Work All the Time You Work: Why Earning Ability Matters More Than Hours

When Brian Tracy looked around in his twenties and saw people his age doing dramatically better – nicer clothes, better jobs, newer cars, homes, families – while he drove an old car, wore old clothes, and worried constantly about money, he started asking a question that changed his life: “Why is it that some people are more successful than others?”

The answer he discovered in “Get Smart!” is both simple and demanding: “Highly paid people are highly productive. They use their time better than average people. They get more and better results for which people are willing to pay them.”

This represents a fundamental shift from activity-oriented to result-oriented thinking. Most people focus on being busy, putting in their time, showing up and doing their jobs. Top performers focus exclusively on results – measurable outcomes that create value others will pay for.

The difference isn’t subtle. It’s the difference between the 20 percent on the fast track, continually increasing their value and compensation, and the 80 percent who are essentially timeservers, coming in at the last minute and leaving at the first, using their time poorly in between.

Your Most Valuable Financial Asset

Tracy asks a question most people can’t answer correctly: “What is your most valuable financial asset?”

It’s not your house, your car, your savings, or your investments. It’s your earning ability – your capacity to get results that people will pay you for.

You could lose everything – job, home, car, savings – and be left standing on the sidewalk with only the clothes on your back. But as long as you retained your earning ability, you could earn it all back and more. This has happened so many times throughout history that it’s almost predictable.

Why do CEOs of Fortune 500 companies earn an average of over $10 million annually? Because they’ve developed earning ability to the point where they generate results sometimes hundreds of times greater than their salaries in terms of company profitability.

If they lost their positions, they’d immediately be hired elsewhere at similar compensation because their earning ability – their demonstrated capacity to produce valuable results – remains intact.

Earning Ability Defined

Your earning ability is your ability to get results people will pay for. Not your ability to show up, put in time, and “play well with the other kids.” It’s your ability to complete important tasks quickly and dependably, on time and on budget.

“All success in the world of work boils down to one simple result: task completion,” Tracy writes. “Your ability to complete your tasks consistently and dependably is what makes you a valuable and indispensable resource to your organization.”

Top people don’t just complete more tasks – they complete bigger tasks with more value. They develop reputations as the “go-to person.” When something absolutely must get done right, it goes to them.

People say, “If you want it done quickly and well, give it to him or her.”

The 80/20 Rule in Action

According to the 80/20 rule, 20 percent of people are on the fast track while 80 percent are timeservers. The difference isn’t intelligence or education – it’s how they use their time.

Robert Half International reports that fully 50 percent of working time is wasted. Most of this waste comes from idle chitchat, electronic distractions, checking email forty-five times per day, social media, personal business, extended breaks, and generally functioning at low performance levels.

The roots of this pattern go back to childhood. School is primarily a place to play with other kids your age. When young adults enter the workforce and see other people their age, the automatic association is: time to play.

As a result, work becomes an extension of school – the primary play place in adult life. “It is estimated that the average person does not really start work until about 11:00 a.m. and then begins to slow down and wrap up the day at about 3:30 p.m.”

This isn’t for you. “Wasting your time and playing with your friends all day long is for people who have little or no future.

Work All the Time You Work

Tracy’s rule is brutally simple: “Work all the time you work. When you go to work, work. Do not play with your friends, check your e-mail every five minutes, read the newspaper, or take care of personal business. Work all the time you work.”

If you’re serious about results, start earlier. Work harder during the day. Stay later. Pick up the pace. Move faster. Stay focused on your most important tasks. Don’t waste time.

When someone wants to chat, say: “I’d love to talk to you, but right now I have to get back to work.”

This simple phrase shuts down most distractions immediately. How can they stop you from getting “back to work”? Tell them you’d be happy to talk after work or on weekends.

Your personal mantra becomes: “Back to work! Back to work! Back to work!”

Your goal, known only to you, is to develop a reputation as the hardest-working person in your company.

When Are You Actually Working?

Many people think that because they’re at work, they’re working. But you’re only working when you’re starting and completing important tasks that generate value your company wants and needs.

“You are only working when you are getting results that your company wants and needs to generate revenues and create value,” Tracy emphasizes.

Top people spend more time doing things of higher value. Average people spend most of their time on activities of lower value or no value at all.

The central question of time management: “What is the most valuable use of my time right now?”

Your ability to ask and answer this question accurately, and then do exactly that, determines your success more than any other single factor.

The Law of Three

One of Tracy’s most powerful tools is the Law of Three: “There are only three tasks that you do that account for 90 percent of the value of your contribution to your company and to yourself. Everything else you do falls in the other 10 percent.”

To discover your big three, make a list of every task you perform in a week or month. Most people end up with twenty to thirty items. Then ask three magic questions:

“If I could do only one thing on this list all day long, which one activity would contribute the greatest value to my company and myself?”

