[0:00] productivity is how much money you get
[0:01] out for the time you put in I know this
[0:04] because I went from $0 at age 23 to $100
[0:06] million plus net worth at age 31 simply
[0:09] by better investing my time and I'm
[0:11] going to teach you how I do it so that
[0:13] hopefully you can do it and I'm even
[0:14] going to show you my calendar at the end
[0:16] of the video and walk you through step
[0:18] by step how I get good Returns on my
[0:20] time have you ever had someone reach out
[0:22] to you and say hey God minute hey got 10
[0:26] hey let me introduce you to so and so
[0:28] they're going to be in town how does 10
[0:29] a.m. work a normal exchange like that
[0:31] you might say yeah I've Got 5 minutes or
[0:33] sure I can meet so and so for coffee the
[0:35] problem is that for one specific type of
[0:37] worker that five-minute meeting blows
[0:40] their entire morning because they can't
[0:42] do the development work they need they
[0:43] can't edit the video they can't write
[0:45] the book chapter because it disrupts
[0:47] their workflow on the other hand there's
[0:49] another type of worker where for them
[0:51] it's actually very optimal for them to
[0:53] take that meeting the question is which
[0:55] one are you and at what times also
[0:57] special shout out to Paul Graham who
[0:59] wrote a tiny blog this 14 years ago so
[1:01] if time is what we invest and money is
[1:03] what we make from that investment then
[1:05] the people who are the best investors of
[1:07] time were the ones who make the most
[1:08] money and so it turns out there are two
[1:11] specific types of entrepreneurs and
[1:13] you'll switch hats throughout your day
[1:15] or throughout your week the first and
[1:17] most common investor of time that people
[1:20] are familiar with is the manager
[1:22] schedule and these people have a very
[1:25] specific way of investing time and
[1:26] getting Returns on it so they can make
[1:28] the most money so let's talk about
[1:30] that managers divide their time into the
[1:33] smallest chunk possible they often have
[1:35] 20 plus chunks per day from 15 minutes
[1:39] sometimes 5 minutes all the way to an
[1:40] hour or 90 minutes and for managers an
[1:43] empty time slot is a lost opportunity
[1:46] that's time that did not get a return on
[1:49] investment for them and for that reason
[1:51] they treat time like currency and the
[1:53] only real cost for them to fill is just
[1:56] the cost of coordinating with somebody
[1:57] else's calendar to find a mutually empty
[2:00] slot so that they can work together now
[2:03] on paper since work on meetings is a
[2:05] mutually filled slot it makes both
[2:07] people more productive and so when a
[2:09] manager interacts with another manager
[2:11] and they mutually fill a slot both of
[2:13] them make more money now they talk to
[2:17] lots of different people and do many
[2:19] different kinds of tasks all day long
[2:20] this is the nature of the manager they
[2:22] collect data they report data to
[2:25] persuade to lead to train and encourage
[2:28] and make other decisions one-on one and
[2:31] sometimes in groups of people for them
[2:32] they have a pretty clear beginning of
[2:34] the day and a pretty clear end of the
[2:35] day the day begins when they start
[2:37] preparing for their meetings maybe 30
[2:40] minutes or an hour beforehand and it
[2:41] ends at the end of their last meeting
[2:43] now if they prep for the next day then
[2:45] they could add that on top but more or
[2:46] less the duration of their day is
[2:48] directly proportional to the duration of
[2:50] the meetings they have they basically
[2:51] work until their last calendar slot and
[2:53] that's how their day works and this is
[2:55] the key Point here the main objective of
[2:57] the manager is to use up all their
[2:59] chunks in the day day so that they
[3:00] maximize their time a fully booked day
[3:03] is a maximally invested manager they've
[3:06] used up all of their time slots and so
[3:08] they are
[3:10] productive now the second type of time
[3:13] schedule management is something called
[3:15] the maker and this is one that the vast
[3:18] majority of people do not know this is
[3:21] where the creators this is where the
[3:23] entrepreneurs this is where people who
[3:25] have to make big things who build stuff
[3:28] get the highest returns on their time
[3:30] the vast majority of entrepreneurs at
[3:32] some point have some or all of their
[3:34] time that's dedicated to making stuff
[3:37] this is the Deep work this is the stuff
[3:39] that moves the big ball forward there
[3:40] are often tasks that are not urgent but
[3:42] incredibly important and when you look
[3:45] back on your month or your quarter or
[3:46] your year the few things that you
[3:48] remember that actually move the ball
