James Suzman is an anthropologist who lived among the hunter-gather bushmen of the Kalahari for years.

He thinks the Kalahari provide us with window of what original hunter-gather societies might have looked like.

He observed that the Kalahari work no more than 19 hours a week, have far more leisure time than modern workers, and experience life as more abundant.

With the onset of the agricultural and industrial revolutions, the pace of work increased and far exceeded what was normal in hunter-gatherer communities.

We have maxed out what is humanly possible.

We see machines and technology enabling increased productivity, and yet we don’t seem to be working any less or experiencing any more abundance as a result of all this productivity.

Entrepreneur Daniel Priestley says,

“In the modern economy, hard work is not a competitive advantage anymore; everyone works hard.

If you were to gather up all the hardest-working people in the world, you would not find the top CEOs and the entrepreneurs; you would find the people who are struggling to make it up the ladder or struggling to survive at all.

The competitive advantage is in thinking expansively, connecting with the right people, and spotting fresh opportunities.”

I imagine there is a lot of truth to Priestley’s claim, but what is more important is to ask yourself the question, “Is this true for me?”

Where do you find yourself on this spectrum of working hard?

In the present moment you are in, if you were to think expansively, connect with the right people, and spot fresh opportunities, what would be possible for you? What might shift for you?

Have you identified what your competitive advantage is? How about your comparative advantage?

How might your life and work transform if you answered these questions?

Love,

Audrey