# Response time ## ==*the lazy man's nightmare metric.*== When someone messages you, how quickly do you respond to them? If you're anything like most people, it is an extremely long period of time. But there are a few superheroes who, upon receiving a message, will answer you back immediately. This post is an argument for the instant response way of being. # Benefits of the instant response 1) First and foremost, it is excellent customer service. People reach out, they get an answer. It kicks ass for THEM and will lead to happier partners, clients, customers, investors, etc. 2) Second, it is an extremely effective strategy for clearing your "inbox" and getting all of your work done in the shortest period of time. If you're an overachiever like me, you want to be able to aggressively tackle the work day and karate chop it into completion in the most ruthlessly efficient manner. By taking 1-2 times per day to eliminate all outstanding correspondence, you will never face the dreaded pile up situation where you have 1000's of unread messages and huge amounts of missed opportunities. The rule for me is simple - I do not want to read a message / email / communication more than twice. When I see it, I either instantly take care of it (fire off the next message, putting ball in someone else's court) or if it requires more time than I have put in my "deep work" pile to return to ASAP, then eliminate the rest. Re-reading the same shit over and over wastes your time, and any time deployed reading the same message beyond the 2nd time (really the 1st) could have been spent making progress and moving on. 3) Finally, you are able to take this mentality and bring it elsewhere. Having a dinner with someone and you all have an epiphany of an epic idea? Fire off the message to the people needed to execute and plant the seed / set it in motion IMMEDIATELY within 30 seconds. Then get back to dinner. [[Winners make themselves known|Winners]] most faster than anyone else thinks is possible. Did you know Warren Buffett is able to determine within 5 minutes if he's going to do a deal or not? Read his past annual reports and you'll see. Time kills all deals, speed is the answer. # Drawbacks of the instant response 1) In the beginning you may suck at this and move so quickly you made some bad decisions. This is fine, as the faster you move the more opportunities you will have and therefore the more chances to practice moving fast. Take the shots, learn from the mistakes, develop the skillset of making decisions faster than lightning, and then you won't suck at it anymore. Nothing is life or death in business (most of the time), so just go for it. You can always fix it on the backend, or learn and grow. 2) Work-life balance affected. Trying to balance work and life means, to me, you aren't doing the right work. I love what I do, although some parts of it can suck from time to time. It is challenging, rewarding, and downright fun. If you're more worried about preserving time for TV, video games, partying, drugs, alcohol, etc, then you're going to get outcompeted by people whose work and life are integrated. The best work complements the life you want to live. Consider a change if this isn't where you want it to be. Once you make the adjustment and begin firing on all cylinders, loads of people will try to claw you back down to their comfort level. "Take a load off / have a drink / don't work so hard / you only live once." Forget those people. They were too afraid to give life everything they've got so they are resorting to comfort as a way to soothe themselves for the ultimate regret they hold (knowingly or unknowingly) which is looking back on their life and realizing they wasted their time / potential and have no way to go back in time and do what they really want with their life. 3) Dopamine abuse. This is, in my opinion, the only real drawback, which is the tendency for people who start operating like legends to become addicted to screens, phones, devices, etc. It isn't intentional, they just get sucked into the tech as a function of kicking ass. This can lead to way too much screen time and getting addicted to the point of your health suffering, which in turn will make you less effective. I have in the past struggled with this myself. The only things which have helped me was to... 1) Build a team who can help with the day to day operations so I can focus on the overall strategy and highest level partnerships 2) Set time where you actually will not check your devices (8 hours of sleeping with +/- 1 hour on each side for winding down and waking up), this way you can be "on" for most times and "off" for specified times. This is helpful for people who like a bit of structure 3) Embrace the suck of this until you're wealthy enough to not have to care in the slightest, then do whatever you want. But until then, probably best to grind your way to riches. # Get started now! The best time to plant a tree is the past. The next best time is right now. Incorporate this into your daily life immediately and I promise you will see results over time. Give it 3 months and your life might just change.