Why It's Good to Be a "Work-a-Frolic"

After decades of research, thousands of books in the self-help genre, and who knows how many Web sites devoted to personal development, people are finally getting the message.

“ When something inside motivates you like that, you don’t even notice time. You can go without sleep and not even sleep the next day.

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Steve Wozniak

And the message is: Stress isn’t caused by working hard. It’s caused by leaving things undone.

Successful people do the hard jobs first. They don’t allow themselves to fall into the procrastination trap. Less procrastination means they accomplish more. And that means less stress.

Put it all together and you have the picture of a “work-a-frolic.” Successful people work hard and have fun doing it.

In the mid-1970s, mainframe computers were so big and expensive that only large companies, research labs, and the military could afford one. In 1975 two hard-working college dropouts, both named Steve, started selling their homemade computers in Silicon Valley.

When Steve Wozniak developed the Apple II a couple of years later, Steve Jobs showed it to Atari and Hewlett-Packard. Neither company was interested in backing the young visionaries. Jobs used venture capital to finance Apple’s extraordinary growth.

The Apple II was one of the most revolutionary innovations in the Twentieth Century, yet it wasn’t a technological breakthrough—there was no new technology in it. Wozniak used existing components to create a breakthrough product. The Apple II didn’t rely on huge amounts of capital investment. It was all about vision, hard work, and sleepless nights.

When the Apple Macintosh was introduced in 1984 with a graphic desktop and handheld mouse, anyone could learn how to use a computer. The Macintosh made personal computers easier to use, but it was the Apple II that changed the way we work and live.

Jobs and Wozniak made history because they were passionate about their work. Every person has the potential to be passionate about something. But passion without hard work is like chasing the wind: No matter how hard the wind blows, it does us no good until we build a windmill or hoist a sail.

Passion without a plan doesn’t generate revenue or attract investors. The plan doesn’t have to be complicated: Intel’s initial business plan was a page and a half long. Successful entrepreneurs know how to turn their passion into products and services that other people can be passionate about too.

People like Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak aren’t workaholics. They’re “work-a-frolics.” When they want to have fun, they get down to work.