Work less. Make more money

Feb 16, 2026

In times of panic, when money is low and stress is high, what do we do?

Our natural tendency will tell us to go all in. Set the alarm to 4 am. Work until midnight.

As if that would get you out of trouble, right?

Stop working, be lazy

Studies in neuroscience have showed that our brains are wired to prefer laziness.

True or not? I can’t tell you. But I know that I’m willing to spend hours automating things so I can work smarter in the future.

Is that laziness or effectiveness?

Maybe there isn’t a difference.

I do know, though, that when things are about to boil over in my pot, then it helps me to slow down.

Then I’ll turn off the fire and take a good look at what’s going on.

I love lists.

So, I’ll write down all the tasks, I’m supposed to do or want to do that day and that week.

He eyes my lists and says, “Young womane. What are you doing?”

I look up from my many tasks, already way too overwhelmed to talk to a stranger on top of all this. Especially one with a thick Italian accent.

Too late I notice the stick in his hands. He hammers it towards the table where my many lists lies spread out over many pieces of paper.

Papers fly everywhere.

“Don’te you see what you’re doing?”

“Em... I’m making lists.”

“Listes? Over what? Testimonials of getting nothinge done?”

I have nothinge to say except...

“Some of those activities make me money.”

“Some? Is that all you have to say for yourself? Whiche ones, huh? Whiche ones?”

I point to two pieces of papers that somehow managed to stay on the table.

“Goode,” he says and smirks. “They shall stay. The rest must go. And now I ave to leave.”

With those words, he’s gone.

I sigh. How can I just not do them? They are all important, right?

But I don’t want the strange gentleman back, so I do what he says.

I make a list only of the three things that brings in money.

80% of my money, to be precise.

The rebellion in me refuses to through out the rest of the items, so I save them to another list I call “one day maybe.”

By focusing on working only on what took care of 80% of my income, I got more done in less time.

And I made money.

So... with all that said, you may be wondering what I’m doing here on Medium, writing articles.

Me too.

Trust, me. Me too.

I make maybe $0.05 for this article. But money isn’t everything. (I’m sorry, Mr. Pareto.)

I enjoy talking to people here and that still makes it worth it.

Then I have the book for you.

In it, you’ll find my method for making small, evergreen campaigns that keep bringing in money.

You can buy it on Gumrod for around 40x what I’ll make from this article. 😉

And it will earn you much more money when you learn how to do what I’ve done since 1998 https://brittmalka.gumroad.com/l/make10