This problem takes me back to when I was a kid.
Every Sunday afternoon, my dad would take the family to this buffet. We go in, and there's all this food. Oh. My. Goodness. When you're a kid, and you see a buffet, you just go crazy. Pie, brisket, scalloped potatoes—shovel it all on! By the end of it, the plate is filled to the brim. And then you sit down and realize you've run into a problem: your appetite is bigger than your stomach. And the same is true of an entrepreneur.
Our tasks are bigger than our time.
Something has to shift. Something has to change.
I love what former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke, said: "The things which are most important don't always scream the loudest."
Usually the things that are screaming are emails, messages on social media, or a phone call about an order that didn't go through. But those aren't necessarily the most important things.
When I streamlined my time, I went from $24,000 in debt to multi-millionaire. It's my mission to pass on everything I learned to help other entrepreneurs like you.
In the Law of Focus, there are four steps to maximize your time.
1) Stop blaming the clock.
Our problem is NOT that we don't have enough time—it's that we aren't managing our time correctly.
You cannot change what the time is. You can put your finger in a clock and turn back its hands if you want, but time doesn't stop. No matter what you do, time continues to go.
If you keep saying, "I don't have enough time. I'm never going to win because I'll never have enough time to do what I want," then you'll doom yourself to failure.
What you really mean is that you're not managing your time the way you should.
How do you do that?
It's simple.
While you might not expect time management advice from a wizard, Gandalf the Grey—from the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien—said, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
One of the most liberating concepts is to not worry about how much time you have—or what happens around you during your time on Earth—but the ability to focus on what you can change.
Think "What can I do to make myself more effective?"
The clock is not the problem. The problem is time management.
2) Just do one thing.
What gives you the most bang for your buck?
Life is too short to do everything half-assed.🍑
Do one thing with excellence. If you can do one thing where your strengths lie, that will make you far more successful and generate far more wealth than if you try to do everything and be everything to everyone.
I love how Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan put it in their book, The One Thing: "The way to get the most out of your work and your life is to go as small as possible."
Most people think just the opposite. They think big success is time consuming and complicated. As a result, their to-do lists become overloaded. In the end, they accomplish little. Over time, they lower their expectations, abandon their dreams, and allow their life to become unresolved.
What you want to do is just focus on one thing. Then go big with that.
Let me give you an example:
If I sat down today, grabbed a sheet of paper, and listed everything that makes me money—let's say my goal is to generate wealth—I'd list about five or six things. I look at which one of these is making me the most. Let's say it's selling on Amazon. How can I maximize that one? If I put 80% of my time into that one, then I could do much better than if I break my time out evenly amongst all the ways that I make money.
We had a windstorm here in Austin, TX.🌪
When I got up in the morning, all the fences were flattened.
It's in my nature to go find tools and fix whatever's broken in and around the house. I drove to Home Depot, walked over to the aisle where they had these big metal posts, and I stopped. I said, "What am I doing? I'm about to spend two hours of my day fixing a fence. Is that going to make me happier at the end of the day? Is that what I really want to do?"
I realized my body was at Home Depot, but my heart was still with my business. I want to focus on the business and help people become more effective entrepreneurs.
I started thinking I could pay someone $250 to do this, right? If I break down my time in what I make per hour (at the time I made $432 per hour) then my time is worth that much. If I go spend 2 hours fixing a fence, I just lost $864 plus cost of materials. It makes no sense. But if I pay someone to do it for me, and I work on my business and make the $864, the only thing it's going to cost me is what I had to pay the fence builder ($864-$250=$614).
Think about what is your time worth. Just do one thing you're good at. Even though it feels like you're saving money when you're a DIY person, someone else can do it much better than you could and save you time.
3) Outsource like crazy.
Another example:
Have you tried to do an aggressive social media campaign? Build your following? Get out there and expose your product? It's hard work.
I did this. And I realized, I spent 80% of my day just focused on posting stuff. That's crazy.
My strengths: communication, sales, understanding the market. But not social media. It's not administration.
I hired an assistant, and she took care of all of the posting. That 80% of my day got refocused on producing content that people can use. That's what I love to do, and that's what I get paid most for. Plus, she got paid for doing social media and found satisfaction there.
That's how you focus your time. Do not be afraid to outsource.
Find someone who can do what you do but better. Do only what you do best, and outsource everything else.
Almost every millionaire who owned a business will tell you that they outsourced things they weren't as good at so they can focus on what they are good at.
4) Ban the hell out of multi-tasking
Get rid of it. Multitasking does not work.
Confucius said, "The man who chases two rabbits catches neither."
Studies by both Stanford and the University of Utah show that multitasking is NOT the most efficient way to get things done.
The brain is always more effective at focusing on one thing at a time.
Let me give you an illustration:
We have hard-water in my Austin community. You could probably build replica bones out of the calcium in the water.🦴
So, we got a water softener. One day, I spilled these water softening pellets all over the floor. Then I tried something peculiar. I put all my focus into just cleaning them up and not anything else. Boom—it got done in minutes.
What if we applied that same idea to everything we do?
No matter what it is—reading a book, working out, cooking—you'll get so much more out of it if you do nothing else at the same time.
Turn off your phone. Don't check anything online. Just do that one thing well. Then you'll feel so good and refreshed that when it comes time to do the other things, you feel good about it.
If you want to maximize your time, don't blame the clock. We have been given the time we need. It's not about having more time. If you fight that battle, you won't win (unless you're the Flash⚡️). Just manage it better. Find what you're best at.
Play to your strengths.
Outsource everything you can, and ban multitasking because it doesn't work.
I 100% recommend you read "The One Thing" by Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan.
Implement these ideas into your life, so you can build a better future.
Live like no one else so that someday you can live like no one else.
If you are dead serious about changing your life and breaking the death-by-paycheck cycle, myself and my team can help: Visit JOD.com/freedom.
