Everybody, at some point, has used the term 24/7. When we use this term we are describing our time commitment to something. If you are doing something 24/7, you are doing it all the time. When we say this, we don’t literally mean that we are working on a project for 24 hours and 7 days a week. It is a colloquialism that represents our effort. We want to let everybody know that we are working toward a goal, as hard as we possibly can. As the words leave our lips, we know we aren’t being entirely truthful. There is no way to work on anything 24/7. There are practical limitations to that. You are not, at least theoretically, working on a project in your sleep. When we say 24/7, we convey a message about what we are willing to do to accomplish a goal. However, to find true success you may have to take a step further. True success requires that you go beyond the confines of what you think is plausible. If you rely on the time constraints of 24/7, you will have modest wins, but you won’t have the type of wins that will truly distinguish your performance. To take it to that next level you may have to work 48/8.
24/7 is a valiant effort. It means that you have used most of the available time in the day, towards your goal. Then what the heck is 48/8? 48/8 takes it to the next level. 48/8 means pursuing your goal 48 hours a day, 8 days a week. This may seem impossible, but it simply describes a mindset. Instead of using all of the available time to pursue your goal, you create time to pursue your goal. If you are truly maniacal about your motivation and fanatical about your focus, you must create opportunities to succeed. You have to create time, where there is no time. You have to create opportunity, where there is no opportunity. Success doesn’t happen when it is convenient and when you can find time. These time opportunities have to be created. They have to be created in addition to your typical responsibilities. They have to be created when you are sick, tired, hungry and sad. They have to be created outside your 24/7. In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, he discusses that mastery requires at least 10000 hours of deliberate practice. To get to that level of mastery, you have to create time. It means you may have to sacrifice sleep. You may have to skip watching that football game. You may have to develop your company’s strategic plan while driving to work. You may have to brush your teeth while you are on the toilet. The point is this. You have to think, eat, and dream success. Somehow, someway, you have to create additional hours in your day to focus on your success.
24/7 means you will find the time to pursue your success 48/8 means you’ll create it.
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