[3:50] forward that actually move your business
[3:51] forward in the long term were these
[3:55] chunks of work now the problem is most
[3:58] entrepreneurs do not have the time and
[4:00] do not have the system for maximizing
[4:02] that time of important work because
[4:05] fundamentally if those are the footholds
[4:07] that allow you to push yourself forward
[4:09] towards your goal then you want as many
[4:11] of those as possible the difficulty is
[4:13] that it's never urgent this is like if
[4:15] you're a coder and you need to develop
[4:16] software obviously if that software is
[4:18] developed that's the most valuable thing
[4:19] you can do if you're an editor and you
[4:21] make videos then actually editing the
[4:23] video so that it can get out in media is
[4:25] the most important thing that you can do
[4:26] if you write copy for emails or you're
[4:28] an author and you write books you
[4:30] actually writing the book and actually
[4:31] doing the work of the book is the most
[4:33] important thing that you can do all of
[4:34] those things are maker work you create
[4:37] something that before this did not exist
[4:39] although this work is important it's
[4:41] incredibly expensive in terms of time
[4:43] and the problem is the vast majority of
[4:45] the world works on manager time not on
[4:47] maker time so let me explain the
[4:49] difference so for the maker when you get
[4:51] into maker mode instead of many small
[4:54] slivers like the manager has you have
[4:56] only a few large chunks and the reason
[4:59] for that is because if you put a meeting
[5:01] or you interrupt a 4-Hour long block
[5:05] then you often can't get back to the
[5:07] work that you were doing before also if
[5:09] you know that you have a block that's
[5:10] coming you can't get into the flow
[5:13] because you know that you're going to
[5:14] have to get out of the flow and so this
[5:16] is like the end of day meeting that
[5:17] kills you this is called the zernick
[5:19] effect it's that we tend to remember
[5:21] open loops and meetings are open Loops
[5:23] because you have to set timers so you
[5:25] don't forget it you have to start
[5:26] setting a timer before the timer to
[5:28] start wrapping up even if you're using
[5:30] right now then you start thinking about
[5:31] the meeting and what you have to prepare
[5:32] for that meeting and now you're not
[5:34] thinking about your own work and this
[5:35] eats up your brain power and saps your
[5:38] ability to make unlike the manager where
[5:41] the decisions the direction and the
[5:42] coordination is the output of their work
[5:44] for the maker the stuff the things they
[5:47] build the things they make is the output
[5:49] of their time and so instead of working
[5:53] on meetings they work off meetings they
[5:56] work on projects that can't get done in
[5:59] 30es minutes sometimes those projects
[6:01] last weeks months quarters until they're
[6:04] done and so the way that that work
[6:06] actually looks is that most makers have
[6:08] a set start time but variable end times
[6:10] so unlike the manager where they they
[6:12] know when they start and they know when
[6:13] they finish most makers work open to
[6:16] goal if you've ever lost yourself in
[6:17] your work and you're like man I just
[6:19] want to keep riding this this High I
[6:21] want to keep riding this flow that's
[6:23] what it feels like to make you want to
[6:25] stay in there as long as you possibly
[6:27] can and that's why having no cap on the
[6:30] allows you to get lost in the work and
[6:32] produce more than you ever could so if
[6:34] you have only large time chunks that
[6:36] means that you only have one or two per
[6:39] day sometimes three if you're working 18
[6:41] hours and so that means you usually have
[6:43] a morning block and a post lunch block
[6:45] now if you're somebody who likes to also
[6:46] work after dinner then you have a post
[6:48] dinner block so you basically have three
[6:50] four to six hour chunks per day that's
[6:53] it and on a sustainable basis most
[6:55] people just have two per day and so if
[6:58] someone takes one meeting in the morning
[7:00] they blew one of your 10 work blocks per
[7:03] week if you only work 5 days a week and
[7:05] so someone's taking 10% of your total
[7:08] output by having one meeting the issue
[7:10] is that that manager who's working on
[7:12] manager time puts that thing in and for
[7:15] them they're becoming more productive
[7:16] but they're destroying your productivity
[7:19] when this happens is when you finish
[7:21] your day feel like you look back and
[7:24] know that all your time was spent but
[7:26] you got no return on it you have nothing
[7:28] to show for it and if you feel like you
[7:29] have that happen again and again and
[7:32] again this is how businesses stay small
