I would really like to know what you all do to stay productive. About 30 some years ago, I started my business. Worked 12-15 hour days, six days a week. Made an ok income. Cannot call it a living, because it is not a sustainable practice. And during that time, I developed bad habits. Prior to this, I ate very regularly and was in good shape. When I started my business, I started skipping breakfast to start work early. And by the afternoon, I was starving, so I would eat a huge (mostly unhealthy) meal and work until the evening. By then, I would be starving and would eat a huge late dinner. And sleep a few hours later. Then rinse and repeat. I went from martial arts five times a week, working out in the gym four times a week, and lots of play to just sitting on my butt and working. Gained 20 pounds of fat that first year. I also lived on caffeine. One or two cups of coffee in the morning, then coffee or soda with clients throughout the day. Developed heartburn during this time that still affects me. But I did curtail my caffeine and soda consumption. One Saturday (my busiest day in terms of volume of meetings), I was busy and scheduled meetings every 30 minuted from 8 until 4. I did not have breakfast, as was my new normal by then. Had my morning coffee and coffee/soda with clients. I thought I would have at least one appointment not be able to make it and I could grab a bite. No such luck. Everyone came and it was a very productive day. By the time my last appointment came, my office trash can was full of coffee cups and soda cans. And as we were doing our paperwork, I felt very jittery and my normally steady hands were shaking. I had people tell me that they thought I could be a surgeon, my hands were so steady. Wake up call! Figured I was going to kill myself if I kept it up like that. Cut my coffee down to two, maybe three cups over the course of a day and cut out the soda. Tried to eat more regularly and get more exercise. During that time, I also realized how much time I was wasting being in the office. I started to implement some of the productivity things I learned, hired a couple of assistants to help me, and went from crazy hours to about 20 hours a week and my business went 2x. Here's what I did. First of all, the ideas were not created by me. I just used them. First thing was to focus on the right activities. IMG_3577 by Hanzo posted Apr 6, 2023 at 16:47 I used these grids to help me decide what things to do. I did the things that were profitable for me and easy for me to do and delegated the rest with the focus on the profitable taks. Some things have to be done even if they are not profitable. I try to eliminate as much of that as possible and delegate the rest that cannot be done away with. And then tried to stay away from the urgent things to focus on the important things. Urgent things could be something like a phone call, or someone knocking on your door to talk to you. I always have calls go to voicemail so I can deal with them when I want, not when they come up. When someone knocks, I will ask if it is important. If not, have them get on my calendar. Getting out of the office helped with some of that stuff too. That leads to the PIN system. Productive, Indirectly Productive, and Not Productive. I would track my time doing my activities and mark them, P, I, or N. And mark my start and end time. Anything I miss, I call it an N. Productive tasks to me were meeting with clients or being on the phone with clients. That's pretty much it. Indirectly productive would be admin/paperwork, planning, education, etc. Everything else was an N. My focus was to spend my time in P and I. I got my assistants to do a chunk of my I's. I did the P's. And I left early to avoid the N's and not waste my time getting caught with them. I wouldn't track every day forever. But I do track for a few months. And then if I feel I need a dose of discipline, I would track the minutes for a month or two. Every Monday morning, my assistants and I had a short meeting to make sure everyone knew what they were doing for the week. We had it all on a checklist. And every Friday, I took them out to a nice lunch to review the week and hang out. Then I left. I took good care of them and they took good care of me and my clients. I went through some growing pains with assistants until I ended up with the right ones. They were so good. They even came out to my house unannounced on a weekend to clean my place "since I was single." I just ordered food and we hung out. I felt bad making them clean. And appreciative that they even thought to, I downsized when I had a family. Happy that my assistants are still friends to this day even though I have not employed them for 20+ years. When my wife was pregnant, I told her my priority has changed. I did not want to miss any time with the kids, so I will work less, maybe make less money. Money stayed about the same. And I never missed anything with the kids. Told wife when the kids are grown, I can work more and make more then. Kids are grown now. But sheesh, I do not want to work more. One more thing I incorporated was learning and testing. I met a very successful man decades ago. He told me he splits his time in segments. 60% of the time, he works on his business. 20% of the time, he is learning something new. And the remaining 20% of the time, he is testing to see if what he learned is something he should incorporate into his business of not. If he thinks he should, it gets incorporated into the 60% of time. If not, it gets chucked but remembered. His "secret" to making $5 million a year decade ago. Please share your methods and "secrets" because I do not want to work more. I am working different though. I am writing a couple of books that are about done. Now I have to learn about how to publish or get published. I appreciate any insight you might have. First book is about life lessons from a lifetime of martial arts (over 50 years). Second is a children's book series like Berenstain Bears. I have three written. My challenge is the art. Artists are so slow. Also want to learn how to make a webpage or hire someone to do it. So please share your methods! And knowledge.
For me it was about balance. After the service, I worked 8 hour days 5 days a week with weekends off. I was in training. Time was split between field work and formal training at the academy. Even after receiving my own assignments, the ongoing academy training assignments continued at sometimes months away from family. When back and attending to my assigned duties, I was on call during my off duty intervals 24/7. I advanced later in my career to a better paying position within the agency but that involved rotating 10 hour shifts. The watch schedule moved us from days to swings then mids (graveyards). During time off (vacation), I spent as much time as possible with family. The shift work cut into that time as after a week of graves, we got three days off to readjust before returning to day shift. I chased the money to put my daughter through college and afford the family vacation time. I tried to balance as much as possible, sometimes you get get lost in the race.
There was a time when I was working 80-100 hours a week, seven days a week. We were closed on Sundays, but that was when I did stocking, inventory, cleaning and maintenance. Long hours do not necessarily translate into money, so I sold the business and worked on as an employee until it closed. Too much work, too little sleep and too much soda nearly killed me! Now I work 40 hours a week, like my job, make as much money, and I actually get days off! I also sleep more, eat better, and I'm much healthier.
Recognize the difference between wants and needs. Then decide what each is worth to you. As a 77 year old retired long haul driver I wish I'd paid less attention to the money but everyone has to make their on choices.
@Hanzo, the best tip for writing I keep hearing is "Write" So many talk about it but never write anything. @Meat, I concur, you wrote a book. If you wrote a rough draft, you are a writer. Now edit it and publish it.
