The Lazy Millionaire

by Marc Fisher

This being said, do not become a slave of the law of least effort. Life is not only about making money.

  A real lazy millionaire knows how to stay human, polite, and nice to everyone he meets, regardless of whether they are able to help him in his efforts as a lazy millionaire or not!

  He also knows the truth of the adage: “You never know who you might end up doing business with.”

  For example, the manager of a publishing house where I regularly do business was just a receptionist when I first met her!

  I don’t need to tell you that I don’t regret having always been polite to her. Of course, it didn’t hurt that she was extremely beautiful!

  But joking aside, I believe that it is important to always go through life with the attitude that every person we meet is important, and is entitled to receive our full consideration and respect…

  But at the same time (there’s always a “but,” isn’t there?), it is important to understand that we can’t spend the same amount of time with everyone, or we’d never get through our day…

  Every lazy millionaire knows that he must constantly make choices, and make the best possible choices.

  Using the Pareto’s Law all the time, the lazy millionaire also uses another Law very often.

  CHAPTER 7

  THE LAZY MILLIONAIRE PLAYS ACCORDING

  TO PARKINSON’S LAW

  Parkinson’s first law says:

  “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

  Humorously explained in the book The Peter Principle by C. Northcote Parkinson, the law basically means that:

  “To accomplish a task we always use all the time allowed to do it.”

  For example:

  1. Your boss asks you to prepare a report by the end of the month, but it is highly probable that, even if you have three months to complete it, you won’t take it seriously until just a few days before the deadline. And you’ll probably be adding the finishing touches the night before the deadline.

  2. You are a student, and you put in 80% of your study the night before an exam, and 80% of your essay writing time two days before the deadline, if it is not the night before.

  3. You are a taxpayer (meaning one who actually pays his taxes!), and even though you have all the papers on hand in February, it is highly probable that you will wait until the last week of April, or even until April 30, before completing and mailing your income tax return, and you will often line up at the post office, which has stayed open until midnight to accommodate the latecomers…

  You’ve had an experience like this, haven’t you?

  If you really think about it, it’s a variation on the application of the Pareto principle, because only 20%, or maybe even less, perhaps 10% or 5% of the time that is allocated is necessary to accomplish 80% or 90% of the task…

  Pondering this psychological law, I told myself that I could actually benefit from it!

  I told myself that right when I began to earn a living as a “ghost-writer,” having left my day job in publishing at the age of 31…

  I was paid by the page, so I worked quickly, and the more money I earned, the more time I would be able to “buy” to write my own books!

  So I asked myself, as a budding lazy millionaire: “If it’s true that, according to Parkinson’s Law, we always use all the full amount of the allocated time to do a job, what would happen if I had less time?”

  For example, if instead of giving myself 6 months to write a 200-page book (which was what I did before I moved on to become a professional writer), I gave myself only 4…

  How would I feel?

  Not too stressed, to be honest. (Perhaps now is a good time to admit that I don’t stress easily…)

  And if, instead of 6 months or 4 months, I only had 3 months to churn out my copy, how would that be?

  Once again, how would I feel?

  Not much more stressed, in fact…

  I pushed this logic a little further, and asked myself what would happen —within my head and my keyboard! - if I were to reduce the timeframe even more…

  The first contract I received as a ghost-writer (from an European publisher) was to write a book about… time management!

  This was quite a stroke of luck for someone who was always looking for ways to work quickly and effectively!

  Before getting started, I had to read a whole crate of books that the publisher had sent me on the topic.

  Before reading them, I thought about the best way to do this, and developed a method that I have used ever since. I spent 3 hours quickly scanning the 20 books, in order to determine the order in which to read them.

  I made an interesting discovery. In general, there aren’t very many good books on any given topic. In fact, only 20% of writers are truly original, and relate approximately 80% of what there is to say about the given topic.

  I also noticed that, with the exception of novels, of course, 20% of the text of a book contains 80% of the author’s thoughts. And this 20% is conveniently found, for the most part, in the first few paragraphs of each chapter, or even more conveniently, in the form of a summary at the end. The rest of the text constitutes examples, counter-examples, and studies or statistics to support the original thesis!

  So I read the best book first, very attentively from cover to cover, and then read the second and third “best” books, faster and faster as their quality was going down and my expertise in the field was growing of course. I was literally flying through the last ones, that generally contained either nothing new or nothing true.

  In fact, it could be said about them what one of Freud’s now-forgotten detractors said one day after one of his brilliant conferences:

  “Some of what you just said is new, and some of it is true. But the things that are true are not new, and the things that are new are not true.”

  As a result, I read the 20 books in 2 weeks, and without even knowing it, had applied the principles of the lazy millionaire, which proves, if need be, that in order to write fast in this trade, you also need to read fast!

  I completed the 200-page book in a month and a half.

