How I found 4 Days Extra a Month…
I get asked all the time, how I get some much done in a day.
In my eyes, I am doing what needs to be done, nothing special!
I then realised that not everybody is the same, some have strengths in certain areas while may struggle and vice versa.
If I had to think back to where it comes from. I would 100% say my parents.
I remember as a kid, everything was so well planned out, it was almost military like when it came to my parents getting 3 kids ready for a family party or organising Sundays filled with sports.
I always remember being first to every one of my sporting games. If the meeting time was 9am we’d be there at 8.15-8.30am before anyone else.
That stuck with me once when I started my career working. Always first to arrive onsite and have a structured approach to my day. Even when I was an apprentice, I was one of the most organised and structured on the team and we had 50+ guys on one site.
It became a game to me though. I wanted to see how far I could take it and work on how to master this skill.
From a very young age I learnt to plan well in advance to the extent that even now I plan my sleep for the week based on the events, activities and meetings I have.
I know that yes, things come up randomly and we have to pivot to make room. And I embrace that. I embrace it better than most because I have control of my day. When your day is a mess and has no structure, when something random comes up, it creates chaos.
Being in control, allows you to move and shift with what’s happening.
Now I am not saying you need to structure every single minute of your day, including your bathroom breaks etc. Though it’s important to have clear vision and organisation.
On this journey getting into business and building multiple business having this ability has really been a blessing. Though I have had to really step it up and manage my time even more.
Running 7 Companies and brands will do that to you.
I love when people tell me they haven’t got time to get something done or X Y Z came up so I couldn’t get A B C done.
My belief is, if it’s important enough and is a priority, it will get done. And if I don’t get it done today it just means it wasn’t a priority and I don’t let it affect me.
I’ll do it tomorrow.
Sometimes I have that moment, where I see someone choosing to go to the gym instead of building that business or doing a sales call. Especially after they have told me they’ll do anything to grow their business or even start the business. In my eyes, the gym is always going to be there, the opportunity to do business or make a sale isn’t. To some people gym or exercise is a priority which is totally cool, but don’t tell me your willing to do anything when your not.
Right now, for me I don’t have a gym membership. I have had one since I was 16 and this is the first year I haven’t. For me it’s not a priority. I exercise every day and eat to suit my lifestyle. If I have time on my weekends, I might hit a session at a local gym for fun, though right now for me I have a bigger focus and spending an hour or so every day in the gym doesn’t work.
Understand you day, understand you body. Get to know when your best preforming times are. At what time do you tired, how much sleep do you need, when do you need to eat, how much do you need to eat, what sort of foods do you eat?
Planning out your days is sooo much more about all the finer details and less of the ‘Time Management’ skills you read about.
If you want to get more done in your day, why don’t you work on a strategy that gives you more time one and secondly how you can compress time frames to get more done in the same period of time.
Building your diet to suit your lifestyle is really important. I used to eat 6-7 meals a day. That’s at least 3 hours of eating time, everyday gone. Now I eat twice, maybe 3 times and 90% of the time, my first meal isn’t until after 11am. And then again at dinner.
Yes it was a challenge at first working towards that, though I have now freed up 2 hours a day plus my body isn’t as run down and lethargic so I can go longer than I used too. I have just added at least 4 hours of productive time to my day. 28 hrs a week, 112 hours a month, also known as 4.6 days per month extra I have now. Interesting.
We haven’t even touched on how to be more productive and compress time frames yet. Haha I hope your excited.
On that topic. Let’s talk organisation.
Step one, get off the old school diary. Its 2018, not 1980, get online and have an online calendar. You can access it across all your platforms and devices, at any time you can open it up. What happens if you lose your diary, or you still your morning coffee on it? Then what?
Stop being silly and get online. If you have a team this is even more important, you can share it with them and have everyone on the same page.
I personally use Google Calendar. I’ve tried plenty of different ones and this best suits me. Its free, easy to use and it’s google so they have built it to be everywhere in your life.
Step Two, use a To Do List app. Scrap the notepad, and go online. Yes, I still carry notepads of all different shapes and sizes with me, they are back-ups, for brainstorming and meetings.
My To-Do List is again all online across all my devices. I used to be the beautifully highlights and detailed paper to-do list guy, no more. Too much effort and wasted time. I am on my computer or phone most of the day, so it makes sense to have everything I need on there, not on another piece of paper I have to carry around. And heaven forbid you forget it, the days over. I don’t let that happen anymore.
I use an app called To-Doist and its been the biggest game changer in the last 6 months. I use the Free version right now, though I am about to upgrade so I can share with my teams.
Find one that best suits you and your needs.
Step three, actively give a Fu@#. You actually need to want this. You need to want to take control of your day. And stay consistent. Its very easy to let it slip away. Get in the habit and routine. Build your day around it and start forward planning. Not me nor anyone else can do it for you so make that commitment to yourself that you’ll make the changes.
Ask yourself how badly do you want it?
If you’ll do ANYTHING, then make it happen. NOW.
Every day you wait is another day you are letting yourself down. More importantly you are letting your team, customers, family down. You are also letting your customers families down because you didn’t get your shit together and serve them.
Think about that.
We have a huge roll to play, those who actively commit to taking control have the ability to create change.
JT