I Don’t Have Variable Speeds… Only ON or OFF

Yup, I’m binary like that. When it comes to entrepreneurship, I’m either on or I’m off and it serves me well. It’s also a curse to be truthful, but I don’t know any different. Here’s the thing. I just don’t do things half ass (well my wife might say different when it comes to picking up dog poo or other household things, but that’s not what this blog is all about).

When I’m working, I take even the most mundane, simple, useless task and do it perfectly. I don’t know exactly why I do this. And to some extent it may not be the best use of time, but it makes for incredible work product that I’m proud of. To accomplish this I just move very fast and work very hard. I can’t work at 20% or 80%, its zero or 100. That’s it.

I haven’t read Steve Jobs biography yet… I will, but I did watch the 60 minutes episode and there was one nugget that really stuck with me. Jobs told Isaacson that his attention to detail was ingrained in him at an early age. He gave a very poignant example about a fence that he and his step dad built together. His dad told him that the back side of the fence, the side that nobody would see, should look as perfect as the front side which everyone saw. It should be painted just as well, with as much detail and pride as the front. He said no one else might ever see this or know it, but you will, and that’s the difference. That little point really hit home. I do things from that place. I know what the back looks like and if it’s not as good, then it’s not as good.

So if you work with me you’ll see. I’m either on or off, and when I’m on, I’m painting the back side of the fence just as nice as the front side. I can’t help it.