How to save yourself 50 hours a week

You know how some weeks you’re battling to fit a thought in sideways during your ridiculously busy week and you just don't know where the minutes go?

But still, somehow you make it all happen.

Well I'm not going to tell you how to solve that because I know that you secretly love the thrill of being busy.

But I am going to help you delete a bunch of pointless shit each week so you can replace it with high-value work (or family time).

See, you never really stop to think about how much you get done until someone asks. 

At least, that’s what happened to me a few weeks ago.

I got asked by a random on Twitter “How are you so productive?”

My first instinct was to laugh and say out loud that “I’m not you banana?!”

Because at the time of reading that message I was adding more tasks to my to-do list than I was checking off…

But then I gave it a moment and thought… It’s probably not a ‘normal’ life.

Growing businesses, optimising fitness and nutrition, focusing on family, balancing friends, networking, writing this newsletter, posting online daily, and somehow launching new projects. 

Not to mention your normal BAU tasks that come with just living these days where you almost need a day a week just to catch up on dumb shit like receiving the wrong order from a stranger on eBay… (should have ordered through Amazon).

Anyway, the question from my mysterious Twitter friend got me thinking these past few weeks. 

Have I done anything different that I could share with this person?

The truth is, I discovered many things that seemed tiny at the time but that resulted in massive time savings in my life today as I’ve become busier. 

And in this email, I wanted to share them with you to help you find up to 50 hours each week.

50 HOURS! 

Imagine what you could do with that!

First, here's the secret straight up. Most people are chasing what else they can DO to free up space.

So that's where I’m going to stop you.

The very act of asking that is a mindset of adding something.

And you don't want to add something...

You want to do the opposite.

The key is removing things. 

So let's delete some shit from your life and get you those precious hours back. 

1. Time blocking.

When you have a massive amount to do each week, don’t try to squeeze in more in front of the TV or with your kids climbing all over you. 

Instead, lock yourself in a room for 3+ hours a day and smash out your tasks starting with the most important.

Ideally, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning, but sometimes you don’t have that luxury.

It’s still on you to find blocks of time to do focused work on your ONE main priority.

Done right, it easily saves you 2 hours across a long inefficient day.

2. Delete regular breaks

My day used to look like: work, toilet, work, coffee, work, snack, work, tea break, work, chat in the corridor, work, phone call…

Nothing got done. 

Instead, eat 3 meals, get on with your main task, Preprepare your lunch, make a thermos of tea for the day, and don’t snack.

Do whatever it takes to just fucking FOCUS!

Saves you 7-10 hours a week.

3. Delete your open-door policy

When you’re highly accessible, it's a wonderful opportunity for other people to waste minutes of your time. 

Get yourself out of shared office spaces, hot-desking and open-plan offices.

Yuck! They’re brutal, disruptive, time vacuums.

If you can't, at least do it when you're trying to get your own ONE thing done in your time block sessions.

It saved me 8-12 hours.

4. Avoid Small Talk. 

People love to chit chat…

Maybe you do too?

And a little is important for maintaining relationships, but limit it. 

Cut to the chase in every conversation.

And cut every encounter (including meetings) in half. 

When you get to the point, you’ll save 10 hours per week including weekends.

5. Delete All-Access

When you own a business or lead a team, people feel like you should be always on. 

First in, last to leave and then available all hours of the day.

It’s a bullshit story you tell yourself and they remind you of every day in business.

People who feel that you should be working yourself to death as the owner aren't people you need on your team.

The truth is, you’re no good to anyone if your dead so find some freaken balance Jarrod.

And be at peace with it.

6. Unnecessary Things

I’ve never been big on meetings.

And thankfully everyone in my company feels the same and values efficient meetings. 

But I hear stories from my friends and family about their workplaces that make my ears bleed about how badly other people waste time in meetings.

Like a 3-hour weekly executive meeting with no agenda, no outcomes, no assigned responsibilities - Just a chat… Faaaark that would kill me. 

If you’re in this, do everything you can to wriggle out of it. 

Say you’re working on a super important project that will catapult the business forward and asked to be sent a brief of the discussion/outcomes.

There's easy 5-7 hours a week there.

7. Unnecessary Fitness. 

I’m not a nutritionist but if you’re trying to lose weight, I’ll tell you a secret… It’s 80% what you eat and 20% exercise.

So you can pair back your crazy long exercise regime because it’s probably not doing much for you (unless it’s strength work).

For me, I freaken love riding mountain bikes. 

But every ride is 2+ hours minimum.

So even though it brings me joy, I made the decision to cut it way back and replace it with 45 strength sessions at the gym.

Because it’s flexible, requires no prep, can be done in all weather, and gets me the outcome I need.

It’s the same thought for organised sport that takes hours of your week including training.

There's a handful of hours in it for you.

9. Decisions about what to eat

I used to spend 30 or so minutes each day researching nutritious foods to cook for my family to eat a balanced diet. I wanted to keep it interesting. 

The reality is I just needed a fortnightly menu with a few variations. 

Then some dishes I prepared and froze raw to be cooked later. 

It saved me a couple of hours a week of looking and prep.

10. Low-value tasks

Anything that’s less than $50 per hour is low value and you should consider getting someone else to do it. 

But not so you can just sit around doing nothing, feeling like a rockstar. 

It’s so you can use those minutes to do high-value work (or learning) that gets you to the next level. 

Think of it like an investment in your future

Use the time wisely.

That's it!

Have a great day today and be kind to your Mother!