Doing things the hard way

Most business owners pride themselves on hard work.

If it’s hard, it must be good, right?

Nahhhhh.

There's a big ass distinction between doing hard things and doing things the hard way.

I used to remember this during conditioning at rugby practice.

Some new/bad coach would just make you do burpees until you just puked and broke down.

That is HARD and DUMB.

A good coach would mix burpees with ball handling and kicking.

That is HARD and SMART.

See the difference?

Most idiots can do HARD and DUMB.

But, hard things move your business forward.

They require strategy, discipline, and thoughtful decision-making.

More importantly, they operate at the constraint—addressing the actual bottlenecks limiting your growth.

• Pricing correctly is hard because it directly impacts your margins.

• Firing a bad employee is hard because it confronts the human constraint in your organization.

• Saying no to a potentially big but shitty customer is hard because it challenges your revenue stream.

  These choices create a stronger, more sustainable business by targeting your true constraints.

Doing things the hard way, however, is inefficient.

Manually sending invoices instead of automating or using global talent for them.

Hiring out of urgency rather than fit.

Managing your business through spreadsheets instead of a system.

These aren't "hard things"—they're friction points that drain your energy and slow your growth without addressing any fundamental constraints.

The Illusion of Hard Work

Many business owners mistake struggle for progress.

They believe if something feels exhausting, it must be valuable.

If they're constantly busy, the business must be thriving.

But often, they're trapped in a cycle of complexity that doesn't touch their actual constraints.

Consider the owner who insists on personally handling all customer support because "no one else will do it right."

They answer the same questions repeatedly instead of creating a FAQ or hiring a capable team member.

They feel indispensable, but in reality, they're stuck in an exhausting loop that doesn't address the real constraints to scaling their business.

Hard work for its own sake is a trap.

It keeps you busy but builds nothing of lasting value because it operates away from your true constraints.

The Cost of Inefficiency

Every time you choose the hard way, you pay for it—not just in time, but in energy, focus, and missed opportunities:

• Spending hours repeatedly fixing systems that could have been properly designed from the start

• Hiring quickly and cheaply, then paying the price in poor cultural fits, high turnover, and constant rework

• Micromanaging tasks instead of building a trusted, capable team

These aren't badges of honor.

They're expensive mistakes that compound over time while your actual constraints—the factors truly limiting your growth—remain unaddressed.

How to Know If You're Doing Things the Hard Way

Ask yourself:

• Am I working on what's truly constraining my business right now, or am I just staying busy?

• If I were starting my business today, would I set up this process the same way?

• Does this project directly address a bottleneck in my business, or am I just making work?

The most successful businesses identify and maniacally target their constraints.

They build systems around these bottlenecks, leverage Matzner’s Hierarchy of Leverage for non-constraint activities, and focus their best efforts where it matters most.

They invest time in doing hard things—setting clear boundaries, defining usable processes, making thoughtful hiring decisions—that directly address their constraints rather than wasting energy on unnecessary bullshit.

Doing hard things at the constraint strengthens your business.

Doing things the hard way just wears you down without moving the needle.

Yallah Habibi,

Jon

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