What happens if we increase the deviation in our work?

No, not quality.

What happens if we only work for free?

Only work for ultra premium services?

Recently, I was listening to a Tim Ferris interview. And one thing resonated with me–

Tim only does things that are free or ultra-premium.

No in between.

If it is– he’s not touching it. It’s not his focus.

What’s the commonality?

Leverage.

He’s focusing his efforts strictly on the highest leverage activities.

And high leverage activities tend to lie on either end.

Sharing his ideas and expertise through writing and interviewing online for free. For all of us.

1 unit of his time → Millions of units of people’s time.

Attending a speaking event → hundreds of ultra-premium customers.

So, how can we apply this to ourselves?

Well, learning by definition is a high leverage activity.

If you operated a largely successful business for over a decade in a niche market and gave me the secret sauce, well then, I could save that decade of time and copy your playbook. And likely get pretty successful too.

Learning is free. We don’t get paid to do it.

In fact, we often have to pay to do it. Large amounts.

But, it is very high leverage.

This applies to reading, writing, observing, and talking about your practice.

Trading your skills and/or services can mean–

Going to work for your dream job. Serving your dream customers. Etc.

You are focused on playing in a space where people highly value your expertise.

Getting caught in the middle can be a risk aversion tactic.

But, in general it isn’t going to be the highest leverage activity.

So, the best advice would be just keep working for free (learning) until you get that dream job/customer.

But, there are obvious limitations.

I think the balance is key here.

In college we are in the learning phase. Once we hit the real world, our efforts turn to earning.

But, I don’t think it should be so black and white.

I think the two need to occur concurrently. To reach real success.

Bottom-line? Work on the ends. Do things for free. Do things on the high-end. Focus on high leverage things.