For example, you might go on ten dates before finding a good romantic match, or you might try ten side jobs before one fits and becomes your career. Think of it this way.
Usual Frame: I fail at 90 percent of the things I try.
Reframe: I only need to succeed 10 percent of the time.
You can choose to feel like a loser every time something doesn’t work out, or you can reframe your situation as a winner’s journey that might take some time. I recommend the winner’s reframe.
Wanting Versus Deciding
If you want something, you might be willing to work hard to get it within reason. But if you decide to have something, you will do whatever it takes.
Usual Frame: I want to do (something).
Reframe: I have decided to do (something).
If I were to make a list of all the business startups and other money-making schemes I’ve worked on during my career and then divide that long list into what worked out well and what failed, there would be a pattern. You wouldn’t notice the pattern, but I would. The efforts that failed were all ones I wanted to succeed. And I worked hard to try to make them succeed. I wasn’t doing all-nighters or risking money I couldn’t afford to lose, but I put in great effort and yes, some cash. None of those wants worked out.
Luckily, several business projects did work out. Dilbert became an international sensation, I wrote several bestselling books, and I was one of the highest paid speakers in the country for several years. To be fair, I was only able to do all of that because the original Dilbert comic strip took off. And there is one thing that stands out about that initial Dilbert success: I didn’t want to be a successful cartoonist; I decided to be one. When I was offered a syndication contract in 1988—the ultimate big break for a cartoonist—I made a promise to myself that no matter what happened, I would never allow myself to look back and say I didn’t work hard enough to make it a success.
I knew I was entering a field in which the odds of making it big were around 1 percent even after getting the syndication contract, which was already insanely unlikely. The syndication company sells comics to newspapers and web platforms and splits the money with the cartoonists. I had a contract but zero newspaper clients on day one. By the end of the first year of selling Dilbert comics to newspapers, only a few small newspapers were carrying the strip. At that point, seeing no hope of a big hit, the salespeople moved on to the next comic that was being launched. If Dilbert was going to succeed, I would need to make it happen on my own.
And so, I worked my day job while also writing and promoting the Dilbert comic for several years. I later wrote books and did licensing. For over ten years, I had the equivalent of three full-time jobs. I worked seven days a week, including holidays. I did everything I could do to promote the comic, putting 100 percent of my mind and body into it. For many of those years, I answered hundreds of emails per day from fans. I traveled the country for book signings and autograph sessions that would last hours. I did photoshoots and interviews several times per week for a decade. Dilbert was the first syndicated comic to be published on the Internet, which also took a lot of work.
On paper, my workload from those years looks impossible. If I had merely wanted to succeed, I don’t think I could have lasted. But I didn’t merely want to succeed, I decided to succeed. And once you decide, the psychology of the situation changes. My crushing workload felt like a privilege. I reminded myself that almost any cartoonist would want to trade places with me. It was never easy, and it was never painless, but I was unstoppable because I had decided.
If you are wondering how you can know if the thing you desire is a want or a decision, I can help with that. It’s easy. If you are not sure, you have not decided. If you decide, you won’t have any doubt. That’s what makes it a decision.
Managing Energy Instead of Time
I’ve written approximately 11,000 comic strips since the beginning of my cartooning career in 1989. Nearly every one of those comics was written before 9:00 AM. If I write a joke at 5:00 AM, I usually like how it turns out. If I try writing a joke at 3:00 PM, I’ll probably end up tossing out whatever I produce.
I think of this as managing energy, not time. I have exactly the right kind of energy for coffee-fueled creative writing in the morning. But a caffeine buzz is exactly the wrong kind of energy for drawing comics, as that requires a more relaxed vibe. So I write in the morning when writing is easy, and I draw in the evenings when drawing is easy. That’s managing energy, not time.
Usual Frame: Manage your time.
Reframe: Manage your energy.
In my experience, the energy I have for a task is more important to the outcome than the amount of time I have allocated to do it. I can produce more in fifteen minutes with the right energy than four hours with the wrong energy.
Most creative people will tell you something similar. There is a time of day that works best for creative work and other times that do not work at all. The same holds for exercise. I have the right energy for exercise at about noon each day. So that’s when I do it. And I assume I get better outcomes compared to exercising when I’m at low energy.
The secret to managing energy as opposed to time is to gain as much control as you can over your own schedule. If you have a boss, you might not have options about when you do what. If you have a spouse or family or pet or other obligation, those, too, can force you out of the more productive and happy energy management mode into time management mode. That’s why I say you should favor life choices that give you schedule flexibility. For example, if you get two job offers that seem equivalent but one gives you more schedule freedom, take the freedom. Likewise with relationships. If you are equally attracted to two people and need to choose, consider picking the one who gives you the most schedule freedom. Freedom is a good tiebreaker for decisions with unpredictable outcomes. (The other good tiebreaker is how much you will learn in one situation versus the other.)
When you manage energy instead of time, you might not get around to all the tasks that need to get done. The solution to that: Don’t do those tasks. At least not today. If that sounds irresponsible, think of all the things that ever went wrong because you didn’t get something done that was in the bottom 20 percent of your priorities. I’ll do that exercise, too, right now, and if either of us thinks of even one example, I’ll be amazed.
Okay, begin.
I’m done.
I got nothing. Neither did you, I’m guessing. The least-important 20 percent of your tasks are unlikely to have made a difference in your life. Let them go. It’s hard at first, but you get used to it. There might be some blowback when certain tasks get postponed, but you can more than make up for that by being able to do your creative and important work when your energy is at its best.
The time-versus-energy tradeoff is embedded in most of your decisions, but perhaps you never thought of it that way. For example, your diet and fitness systems might take extra time out of your day, but you get that back in healthy energy.