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This blog series started on blog 219, everything I have shared is things that I do so I know my strategy and tactics work.
Unhappy entrepreneurs don’t make any money.
Do you feel like you’re constantly chasing yourself and trying to find more time? Then go back and read these blogs, then join us in our community, serious shift dot com, and change your life. See you there.
When we are in control of our time we feel like we’ve made the right choices and we are in control, when we are out of control we dislike what we do, second guess ourselves and generally speaking, we are miserable.
Is there anything worse than hearing yourself complain to yourself about how tough you have it? There isn’t. Because when you run your own show, you are complaining to yourself about yourself!
Here are four more things I do that have helped.
1. I do my best work at the right time.
I wake up and get at it. I write, work, think, first thing in the morning that’s when I’m most on. When I fade in the afternoon, I switch to some other tasks that require less brainpower. Dan Pink wrote a great book about this called When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing.
Don’t just do your best work at the best time, block out all distractions. Bings, beeps, chimes, ding dongs, vibrations … turn off the notifications.
When I write in the morning I set a word count and I won’t do anything else until I hit it. This means that I get up before my house to take advantage of the quiet.
I don’t open email until much later than you would expect – I’ve written about this before – trust me, if there is an emergency and someone really needs to get to you, they’ll call.
This works for me because I’m a morning person, when my energy fades later I’ll answer emails, or do other things like reading articles people share with me etc.
I posted a survey in our community to help you figure out your chronotype. Check it out. Whatever you are, a morning person or a night owl, you’ll want to align the work that requires your most intense brainpower with your energy peaks.
DMW Tip: Morning people have a natural advantage … Consider changing your ways.
2. Plan your day the night before
Admittedly it’s possible I shared this tip somewhere between blog 219 and today. However, it is possibly the most important adjustment I ever made.
Review these blogs! If you apply what I’ve shared since 219 your life will get better. A better and more productive day doesn’t just happen, it requires planning. Master time, you master yourself.
What are the 3 things you’re going to get done tomorrow? What is required to get them done? What are the steps and how much time per step? Accomplish 15 things a week and you’re a superstar.
The more prepared you are the more control you have and the more control you have the better you feel, the less stress you experience and you can keep the Lizard off your throat. Burning out, falling out of your comfortable routine takes a lot of effort to correct.
3. Get outside and exercise
Tom Frisby gets more done in a day than a farmer with a tractor. He also goes to the cross fit gym every day and I think he might go for close to 2 hours.
I have no idea. Think about that. I have no idea how long Tom, my friend and 50% of my economic engine, is out of his office every day. No. Idea. I just checked his schedule and it looks like 2 hours.
Every day Tom moves too much dirt and he still gets to the gym.
4. Read
Personal income rarely, if ever, exceeds personal development.
Instead of figuring out how you can read more figure out how you can do other things less. The best part about the NETFLIXIFICATION of televised entertainment is that you can watch it when you want it.
Spend less time watching TV. Spend as little time as a possible community. Spend as little time as possible shopping (grocery lists help save time and so does Amazon.)
The average person spends 3-4 hours a day (A DAY) watching TV, an hour or more commuting and then 2-3 hours a week shopping. That’s 28 hours a week on the low end.
28 hours is 1,680 minutes! If you read a page a minute that’s 1,680 pages a week.