Who Not How summary

When author and entrepreneur Richie Norton was 16 years old, all he wanted to do was get a job and make some money of his own.

Since typical summer jobs at grocery stores and gas stations involved a lot of work for low pay, Richie’s father suggested taking a different route. He told him to call all the watermelon farms in the area and ask if he could buy any misshapen or oddly sized watermelons at a discount, then sell them on to people who didn’t require flawless watermelons.

What comes to mind when you hear the word procrastination? Do you think of the 90 percent of college students who are chronic procrastinators? Or maybe you picture an aspiring entrepreneur who’s been itching to make a business idea a reality.

Whatever the scenario, most people can relate to some form of procrastination. And all too often, it’s the negative effects that give procrastination consistently bad publicity. The psychological effects of procrastination are particularly harmful – it magnifies feelings of guilt and shame, diminishes self-confidence, and can even worsen symptoms of depression and physical health problems.

After years as a real estate agent in Toronto, Dean Jackson decided to move to Florida and establish a business to coach other agents. In 1997, he partnered up with a friend, and together they began holding monthly coaching events. He wanted to focus entirely on his new business, so he hired someone to clean his condominium each week in Orlando.

Then it dawned on him: the person cleaning his home each week, Mandy, could do a lot more than just cleaning. What if she could make Jackson’s condo “one-week ready?” That meant cleaning the house and car, grocery shopping, doing laundry – all tasks that would free up Jackson’s time tremendously.

Nicole Wipp, an attorney in Michigan, founded her own law firm in the wake of the 2008 financial crash. Early on, she had no employees, so she was responsible for every aspect of her business, from telephone meetings with clients to appearances in court, not to mention emails, research, and legal writing. After a year and a half of grueling 80- to 100-hour workweeks, she knew that something had to change.

Wipp was an experienced attorney, but even after working around the clock, she still didn’t have either freedom of time or freedom of money. The truth is, she didn’t have to do everything herself. In fact, others were better suited to doing many of her tasks.

You’ve seen how helpful Whos can be with the right vision and commitment. But what if you’re also someone else’s Who? More often than not, the world of Who Not How is a two-way street. Someone might be helping you accomplish a goal, but you can also help them realize their own ambitions.

A vital element of success is providing others with value, because neither freedom of time nor freedom of money are achievable without freedom of relationship – the ability to connect with anyone you wish to exchange value.

Think back to your days in elementary school. How frequently were you and your classmates encouraged to collaborate on homework and exams? Most people would probably say this was rare. Because often, children are taught from a young age onward that getting help from others is considered cheating. So it’s no wonder that this view persists into adulthood, where getting help is tangled up with guilty feelings.

This mindset also emphasizes isolation over working with others, even if it limits your progress. Here’s the problem: eschewing all assistance limits your freedom of purpose – in other words, the ability to develop relationships with others. But by welcoming collaborative relationships as a necessity rather than a nice-to-have, you can broaden the impact of your project.