  I sent the manuscript to the publisher, who was so happy that he sent me a cheque for $20,000!

  I had just bought several months of freedom to work on my own book!

  I realise that you probably aren’t a writer, and you don’t have to read a book every day, but it is quite probable that, in your job, you are inundated with reports and with lengthy and detailed studies —in fact with all kinds of documentation… If this is the case, I have a feeling that the lazy millionaire’s methods will really come in handy!

  When I’m running short on time, I sometimes ask myself the following question when faced with reading a book in order to improve the chapter of one of my books or a conference:

  “If you had only one hour to spend in the company of this author and his 200-page book, what would you do?”

  The answer: “I would read it in an hour!”

  And that’s what I do!

  And I remember, or at least I absorb, at least 80% of the information in the book.

  As for the remaining 20%, I don’t think it’s worth spending the two or three hours it would take to extract it…

  It’s the opposite of perfectionism, I know, but remember what Churchill said about this approach, which is often only a disguise for procrastination: “Perfectionism is spelled P A R A L Y S I S!”

  Do an experiment with a 30-page report.

  Tell yourself:

  “If I only had 15 minutes to read this before a meeting, what would I do?”

  “I’d read it in 15 minutes!”

  And you’ll be surprised how much you remember especially if you use speed-reading, a must for a lazy millionaire…

  There are many applications of Parkinson’s Law, and several of them are often under-estimated.

  For example, ask yourself: “If I had to meet with 10 new clients every week, or every day, or every hour, what would I do?”


  Take this logic one step further…

  Ask yourself: “If I HAD to meet with 300 new clients every day, what would I do?”

  Maybe you should take a job as a speaker, and start giving conferences!

  Go a little further. Ask yourself:

  “If I HAD to reach 500,000 potential clients in one shot what would I do?”

  You would try to arrange a television appearance.

  Or use an Internet list.

  Or put an ad in a major newspaper.

  Ask yourself:

  “If I only HAD 2 days to prepare my report, instead of the months my boss gave me, what would I do?”

  Wouldn’t I quickly scan the statistics I needed to report?

  Or ask my assistant or my secretary, who is great with numbers, to prepare me a two-page summary, or even a single page?

  Or, if I am called upon to enter a new field, or to address the problems of a department for which I have just been made responsible, couldn’t I draw inspiration from the example set by J. F. Kennedy?

  This outstanding man, who read approximately 1,500 words per minute (the average is 300…), had got into the habit, especially when he wasn’t familiar with a topic, of asking the expert he was speaking with:

  What are the 10 things I should know about it?

  Simple, but brilliant, right?

  THE 10 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SOMETHING…

  Or, if 10 is too many, then 5…

  Sometimes, you can simply ask:

  “WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS TOPIC?”

  Or ask experts or successful colleagues these questions or variations of them:

  “WHAT IS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM THAT I WILL ENCOUNTER IN THIS FIELD, IN THIS DEPARTMENT, WITH THE STAFF?

  Knowing Parkinson’s Law, and more importantly, how to use it wisely, can be very liberating.

  Why?

  Because if you do what everyone else does, and take all the time that is allocated to accomplish a task, I don’t think you’ll be making the best possible use of your time.

  Let me explain why.

  Let’s say you have one month to complete a task, let’s say a report… Chances are not much will be done the first two or three weeks. Probably only 20% of the task will be completed, if not less.

  You won’t work very hard, but on the other hand your mind will not be free…

  Your stress level will gradually increase, reaching its peak in the final days, and before you know it, it’s the evening before the big day.

  If, instead of allowing this build-up, you tell yourself —regardless of the real deadline —”I only have one week to complete this report…” you will create stress, but it will be good stress, because you always keep in mind the fact that you really have more time.

  And, because you complete it during the first week, the remaining three weeks will be your own!

  You will sleep better, digest better, live to be older, and be in a better mood.

  Because deep down, by redefining the deadline, you will have redefined YOURSELF without even knowing it!

  In reality, the deadline given to you by your boss, or by a client, or by a teacher, has become a deadline that YOU set.

  YOU are responsible, and you don’t have to wait for others to get started.

  And I promise you, having experienced this many times over, that it can make an enormous difference in your life!

  Here’s a little tip, by the way: whatever you do, don’t hand the completed report in too far ahead of time!

  There are two reasons for this, which you may have guessed or figured out for yourself in the past. The first is that your boss (if you have a boss!) will tend to bombard you immediately with another task, in order to ensure that you aren’t twiddling your thumbs at his expense.

  The second is that, if he isn’t a lazy millionaire, your boss or your client or your partner may think that your report is not as good quality as it would be if you had taken all the time allocated to you, like most people do; even if, in reality, these people use only the final week or even days, and in short, do not work any longer than you.

  But only lazy millionaires and aspiring lazy millionaires will understand this!

