A few years ago my dad and I built a shed on my property in the west hills of Fairbanks.

I got a few quotes from contractors but decided it would be a fun project to tackle with my dad, and I could use the money I’d save to pick up some new tools that would serve me on dozens of projects after the shed was finished.

The tools we used along the way were a hit parade of devices made to speed things up and reduce effort.

I can’t imagine time traveling back 100 years or more and tackling the same project without the aid of power drills, nail guns, and battery powered circular saws.

Would the build be possible? Of course. But it would take so much longer and require so much more effort for the same eventual reward.

Here’s how this parallels your work as a highly driven leader:

If your default reaction to a vexing problem is to work harder, you may be sabotaging yourself.

I’m not going to bash hard work, but I would like to offer that sometimes the solution is not MORE EFFORT, but LESS.

If what you’re doing isn’t working, it is so easy to get fixated on the idea that MORE is the answer. 

More hours. More blood. More sweat. More tears.

It can feel like the only way to proceed, especially to highly driven folks.

Unfortunately, the value of LESS is rarely explored.

And yet, when a building project is taking too long to complete you don’t allocate MORE time to turning every screw by hand, you find a tool that makes the turning easier.

In many situations, the pathway to greater progress is literally working less.

Occam’s Razor suggests that the simplest explanation is most likely to be true, and I don’t think it’s a massive leap to suggest that the simplest solution might be the most elegant and effective.

If you want to solve more problems, faster, it’s worth considering this uncomfortable question: 

What if an obsession with working harder is amplifying the problem you are facing?

OPPORTUNITY FOR ACTION: You will find more of what you look for. Reflect on a challenging circumstance you are currently navigating and consider the possibility that you are making it more complicated than it needs to be. Ask yourself, how could I make this simpler? Ask yourself, what could I use as a “power drill” in this situation?

PS: Here’s the most nefarious part of this posture: We demonstrate to our teams that the best way to attack a problem is to work harder and do more. Our actions say, “I expect this of myself, so I expect it of you, too.”