[7:34] this is how entrepreneurs fail to grow
[7:36] This Is How They relive the same 6
[7:38] months same 12 months same two years
[7:40] over and over and over again because
[7:42] they do not know how to invest their
[7:44] time for the maker an empty time slot is
[7:48] not a lost opportunity the empty time
[7:51] block is the opportunity to get the
[7:53] return if you're a maker you understand
[7:56] what I'm about to share with you if you
[7:57] look at your calendar and see that you
[7:59] have literally nothing on there you have
[8:01] no meetings you have no nothing it's
[8:02] just empty until the end of the day how
[8:04] much energy are you filled with you're
[8:06] like oh my God I'm going to crush this
[8:07] day there's all this this big project I
[8:09] want to sink my teeth into it I'm going
[8:10] to be able to take a huge chunk out of
[8:12] it that energy that you get is because
[8:14] that is a maximally productive day is an
[8:17] empty calendar rather than a filled
[8:19] calendar and so for context when I was
[8:21] writing my book my days every day were
[8:24] just writing the book and I told my team
[8:27] that that's all I was going to be doing
[8:29] you're like but don't you run this
[8:30] portfolio of all these companies and
[8:32] there's all this money and these deals
[8:33] and decisions that have to happen and
[8:34] the answer is yes and when I show you my
[8:36] calendar it'll all Mak sense so
[8:37] literally diametrically opposed
[8:40] calendars are both maximally allocated
[8:44] to invest time to get the highest
[8:46] Returns on it in terms of money the big
[8:48] problem is when the two need to interact
[8:50] because if you just had makers making
[8:52] and you just had managers managing
[8:53] everyone would be happy the problem is
[8:55] when managers manage makers and they
[8:58] have to meet
[9:00] so when a manager doesn't know how
[9:02] makers work they kill the productivity
[9:03] of their team managers often assume that
[9:06] makers can work like they do on demand
[9:08] they think it's hey it's just 30 minutes
[9:11] and you've got free time what's the big
[9:12] deal I looked at your calendar you have
[9:14] nothing all day you're barely even
[9:15] working because they're using their
[9:17] measuring stick of work their way a
[9:19] calendar looks when they're maximally
[9:20] effective and then transposing that on
[9:23] top of the Maker's calendar and thinking
[9:25] these two are the same when they
[9:26] couldn't be more different for a manager
[9:28] a short meeting costs one work unit
[9:31] which is maybe 15 minutes and for them
[9:33] they've got 20 plus per day so they can
[9:35] easily spare one whereas if they take
[9:37] one from a maker they take one of the
[9:39] two time slots you have per day and
[9:41] sometimes you take both based on what
[9:43] the topic of the meeting is if you say
[9:45] hey we're going to do your quarterly
[9:46] performance as an employee at 2:00 in
[9:49] the afternoon the likelihood that the
[9:50] employee leading up to that is going to
[9:52] be able to think about the work that
[9:53] they're going to do when they're worried
[9:54] about their job or they're worried about
[9:55] their performance all day long and then
[9:57] afterwards they thinking about what they
[9:58] said and they could have said
[9:59] differently that day shot to make
[10:01] matters worse if a maker is falling
[10:03] behind the manager's solution is to
[10:05] interrupt them more which creates a
[10:07] vicious cycle this means managers
[10:09] prevent the work that they check in on
[10:11] so by checking in on them they disrupt
[10:13] the Maker's work so that they can't
[10:15] actually make during the time slot to
[10:16] check in if they're actually working
[10:18] because the manager Works while on
[10:19] meetings where the Maker Works when
[10:21] they're off meetings and when this
[10:23] happens and it happens often both
[10:25] parties lose and this is the main point
[10:27] the manager loses because the maker is
[10:29] not making what they need to be making
[10:30] and the manager is responsible for some
[10:32] level of output so both people aren't
[10:34] making the best Returns on their time
[10:36] this is why this is important for
[10:37] managers and important for makers so if
[10:39] you are on a team share this with your
[10:41] boss share this with your teammates so
[10:43] that this become like this can become
[10:45] more common in the Lexicon all my
[10:46] companies understand and use this
[10:48] language if you ask as a manager for a
[10:52] maker to make time for you they either
[10:55] one offend the manager by saying no I
[10:58] can't do that because I'm working and
[11:00] the M manager's like well I see that you
[11:03] have an empty time block and I outrank
