a lot of events. Mini conferences have sprung up all over the country and around the world in the personal finance demographic. My work with Mr. Money Mustache and other popular FIRE (financial independence, retire early) bloggers coupled with a Plutus Award has made me in somewhat high demand.

My first impulse was to always say “yes”; my inclination is to please people. I want to make the readers happy. And I might get new readers!

Except, if I really thought about it, there is no way I can sit with each reader personally. If my readership consisted of only people I met personally this blog would be very, very small. And unprofitable, too.

Late last year it became abundantly clear I needed to stop attending events to please people. A natural part of my work/business life will bring me in contact with readers and potential readers. I don’t have to travel across the country or to the other side of the planet to be successful in this genre.

My readership will grow whether I travel to endless conferences or not. Your personal life is the same. Constant distraction subtracts from overall enjoyment of life.