| If you want to get the most out of your time and hit more of your big goals BEFORE the end of the year…
It’s not going to happen by accident.
You need the right strategy.
That’s why today I’m sharing some of the best time management & delegation advice I’ve recently given clients.
These quick tips will help you squeeze everything you can from the last of 2022:
Q: “Craig, I have a big project that needs to get done before 2023... which means it really should be done before Thanksgiving. Help!”
Answer:
You’ll make more progress working in BLOCKS than in “slivers” of time.
You need 3, 4, or 5 hours straight or else you’ll never “chip away at it” fast enough.
Block off time for the BIG project and commit 5-6 hours straight (with a 45 min break in the middle and two small breaks in between).
Working in BLOCKS is 5x’s more efficient than doing the same work spread over multiple days.
Blocks = Focus & progress
Slivers = Productivity "death by 1000 cuts" due to inefficient transition time
Applying this to the next five weeks...
Take an hour today to plan your big blocks... when they are and what you’ll do ... AND how to protect your time from distractions
Then hit your first block as early as possible in the day as early in the week as you can.
Q: “I’m overwhelmed. What’s the best way to delegate and get some tasks off my plate?”
Answer:
Shout out to my old friend Frank Den Blanken for a great idea here...
You can quickly build an “SOP” library for every applicable task.
Record a screen video that walks your team member through the task...
Then have the same team member watch the video and write-up a “checklist description”.
That’s an efficient way to teach anyone how to do something and get them to codify the instructions into a document that can be added to a library.
Start this process by listing out all the specific significant tasks you do – but shouldn’t be doing:
These are generally admin / legal / financial / communication jobs such as customer support, editing videos, creating contracts, bookkeeping, and uploading social media material.
Create a video showing how to do it... and then get that task off your plate.
Once the task has been assigned you’ll need to give feedback to your team member for a week or two and correct them / improve their efficiency.
Eventually you’ll be doing much less work and life will be easier and you’ll have moved from $10 an hour tasks to $100 and even $1000 an hour tasks.
The end goal: More time for you in FLOW state working on higher financial value activities.
“If you concentrated on the efforts that actually mattered, your professional contributions
could be compressed into a handful of efficiently planned weekly hours.” – Cal Newport
Q: “Craig, I need to find a “right hand gal” (or guy). Where do I even start?”
Answer:
Step #1 => Craft a detailed job description Step #2 => Share job description with your social media and on job sites Step #3 => Make sure description includes "homework task" (that takes 15 minutes but shows the applicants can follow instructions) Step #4 => Set up 10 minute phone screen interviews with top 10 applicants Step #5 => Set up 90-minute "Top Grading" style interviews with top 5 applicants (Google a summary of the book Top Grading by Bradley Smart to understand the process)
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When you focus your own time and energy with intensity on the tasks that really matter…
While clearing the things you DON’T need to be doing off your plate…
Not only will you accomplish more over the next 2.25 months…
You’ll ALSO set yourself up for massive success in 2023.
Success Loves Speed,
Craig | 