Today gave me one of those lessons you don’t expect, you don’t plan for, but somehow end up changing how you think about your time, your energy, and your work forever.
It started with something simple.
A wardrobe.
Unassembled.
A few planks.
A bag of screws.
Nothing complicated.
I enjoy building things and solving problems, so I decided to assemble it myself. It felt like a refreshing break from digital work — something mechanical, straightforward, predictable.
And for the first hour or so, it was actually enjoyable.
Measure.
Tighten.
Align.
Repeat.
But then the hours began to stretch.
Two hours.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Suddenly, this “simple task” was eating up my entire day.
- I wasn’t frustrated.
- I wasn’t struggling.
- I wasn’t even stuck.
The wardrobe was coming together perfectly fine — just slowly.
And then, somewhere between adjusting the hinges and fixing the final panel, a realization hit me so sharply that I paused mid-task:
A carpenter could have done this entire job for $20.
Not because I wasn’t capable —
but because it wasn’t the best use of my capability.
Suddenly the contrast became crystal clear:
I had spent several hours on something that someone else could have completed faster, cheaper, and with the same quality — while my own time, when used in the areas I’m skilled in, holds significantly higher value.
Not just financial value —
but strategic value.
Creative value.
Founder value.
This wasn’t a story about losing money.
It was a story about misplaced focus.
And that’s when I realized:
The old mindset says:
“Do everything yourself. Save money. Be self-reliant.”
The DIY mindset.
The hustle-hard mindset.
The “I’ll manage” mindset.
It feels responsible.
It feels smart.
It feels efficient.
But the truth?
It silently drains your best hours into work that doesn’t move your life or your business forward.
The new mindset — the one that actually drives growth — says something else:
Leverage isn’t luxury. It’s strategy.
Protect your peak hours.
Invest your focus where it actually compounds.
Delegate everything that doesn’t require your unique ability.
This is the mindset shift every founder eventually experiences —
and today, mine came from a wardrobe.
Why This Lesson Hit So Hard
I didn’t assemble the wardrobe poorly.
It wasn’t a mess.
I didn’t break anything.
It wasn’t a failure.
The outcome was fine.
It’s the exchange that wasn’t.
Because while the wardrobe took shape, I kept thinking:
“I could have used these hours for something that actually creates long-term return.”
Not return in terms of income —
but return in clarity, momentum, creativity, decision-making, and progress.
We always talk about opportunity cost as a concept.
Today I felt it as reality.
The hours I invested could have gone into:
-
building a client workflow system
-
refining frameworks for Webizona
-
planning marketing for existing clients
-
studying something meaningful
-
resting to create better output tomorrow
Instead, those hours were absorbed by a task that didn’t require my skill — it simply required hands.
A Real-Time Example From Business
A few months ago, I worked with a founder in Los Angeles.
Brilliant.
Sharp.
Ambitious.
But overwhelmed.
Not because he lacked skill —
but because he tried to do everything himself.
He edited his own videos.
Built his own landing pages.
Managed his CRM.
Responded to every inquiry personally.
Planned his marketing.
Fixed his website.
Designed his graphics.
Handled operations.
And still tried to think strategically for the company.
He was capable of all of it.
Just like I was capable of assembling my wardrobe.
But capability wasn’t the issue.
Priority was.
One day, when mapping his weekly schedule, we noticed something interesting:
The tasks that held the highest return — the ones only he could do — were getting the least time.
The tasks that held the lowest return — the ones that anyone could manage — were consuming the most time.
He wasn’t failing.
He was simply investing his founder energy into low-leverage areas.
Once he began outsourcing a few repetitive tasks and delegating non-core work, everything changed:
-
more clarity
-
more time for sales
-
more creativity
-
better client experiences
-
more predictable growth
-
less burnout
And the most telling part?
His business expanded — not because he worked more, but because he worked where he mattered most.
The wardrobe reminded me of the exact same principle.
The Insight, Broken Down Clearly
Here’s the distilled lesson — modular, simple, reusable:
1. Not everything needs your expertise.
Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should.
2. Founder time is not equal to task time.
Your time carries a multiplier that simple tasks can’t match.
3. Energy allocation defines output quality.
Good tasks done at the wrong time still become expensive.
4. Delegation is not about money. It’s about momentum.
Removing small tasks creates space for great work.
5. Leverage always amplifies results more than effort does.
One hour of high-value work outperforms ten hours of low-value activity.
The Wardrobe Didn’t Cost Me Money — It Reminded Me of Value
At the end of the day, the wardrobe is standing perfectly.
But something shifted inside me:
I realized how easy it is to drift into activities that feel productive but quietly steal your highest-value time.
Every founder has their version of this:
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editing your own videos
-
fixing a website bug for 5 hours
-
micromanaging a task someone else could handle
-
tweaking designs endlessly
-
doing administrative tasks late at night
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trying to “control everything” in the name of efficiency
These tasks are harmless on the surface.
But they erode your strategic capacity one hour at a time.
he Takeaway I’m Carrying Forward
It’s not about the $20.
It’s not about the hours.
It’s not about outsourcing everything.
It’s about something far more important:
Understanding the true worth of your time—even when you’re not calculating it.
Your best work doesn’t come from doing more.
It comes from doing the right things with the right energy.
Founders don’t grow by working harder.
They grow by working within their value zone.
Today’s experience didn’t damage anything —
it refined something.
My awareness.
My clarity.
My sense of what deserves my focus.
And that, to me, is a far more valuable outcome than a perfectly assembled wardrobe.