[11:05] you or even if your peers it's like what
[11:06] do you mean you're not going to give me
[11:08] that time I see that it's empty by
[11:10] refusing them they offend and they can
[11:12] incur other risks by making that you
[11:14] know offense and declining the
[11:15] invitation this often time damages the
[11:18] relationship and decreases the
[11:19] likelihood of collaboration in the
[11:20] future which they might need you as a
[11:23] maker might need the buying of that
[11:25] manager and so you risk losing that
[11:27] Goodwill by declining the invitation but
[11:29] by doing so if you accept the invitation
[11:31] you destroy the morning right and so
[11:34] option one piss someone off option two
[11:37] destroy half your day a very terrible
[11:39] proposition and the crazy part is that
[11:42] even if you accept that meeting often
[11:44] times the yield from that meeting is
[11:46] nothing because the person who had the
[11:49] do you have five minutes didn't really
[11:50] have an agenda didn't really have a plan
[11:52] and just basically said I'm just going
[11:54] to steal your morning from you and give
[11:55] you nothing back by the way this totally
[11:57] applies to networking stuff too if
[11:59] you're like hey let me ince you to John
[12:01] he's in the area you guys should meet
[12:02] for coffee does 10:00 a.m. work I'm like
[12:05] yeah let's just destroy everything right
[12:07] let's just light my whole day on fire so
[12:09] that I can meet John who you think I
[12:11] have synergies with maybe there's
[12:13] potential for collaboration let's
[12:15] explore opportunities together you know
[12:17] what's crazy I know what I need to do to
[12:19] make more money and I just need to do
[12:21] that I get asked all the time about
[12:24] what's the one habit that you have that
[12:27] has been the highest you know predictor
[12:29] of your success and I really genuinely
[12:34] believe that it has been this is that I
[12:37] have been ruthless with my time everyone
[12:40] who knows me knows that I am a dick with
[12:43] my time and the thing is is that I've
[12:46] been able to maintain relationships
[12:48] because during that maker time where I
[12:49] say no to everyone else I keep moving
[12:52] forward because I have a
[12:54] fundamental belief that as long as I
[12:55] continue to achieve and I continue to
[12:57] make things that are valuable for the
[12:59] World those meetings those connections
[13:01] those synergies that friend dinner will
[13:04] always be there and that has proven
[13:07] right in my life and in the beginning it
[13:09] was the hardest because I didn't have
[13:10] the accomplishments to show for it but I
[13:12] truly believed I was like I know that if
[13:14] I can get this stuff done and I do it
[13:17] every single day for a year two years
[13:18] three years five years if every day I
[13:21] move the ball forward that's the thing
[13:23] at the end of the month when I look back
[13:24] on what I actually accomplished 100% of
[13:26] it is stuff I accomplished during maker
[13:28] time not manager time and so once I
[13:31] realized that the maker time was where
[13:32] everything all the speed of me moving
[13:35] towards my goal was getting accomplished
[13:36] then I spent the rest of my time trying
[13:38] to optimize my life and create a system
[13:40] around this that allowed me to do as
[13:42] much of that as I possibly could and to
[13:45] be clear there are roles in the business
[13:47] like if you're CEO or coo from an
[13:51] operator perspective you're going to
[13:52] have more one-on ones you're going to
[13:54] have more team trainings you're going to
[13:55] have more coordination and
[13:57] decision-making that's required but you
[13:59] just have to be clear that you're not
[14:01] not doing your job by not having maker
[14:03] time it's just that your job is the
[14:04] manager stuff and then the maker time
[14:06] you have is to get more leverage on the
[14:09] remainder of your manager time and so
[14:11] ilila has a different schedule than I do
[14:13] she still has maker time but it's
[14:15] probably inverted in terms of her
[14:17] schedule for her she has probably one
[14:19] maker day per week and four manager days
[14:22] where I have four maker days per week
[14:24] and one manager day and so you can have
[14:26] an inverted schedule but the important
[14:28] thing is is that she has to have that
[14:31] makeer day because it's what gets her
[14:32] leverage gets her higher Returns on the
[14:34] other four days of the week and then for
[14:36] me I have to still do that manager day
[14:39] because it gives me leverage on all the
[14:41] organizational decisions that have to
[14:42] happen throughout the whole portfolio
[14:45] you have to get out of the either or
[14:46] thinking and think which of these Styles
