The Value of Knowing What is Important

Recalling a recent occurrence, I have been looking to find a new office space. This office space would be my own personal space where I can gain some peace and quiet to research and read up on a new business idea that I have been developing. When you’re a leader, naturally, distractions and interruptions in an office with a team are inescapable.

While I was in the process of looking at these offices, a thought occurred to me; if this was 15 years ago, would I be looking at a whole new space just to get some privacy to do my research? I would have had a lack of budget and so instead I would have simply gone to a cafe, turned off my phone and got my work done. Now that I have more money, why am I opting to spend over 6 figures on a new office as opposed to 15 bucks on a cup of coffee. I began to question why I was spending so much more money on something that could possibly be non-optimal.

That began to put things into perspective. Have I grown to rely on a certain level of comfort to get things done? I needed to think about what the most optimal option would be in this situation rather than what would bring me more comfort.

When running a business you can’t lose sight of the important things you do in a day. Ask yourself the important questions; Am I lacking so much focus that I can justify spending a large sum of money to avoid distractions? Am I so weak that small everyday distractions would affect me into doing 90% as good of a job as opposed to a full 100%?

Where I am currently at, I come into the office, I have a 100 things to do and I manage to get them done. However, 60 of these things have little implication, which would mean spending too much time on certain things that do not require that much attention.

Basically, I need to think about whether it’s just about needing privacy and a place to focus or if this place would offer more than that in terms of value. If it’s about a more flexible space to hold private meetings or a space where I can showcase future businesses, those purposes make sense. But if it’s a space I need, just to focus and avoid distractions, that is not a good enough reason to justify throwing money at. It is self-indulgent.

As a leader, it’s important to be able to make decisions about appropriately and efficiently allocating resources within your company to achieve productivity. However, having the self-awareness that comes from knowing whether you’re being self-indulgent is equally important.

From 2011, up until 2015, I had a personal driver. For someone that was so used to having the comfort of a driver, letting that go was uncomfortable. But, it was non-optimal because, more often than not he wouldn’t have work to do and so it was an unnecessary expenditure being utilised for the sake of minor comfort. It’s like hiring a personal assistant whose only job is to photocopy papers and make coffee, is that a necessary expenditure? Or is it because it’s something that makes us feel more important? Well, I’m not rich enough to spend money just to feel self-important.

My issue comes with getting too comfortable. Comfort is seductive, it lures you in and in turn can make you lose sight of what the necessary factors are in achieving something real. I struggle with this just like anyone else. Spending money on small luxuries is definitely not an important factor to achieving something you have set out to accomplish. I could likely achieve the same effect if I were to disconnect, turn off my phone and go to a small cafe in order to not be disturbed.

At the end of the day, it’s the conviction and psychological mindset that something needs to be done that puts the wind at your back. What I want is to not become too comfortable or too pampered but rather to keep reminding myself what is important and what actually holds value.

I want to be uncomfortable.

I want to remind myself that I am nowhere near where I want to be.

I want to go further.