Leveraging Volunteers

MANTRA: How can I get this done without doing it myself?

MANTRA: How can I get this done for free?

We often confuse ourselves into thinking that money is the magical problem solver. Sometimes you have to think beyond money and consider the things that money can get you. And ask yourself, how do I get this particular service, product, outcome without actually using money. What can be used in the place of money? Can charm, promises, trades or love be used in the place of money?

There are myriad ways that a wise man is able to utilize volunteer labor. Sometimes you are using the labor to do the task directly. In other cases you are utilizing the labor to support your effort to complete a task. The key to being a boss is not being over invested in your ability to do things your self. Though you may be competent, the true boss mentality is about engaging teamwork to make the dream work.

As you make progress towards your goals you will encountered challenges. Some of these challenges are circumstantial and other challenges are of your own making. For those challenges that result from your personal deficiencies, quirks, or circumstances, you would be wise to utilize volunteer labor to support your triumph.

A basic example of how I utilize volunteer labor to help perfect myself, which is to say to help me become more effective in my work is the following: there are some types of work that require your unique skills, intelligence, perspective, experience. Those are the pieces of work that you cannot pass off to someone else. However, what you can do is utilize the free labor of others to help enhance your ability to do this work that requires your genius. For example, let us consider one who trades stock from home in Las Vegas.

We know that the stock market opens at 6:30 AM Pacific standard time. With that being the case it is wise to go to bed at a reasonable hour or so that they can be awake and alert when the opening bell sounds. I have a lot of trouble going to bed on time on my own volition. Utilizing boss mentality, I have made it my assistant’s responsibility to barge in and take my laptop promptly at 11:30 PM. She is kind enough to give me a heads up at 11:20 PM and carries out the order properly at 11:30 PM despite my protest. I have basically empowered her to be a better, more disciplined second brain.

The key to all of this is to use reliable, honest, effective labor. Lastly, it is worth noting that along with writing down my goal sprint. I have also written down my anticipated challenges. And, when I reflect on my day in the evening, I write down what actually occurred. Hence, I’m able to also identify unanticipated challenges and apply volunteer labor to those problems as well.