[14:48] is best for me in this particular moment
[14:51] but I can promise you that you do have
[14:53] elements of both when most people have
[14:55] elements of neither which is why they
[14:57] never move forward so I think I've
[14:59] accurately described the problem here
[15:00] makers and managers work differently
[15:02] these guys want empty calendars these
[15:03] guys want filled calendars when they
[15:05] interact one person destroys the other
[15:07] person time and it's a disproportionate
[15:08] trade and when things get bad they get
[15:10] even worse because the managers
[15:12] interrupt the makers even more and the
[15:14] makers trying to be polite because they
[15:16] don't want to turn down invitations just
[15:17] make their lives worse and worse and
[15:19] they have to work longer and longer
[15:20] hours lose sleep lose family time lose
[15:22] their weekend so that they can just keep
[15:24] up with their work without pissing
[15:25] anyone off and so let's talk about a
[15:28] different way way to do this so I use
[15:30] something called a three-pronged
[15:32] approach for the solutions and that's
[15:34] because you have to address it from all
[15:36] angles it's not just saying hey makers
[15:38] deal with it hey managers do something
[15:40] different hey organizations you have to
[15:43] attack it from all three directions
[15:45] you've got the managers you've got what
[15:47] the makers should do differently and
[15:48] then you've got the organization overall
[15:51] so you've got all three of these parties
[15:53] that you have to
[15:55] accommodate to the managers step one
[15:58] under understand both the costs that you
[16:00] put on the maker the first cost is the
[16:03] cost of coordinating times while they
[16:05] work so they're trying to work right now
[16:08] before you coordinate the time that
[16:09] you're also going to disrupt them so you
[16:11] disrupt them while they're working and
[16:13] then you disrupt them at the meeting
[16:14] that you're trying to plan so you
[16:16] disrupt them
[16:17] twice secondly and once you have that
[16:20] time set aside understand that the time
[16:21] itself eats an entire work block itself
[16:24] and you have to know the difference
[16:25] between your work and the Maker's work
[16:27] and when you ask for a meeting it costs
[16:29] them 10 times more you use up one of
[16:32] their 10 time slots per week whereas you
[16:34] use up only one of your hundred or more
[16:36] time slots so when you choose to make an
[16:39] appointment or choose to make a meeting
[16:42] be sure that it's worth it especially if
[16:44] it's an ad hoc or impromptu if you have
[16:46] a set Cadence of communication if it can
[16:49] wait until that time and you got to be
[16:51] really real with yourself can it wait is
[16:53] this just a convenience thing for me or
[16:55] a preference if it is then don't destroy
[16:57] the poor man or poor woman's time step
[17:00] two understand the value of the makers
[17:02] no and this is something that I
[17:04] hopefully becomes incorporate in your
[17:06] Lexicon at your business is that this is
[17:07] a maker's no not a not a real world no
[17:10] it's a maker's no is that if a maker
[17:12] declines a meeting don't take offense
[17:15] see it as them actually trying to keep
[17:17] their larger commitment to you the
[17:18] company and other people to get the
[17:20] meaningful work they need to get done
[17:22] done and so this means you don't get
[17:24] offended this means you don't you know
[17:26] hold back the the promotion or say that
[17:29] they're not being productive because
[17:30] they keep turning down meetings if
[17:32] someone turns down the meeting it's
[17:33] because they're doing something that
[17:34] they can accurately say this is more
[17:36] important than that now if you as a
[17:37] manager say I know that you have this is
[17:39] going to destroy the morning in terms of
[17:41] your productivity but I think it is
[17:43] worth your time to be on this because we
[17:45] need your Insight then you can frame it
[17:47] that way and then you can give the maker
[17:48] the time to prep for that meeting if it
[17:50] is literally of that importance step
[17:52] three for managers is actually ask your
[17:54] team what an ideal day would look like
[17:56] for them like what's a maximum
[17:57] productive day look like like and allow
[17:59] them the time to give you the response
[18:01] and I suggest following that to the
[18:03] greatest degree possible so that you can
[18:05] actually help them be the most
[18:06] productive and so for example for us uh
[18:09] our media team leaders asked the editing
[18:13] team underneath of them hey what's the
[18:15] perfect day for you guys what's a
[18:16] perfect weekly calendar look like and as