  Obviously, everyone understands that there is a material limit, if you can call it that, when you apply Parkinson’s Law.

  It would be difficult (I’m not saying impossible) to write 200 (good) pages in 3 days or less, as was commonly done by the great French writer Alexandre Dumas (The Count of Monte Cristo, The Four Musketeers, etc) thanks to his team of ghostwriters…

  You can’t sacrifice quality. And you won’t have to if you’re a lazy millionaire.

  Also, you have to keep in mind the fact that you are not applying Parkinson’s Law to the point of making yourself sick, but… to gain your freedom!

  If you are (or want to become) a lazy millionaire, you know that peace of mind is what you are always looking for first.

  So only allow the amount of (good) stress that is necessary to give your mind wings!

  There is another way to do more in less time.

  Let’s see what it is in the next chapter.

  CHAPTER 8

  THE LAZY MILLIONAIRE LOVES WORK… THAT OF OTHERS!

  Success, as they say, is never accomplished alone.

  Neither is fortune.

  In fact, very few people became millionaires on their own.

  Even in the relatively solitary trades, you need help.

  An artist has a manager.

  An author has an agent.

  Andrew Carnegie, who was one of the wealthiest men in the world in his time, had the following words written on his tombstone: “Here lies a man who was intelligent enough as to hire people more intelligent then himself.”

  He delegated.

  Intelligently.

  Which means that he delegated to intelligent people.

  More intelligent than himself?

  Well…

  He certainly didn’t hire imbeciles or “yes men”…

  He had the intelligence to allow the competition to employ them!

  In any case, he was a lazy millionaire to the very core!

  Yes, he delegated, with the confidence of a man who wants and knows how to surround himself with strong and competent people.

  In his book Ogilvy On Advertising, already mentioned, David Ogilvy relates this story:

  “When someone is made the head of an office in the Ogilvy & Mather chain, I send him a Matrioshka doll from Gorky. If he has the curiosity to open it, and keep opening it until he comes to the inside of the smallest doll, he finds this message: If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.”

  This concept is at the core of the Lazy Millionaire’s hiring philosophy, because he wants a company of giants, and not a company of dwarfs. The Lazy Millionaire wants to surround himself with people who are competent, autonomous, and creative.

  Why?

  Because, being lazy by definition and by wisdom, he knows that if he employs dwarfs, weak under-performers, and bumblers, or in other words, incompetents, he will be forced to work harder, when he actually made the decision to hire others so that he could work less and earn more money!

  He doesn’t want to have to constantly check up on the people he employs.

  That is not true delegation: it’s dissimulated enterprise and obvious self-adulteration. And what you do is this: You say to yourself, more or less consciously: “Those who are around me and who I appointed are less competent than I am, and the proof lies in the fact that I always have to check up on them!”

  In one sense, delegating is a sort of spiritual experience: you must trust the other person, and let go, which may be difficult, if not impossible, especially if you are a “control freak”…

  In this case, you aren’t a lazy millionaire, and you will have trouble getting rich without
losing your health and your nerves, and probably your family, too…

  All lazy millionaires delegate.

  They try to concentrate as much as possible —in fact, exclusively, if possible —on tasks that are at their level…

  However, I would like to add the following: when you start out (as an entrepreneur, I mean), you would be well advised to do a lot on your own, and therefore, not to hire too many people too fast. John Paul Getty earned his first million when he was 23, without an office or secretary. He did everything… (including his first million!) out of his car!

  Draw inspiration from his frugality and his remarkable sense of economy, and then, as soon as you can… delegate!

  But don’t delegate just any way: delegate like a lazy millionaire.

  The Lazy Millionaire knows that 80% of the key to successful delegation is… choosing the right person.

  Therefore, he will not hesitate to dedicate a great deal of time to this task.

  He also will not hesitate to spend a lot of time clearly explaining his objectives.

  And congratulating the person if the task is accomplished correctly.

  Because delegating properly is one thing, but keeping his team’s morale up is another: the Lazy Millionaire never forgets this.

  In order to delegate effectively, and also to constantly motivate the people around you (employees, associates, colleagues, clients) to increase your popularity and influence, there is a simple tool that 80% of people virtually never use.

  Let’s look at it together in the next chapter.

  You will see that it is truly extraordinary, and its applications are unlimited…

  CHAPTER 9

  THE LAZY MILLIONAIRE IS POSITIVE

  In their wonderful little book called How Full Is Your Bucket, Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton use a simple metaphor to describe human relations.

  I will summarize it, because in perfect accordance with the philosophy of the lazy millionaire, it is extraordinarily “economical” in its application, and generates amazing results.

  As the authors explain, we all have an invisible bucket.

  With each one of our interactions —and we generally have hundreds of interactions every day with our boss, our employees, our colleagues, our parents, and our spouses —depending on what people say or do, we feel that our bucket is either more full or less full….