Let John Do It

There is a contractor where I grew up in New Jersey whose business name is Let John Do It. I remember seeing the vans emblazoned with his logo when I was a kid. We always had a laugh over it, because my father's name is John. And in my house, there was no let John do it, because John wasn't going to do it. John outsourced everything. He even had an electrician come in to change the light bulbs.

I bring this up in light of Jen's post today on outsourcing and virtual assistants. She's reading the popular book The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss (buy from Amazon here) and she's now obsessed with outsourcing. The premise of the book is that the author really does only work four hours a week, yet manages to be enviably wealthy. How is this possible?!

I haven't read the book yet, but evidently (like my father), Tim Ferriss outsources everything, including personal tasks. My father wasn't lazy, he just wanted to relax in his spare time. And don't we all? But most people spend at least half their spare time fixing stuff, cleaning, running errands, etc. My dad wasn't on board with that, so he hired people to do all the annoying little stuff that interfered with his leisure time. Tim Ferriss and his followers are doing the same thing on a larger scale.

Jen is especially excited about the book because of her ADD. When people come to the ADD Management Group for solutions, the first thing they say is, "I'm overwhelmed by all the stuff I have to do." Overwhelm is the number one issue faced by the mass of ADDers. The 4-Hour Work Week is knocking overwhelm out of orbit by taking away all that stuff you have to do. Certainly sounds like a good idea to me.

 

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Comments

[John M]

1. One of the challenges of letting John do it, is that you have to know what you need to do. This can be a challenge for ADD adults.

2. The non-ADD spouse in a relationship often plays the role of John. While this can be very beneficial in getting things done, it can also take a toll on the non-ADD spouse.

[Erin]

i'm sure it doesn't help that your name is john, either. haha... you need to find yourself a john that can do the work for you!