[18:18] a team they were like well if we could
[18:20] just Bunch all the meetings here and we
[18:21] could have all the rest of the days free
[18:23] that would be awesome and then if we had
[18:25] it was like okay well how do what about
[18:26] when we coordinate it's okay well we'll
[18:27] have specific coordination times that we
[18:29] keep four brainstorming sessions and
[18:31] things like that but beyond that we keep
[18:33] everyone's calendars empty and so that
[18:35] way as a team you as a as a manager also
[18:38] can have fewer meetings so that you can
[18:40] fill out with other meetings that aren't
[18:41] makers right so you can do more leading
[18:43] more directing more encouraging more
[18:44] persuading more training and then let
[18:46] the makers make and we've also realized
[18:49] and I think you will break your own
[18:50] belief around this as soon as you start
[18:51] doing this that a lot of work doesn't
[18:53] have to be done at the same time
[18:55] everyone doesn't need to work on the
[18:56] same thing at the same moment to get the
[18:58] most done as long as everything gets
[19:00] done by this period of time now this
[19:02] video isn't the protect the makers video
[19:05] this is for all businesses and all
[19:07] business owners so let's talk to the
[19:08] makers
[19:10] now step one good managers want to help
[19:14] you so let them tell them how you work
[19:17] this is you communicating to them send
[19:19] this piece of content to them to help
[19:22] them help you and yes you will have to
[19:25] take meetings that eat your entire day
[19:26] sometimes it's part of the job you have
[19:28] have to work with other people because
[19:30] your project would never see the light
[19:31] of day without marketing marketing it
[19:33] sales selling it product delivering it
[19:35] and everything else that happens in
[19:37] between it's a team and so if your
[19:39] manager is going to choose to put a Time
[19:41] Block in the middle of your morning or
[19:43] the middle of your afternoon then switch
[19:45] that whole block into a manager schedule
[19:48] Fight Fire with Fire and try to knock
[19:50] out as many meetings as you can in that
[19:52] formally free time so that means that
[19:55] okay if I know that I'm going to have
[19:56] this one time slot that's killed my big
[19:58] chunk well then let's slice that baby
[20:00] into as many chunks as I can and get all
[20:02] the other ad hoc impromptu meetings done
[20:04] that morning so that I now switch to a
[20:06] maximally productive manager and so the
[20:09] thing is is that you don't want to
[20:10] identify as one or the other you just
[20:11] want your calendar to reflect the nature
[20:14] of the work and so the point here isn't
[20:16] to have two camps of makers and managers
[20:19] is to understand what type of
[20:20] productivity system you're installing
[20:23] for that period of time on your calendar
[20:25] because especially if you're an
[20:25] entrepreneur you've got to wear both
[20:28] step two for makers have standard
[20:30] meeting times where you accept meetings
[20:32] so you say Hey you know Monday and uh
[20:36] Thursday afternoons is when I have all
[20:39] of my meeting times open so whenever
[20:40] someone requests a meeting ask them if
[20:42] they can make it in those times and this
[20:44] is where when you get into the
[20:45] organization if everyone has those times
[20:47] then everyone's on maker schedules for
[20:49] those time blocks and then it becomes
[20:50] more efficient at an organizational
[20:51] level which I'll get to in a second it's
[20:53] rare that a meeting is truly urgent so
[20:55] if you can push them off to those
[20:57] designated blocks that you said ahead of
[20:58] time you will make a lot more money with
[21:00] the time that you have remaining and you
[21:02] want to make this time available to
[21:04] anyone who meets with you on a regular
[21:06] basis and add some empty time slots or
[21:08] leave some empty time slots in that
[21:10] maker meetings for the ad hoc meetings
[21:11] that inevitably come up I would say I've
[21:13] gone through three distinct periods of
[21:15] understanding this maker manager concept
[21:18] and using it to great success the first
[21:21] one is you basically have to do nights
[21:22] and weekends uh in Early Mornings in
[21:24] order to get your maker time in but you
[21:26] have to do it and so when I was doing
[21:28] this as a gym owner so a small business
[21:30] owner I would wake up and I would like
[21:32] work on ad copy and work on ads which
[21:34] was like deep work that I'd have to do
[21:36] and then I'd step into the gym at 9:00
[21:38] a.m. and start taking sales calls or uh
[21:42] take training sessions or have to have
[21:44] one on- ones with my trainers like I
