My wife asked me to move a half-buried boulder about 12 feet in our backyard. My best guess is that it weighs 800 pounds. I'm accustomed to having a fair amount of strength at my disposal, but 800 pounds pushes that limit. 

It became the quintessential optimize, automate, outsource experience for me. 

For the optimization part, I had to channel my inner Ancient Egyptian who knew how to build a pyramid. I started with a thin shovel that I got under the rock and wedged it up just a little bit until I could get a two-by-four under it. Then I got another two by four and inched it up. Then I used a four-by-four, another four-by-four in there, and another. I was inching it up out of the hole until I freed it. It took me almost two hours. But I freed it up with an optimized strategy of leverage and physics. 

Next, I needed to automate, to get some tools involved. I used two; a come along, which is a double-ended winch, and a farm jack - a tool that allows you to lift something ridiculously heavy 42 inches off the ground. You need a farm jack if you get your tires stuck in deep sand or mud. 

I used the farm jack to get the rock lifted to the point where I could get the come-along strapped around it. Then I wrapped that to a tree and cranked the winch. I was able to roll this rock over, using a little EMS technique called a log roll to get it situated onto a heavy-duty, metal cart used to move trees. 

At that point, I was nearly exhausted.

Now it was time to outsource. I called my brother-in-law and asked him to help. But we could not move it very far at all no matter what. So I went across the street to a house being renovated. There were three big guys there. And I said, "Guys, any chance you could come across the road and help me move a really, really heavy rock, like six feet. The three of them agreed, came over, and we had it in a position within two minutes.  

I optimized. I automated with tools, and finally, I outsourced, but outsourcing was the last step because we all know that's how it works best. 

I discovered an app called TESSIE, which is an advanced app for controlling and doing data analysis on your Tesla. But it has an Alexa integration which is the awesome part for me. 

I'm able to have Alexa unlock the car, cool the car down, notify me if there's rain coming, and I left the windows down, stuff like that. The underlying reason why it's so valuable for me is that getting four kids to go anywhere is always nuts. One will get ready and need to put stuff in the trunk. But I'm putting shoes on another kid. One wanders off the moment I go out to open the car or find my phone to open the car, then I've lost track of the fourth one. 

Now I realize it's a first-world scenario, getting Alexa to start your Tesla, but efficiency is about momentum, and distractions interrupt the flow. Removing those little roadblocks to momentum adds up and makes life much smoother. I'm grateful if there's a tool that can assist in that. 

Finally, I want to talk about barbecue. 

I had a friend over the other night who is from Texas. He's a real estate broker here in Princeton now. He was talking about how there's no good authentic Texas-style barbecue here. And he said, "I don't know, would do well here? I mean, I don't know how to market that."

I said, "That's just an excuse, not knowing how to market it, you put it in the local paper. I'll email all the firemen and EMS people. I mean you're talking about barbecue which you'll be smoking right? People are gonna smell it. It will market itself."

"But what about this space? He asks. 

I said, "There's this place that would be perfect. It's a CrossFit gym that used to be a gas station. They only do CrossFit until 11 in the morning. Ask them if you can sublease from them for a week for lunch and dinner. See how it goes."

A very solvable problem if a solution is what you are looking for. But often, people default to making excuses as to why we can't do things. Whether or not we go ahead with an idea, learning to remove excuses and figuring out solutions is a transferable skill. 

BTW, if you ever find yourself in Princeton, follow the smell of BBQ. Then come by and see my rock, just not when I'm trying to get the kids ready for soccer practice. 

Productivity Riffs. Want more real-world solutions to scaling your business efficiently? Just join The Less Doing Labs. It's a private group chat that gives you access to me for $12 a month or a hundred dollars for the year. If you're interested, watch this super-fast video for more info.

This month's coolest reads and finds

The Seven Types of Rest - We all need

Stealing Fire - The book everyone's quoting

Three Innovations Tailor Made for Recessions

Listen Notes - A Podcast Search Engine

Demand Curve's Complete Glossary of Marketing Terms

The Toaster Project - One man's heroic attempt to build a toaster from scratch

uship - for when you make your friend a dining room table but she lives in South Carolina and driving to NJ to pick it up with a horse trailer sounds ridiculous.

Are you on TikTok?

Check out my new series, "Businesses Behaving Badly" - where I analyze your experiences with businesses that could be doing a whole lot better, in a whole lot of ways.

It's like "Bar Rescue" for Entrepreneurs.

Give me a follow @arimeisel. Then send me your encounters. I'll call them out and give my take on how they could improve. (or if).

Make it an effective day.

P.S. Whenever you are ready...here are 3 ways I can help you grow your business:

1. Join my FREE Facebook Group - The Replaceable Founder
2. Enroll in one of my courses, Overwhelmology or The Replaceable Founder
3. Work with me privately