Just because you're grinding for 12 hours a day doesn't mean you're getting anywhere. I've spent full days obsessing over button placement on an Access form only to realize later that the form itself wasn't even necessary. All that motion, zero progress. It's like being at warp 9... in the wrong direction.

There's a great Star Trek parallel here. Think of Geordi and Barclay. Geordi's focused. He sees the big picture, knows what needs fixing, and gets it done efficiently. Barclay? Brilliant guy, no doubt, but he'll rewrite the whole holodeck subroutine because one panel feels off. Sometimes we're all Barclay. Deep in the weeds, pouring time into things that don't actually move the needle. You don't get medals for polishing the inside of a shuttle bay when the warp core is about to breach.

I've been there myself. There was a time I spent nearly a week automating a complex report process in Access. Full-on VBA, error trapping, dynamic filters, the works.* After patting myself on the back, I realized I only needed to run that process once a month... manually... and it took about two minutes to do by hand. Meanwhile, I could have recorded and published half-a-dozen more videos. Now that would have actually moved the needle for my business.

That's why I lean on tools like ChatGPT. Not because it magically does the work for me, but because it helps me focus the work. Instead of writing the same answer to the same email question for the 87th time, I can have it draft something in 5 seconds. Then I can spend my time where it counts - teaching, building, creating. That's what working smarter actually looks like.

We romanticize hustle way too much. Working long hours is not a badge of honor. It's often a sign that your systems are broken. If you're constantly exhausted and still not seeing results, it's not because you're not trying hard enough. It's probably because you're not aligned with what actually matters.

So yeah - work hard. But first, stop and ask yourself: is this moving the needle? Or am I just repainting the holodeck again?

I've had days where I've worked all day on something that, in retrospect, wasn't very important. Felt like it at the time - but really wasn't. I've had other days where I've only worked an hour or two on something that made a huge difference in my business. Guess which one is more important in the long run?

LLAP
RR

* I stopped doing this for my own database unless it's something that actually pains me to do every day/week/month. When I get to the point where I'm honestly sick of doing something manually, that's when I take the time to automate it. You've got to identify actual pain points. But then again, sometimes it's cool to do something "just because" you can. LOL. I'm all about late-night hack-a-thons for the fun of it. But just don't kid yourself that it's productive work when really you're just having fun. Then again, I learned most of what I know now from late-night hack-a-thons, sooooo.......