The answer usually jumps out. It’s obvious. You must know this answer – it’s impossible to be highly productive without being crystal clear about your most valuable activity.

“If I could do only two things on this list all day long, what would be number two?”

This requires more thought. Often you need input from your boss and colleagues. What you think is important might differ from what they value most.

“If I could only do three things on this list all day long, what would be the third most important task?”

Again, validation matters. Check with others if you’re uncertain.

Once you identify your big three, the formula for doubling or tripling productivity is simple:

Do fewer things. Stop wasting time on low-value activities.

Do more important things. Work on your big three.

Do your most important tasks more of the time. Spend your entire day on them if possible.

Get better at each. Continuous improvement in your highest-value activities compounds your results.

Time Management Fundamentals

Tracy provides a systematic approach to managing time for maximum results:

Start with a list. Work from a written list of everything you intend to accomplish that day. Never do anything you haven’t first written down. The act of working from a list increases productivity 25-50 percent immediately.

Make your list the night before. Planning your day the previous evening sets mini-goals and allows your subconscious to work on them while you sleep. You often wake with ideas and insights for getting more done faster.

Don’t check email first thing. Breaking the email addiction can double or triple your productivity. Check email only twice daily – at 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Turn off notifications. Don’t let random communications control your day.

Set priorities using the ABCDE method:

A = Must do – serious consequences for doing or not doing B = Should do – mild consequences
C = Nice to do – no consequences either way D = Delegate to others E = Eliminate – stop doing completely

Never do a B task while you have an A task left undone. Begin immediately on your A-1 task – everything else is a waste of time by comparison.

The Power of Single-Handling

Perhaps the most powerful technique Tracy presents is “single-handling” – once you start your most important task, discipline yourself to focus 100 percent on it until complete.

No interruptions. No multitasking. No checking email or taking calls. Complete focus on one task.

This triggers what Tracy calls “the zone” – a state where you function at a higher level, getting more quality work done faster all day long.

Task completion releases endorphins – nature’s “happy drug” – in your brain. These enhance creativity, improve personality, increase motivation, and provide energy. You feel more powerful and productive.

Starting and completing your most important task first thing each morning sets the tone for your entire day. It builds momentum that carries through subsequent tasks.

What Results Are Expected?

Tracy emphasizes asking constantly: “What results are expected of me?”

Not what activities you should engage in. Not what processes you should follow. What results?

Of all possible results you could achieve, which are most important? Which can make the greatest difference in your career?

Whatever your answer, get started on that immediately and persist until complete.

The development of this habit – identifying your most important result-producing activity and doing it first – will quickly move you into the ranks of the most productive people in your industry.

The 70 Percent Rule

Here’s a practical guideline Tracy provides: “If anyone else can do this 70 percent as well as you, delegate and pass off this task to that person.”

We become comfortable doing things we once did that are no longer important to current results. The comfort zone keeps us engaged in low-value activities while more important work languishes.

Practice the 70 percent rule ruthlessly. Your time is too valuable to spend on anything someone else can do reasonably well.

Overcoming Procrastination

Everyone procrastinates. The difference between high and low performers is what they procrastinate on.

Highly productive people procrastinate on low-value tasks – “creative procrastination.” They consciously decide what they’re not going to do until later.

Unproductive people procrastinate on high-value tasks – those few activities that can make all the difference.

Tracy provides specific techniques for overcoming procrastination on important tasks:

Use the salami slice method – complete just one small piece of the larger task.

Try the Swiss cheese technique – poke holes in the project by completing random small actions.

Reward yourself for completing subtasks.

Work in ten-minute blocks instead of worrying about the whole project.

Have everything you need ready before starting.

Apply the 80/20 rule – the first 20 percent often contains 80 percent of the value.

The key is getting started. “Well begun is half-done.”

The Productivity Mindset

Result-oriented thinking requires a fundamental shift in how you view work. You’re not paid for hours spent or activities performed. You’re paid for results achieved.

This means constantly asking: “Is what I’m doing right now producing results that matter? Is this the highest-value use of my time?”

Most people never ask these questions. They show up, stay busy, and wonder why they’re not advancing.

Tracy’s message is clear: “Keep asking, ‘What results are expected of me?’ And of all the results that you could possibly achieve, what are the most important things you need to do quickly and well that can make the greatest difference in your career?”

Whatever your answer is, “get started on that one task immediately, and keep going until it is complete.”

The Takeaway

Result-oriented thinking focuses exclusively on outcomes that create value others will pay for. Your earning ability – your capacity to get important results – is your most valuable financial asset.

The difference between the 20 percent on the fast track and the 80 percent treading water comes down to time use. Top performers work all the time they work, focus on their big three high-value activities, and practice single-handling on their most important tasks.

As Tracy emphasizes in “Get Smart!”, “The habit of starting and completing your most important task first thing each morning will transform your life.”

The question is whether you have the discipline to actually do it.