5 Lessons from ReWork by David Heinemeier Hansson and Jason Fried
If it were up to me, I would’ve handed over this book to every founder and entrepreneur. — Ankur Warikoo
We are seeing a wave of startups in the 21st century, everyone wants to be an entrepreneur but most people don’t know how and from where they can start it.
For being a successful entrepreneur and running a profit-making business, every entrepreneur should read the book ‘Rework’ — Change the Way You Work Forever.
This book is written by David Heinemeier Hansson and Jason Fried, ( a Danish programmer and founder of Basecamp)
Here, I will share the 5 lessons that I learned from Rework.
1. Meeting are toxic
Meetings can’t grow your company. While doing meetings you are trading ten hours of productivity for one hour of meeting time.
Meetings can create an internal battle in the company.
The worst interruptions of all are meetings. Here’s why:
- They’re usually about words and abstract concepts, not real things.
- They usually convey an abysmally small amount of information per minute.
- They frequently have agendas so vague that no body is really sure of the goal.
- Meetings procreate. One meeting leads to an other meeting leads to another…
If you decide you absolutely must get together, try to make your meeting a productive one by sticking to these simple rules:
- Set a timer. When it rings, the meeting’s over. Period.
- Invite as few people as possible.
- Always have a clear agenda. Begin with a specific problem.
2. Planning is Guessing
When you turn guesses into plans, you enter a danger zone. Plans let the past drive the future. They put blinders on you.
Before Covid, every company was making big plans and suddenly lockdown comes and every plan was destroyed.
No matter how smart you are planning is guessing so devote more time to execution than planning.
Planning is not bad but most of the time we devote our time to planning then execution so execution is the key for growth.
3. No time is no excuse
The most common excuse people give is, “oh I don’t have time for this.” or “I am really busy these days.”
There is always enough time if you spend it right and never think about quitting your job, either. Just do proper time management and you will see how much time you have in your day.
Besides, the perfect time never arrives. You’re always too young or old or busy or broke or something else. If you constantly fret about timing things perfectly, they’ll never happen.
Don’t let yourself off the hook with excuses. It’s entirely your responsibility to make your dreams come true.
4. Do it yourself first
Never hire anyone to do a job until you’ve tried to do it yourself first. That way, you’ll understand the nature of the work.
You should know whether to hire someone full-time or part-time, outsource it, or keep doing it yourself (the last is preferable, if possible).
The right time to hire is when there’s more work than you can handle for a sustained period of time. There should be things you can’t do anymore.
So hire slowly. It’s the only way to avoid winding up at a cocktail party of strangers.
5. INSPIRATION IS PERISHABLE
Inspiration is perishable, it doesn’t stay with you forever. When it approaches you then you need to hit the hot iron rod with the hammer and get it done.
If you want to do something, you’ve got to do it now. You can’t put it on a shelf and wait two months to get around to it.
You can’t just say you’ll do it later. Later, you won’t be pumped up about it anymore.
Inspiration is a magical thing, a productivity multi-plier, a motivator. But it won’t wait for you. Inspiration is a now thing.
Conclusion
Don’t try to be a superman, learn how to say no and focus on your work. If you wanted to build a successful company don’t care about every feedback but please care about the valuable one.
Make your time works for you try to do every possible thing in the beginning which you can do.
Don’t be insecure about aiming to be a small business. Anyone who runs a business that’s sustainable and profitable, whether it’s big or small, should be proud. People are creatures of habit and that is why they react to changes but that doesn’t need actions. Take a deep breath and settle in for the first waves.
Just go and read this book for being a better entrepreneur.