[21:45] worked like a regular person with fires
[21:48] and people interrupting me all day
[21:49] because I was running a small business
[21:50] and so if you need to make sure that
[21:53] that maker work gets done then you need
[21:54] to find one block that's usually at the
[21:57] very beginning of the day or the very
[21:58] end of the day if you're the
[21:59] entrepreneur and no one cares about your
[22:01] time in the beginning if I had not done
[22:03] that I don't think I ever would have
[22:04] gotten out of one location I would never
[22:05] have been able to build the systems that
[22:07] it takes like how do you build the
[22:09] training system to get trainers on you
[22:10] do it in maker time how do you build the
[22:12] nutrition system that you're going to
[22:13] use for your whole location you do it
[22:15] during maker time how you going to run
[22:16] an advertising system for creating ads
[22:18] and writing copy on a regular basis you
[22:20] do that during maker time not during
[22:21] manager time and so to build the assets
[22:24] that I could build the business on top
[22:26] of to build the Enterprise I had to do
[22:28] that in uninterrupted time chunks and
[22:30] the problem was everybody want to
[22:31] interrupt my time and to be fair they
[22:33] could because I didn't have my my time
[22:34] wasn't super valuable in the beginning
[22:36] over time you'll begin to have people
[22:38] who can start protecting your time for
[22:39] you so for a big chunk of my career as I
[22:42] started to make more and more money the
[22:44] first half of every day until noon or 1
[22:47] p.m. was always wide open because I do
[22:49] my best work in the morning and then
[22:51] once I've kind of used up my Creative
[22:52] Juice I can do the coordination and
[22:53] meetings and things like that now I'll
[22:55] give you a second Pro tip on this which
[22:57] is if that is the way that you want to
[22:59] plan your calendar let's call yourself
[23:01] an intermediate entrepreneur start
[23:03] planning your day back to front so what
[23:06] I mean by that is someone wants a
[23:08] meeting you start at it ends at 5: and
[23:10] starts at 4: if someone else wants a
[23:12] meeting then you say it ends at it ends
[23:14] at 4 and starts at 3:30 and you work
[23:16] your calendar from Back to Front that
[23:18] way your front of the day is still the
[23:20] most open you possibly can have it now
[23:22] you still suffer from the quote zernick
[23:24] effect but you still have a very large
[23:26] chunk of uninterrupted time and by doing
[23:28] it this way you avoid those empty dead
[23:31] times where you're like great I have 45
[23:33] minutes between two meetings like what
[23:34] am I going to do now and you're like I
[23:36] guess I'll just have a snack so if you
[23:37] have less means then you work double
[23:39] time you work on your client's time and
[23:41] then you do your work in off hours so
[23:43] like I was saying in my early days by
[23:45] doing that morning five days a week and
[23:48] then I would work both shifts on the
[23:49] weekends I would get four on the
[23:51] weekends I get a morning and an
[23:52] afternoon on Saturday and Sunday that I
[23:54] can put maker time in and then I get
[23:55] five blocks during the week and so this
[23:57] still gave me nine makers blocks per
[23:59] week to move Big Stuff forward that's a
[24:01] full-time job but the key here if you're
[24:04] noticing is that yes you work double
[24:06] because you have to work the job that
[24:08] you're currently doing to make money and
[24:09] then you work the next job to get out of
[24:11] the job you're in so the V1 of this is
[24:14] you have to make maker time the V2 of
[24:16] this is I I think is the 50/50 split the
[24:18] first half of your day is maker the
[24:20] second half of your day is manager and
[24:21] you work from Back to Front that's the
[24:23] V2 version the V3 version which is what
[24:25] I do currently right now is that I have
[24:27] entire maker days so I have two three
[24:30] four days per week that are just maker
[24:32] days and then I have a manager day where
[24:34] I stack the hell out of my meetings
[24:36] introductions you know coordinations
[24:39] decisions quarterly meetings with
[24:40] portfolio companies all of that type of
[24:42] stuff happens on those days back toback
[24:44] so I don't feel unproductive at the end
[24:46] of the day because I know going into it
[24:48] I'm not going to do any maker work I'm
[24:50] just going to crush as many meetings as
[24:51] I can step three communicate about how
[24:54] you're going to communicate tell people
[24:56] when you're going to be slow to respond
[24:57] specifically during your maker box so
[25:00] people have an amazing ability to adapt
[25:02] if you tell them ahead of time people
[25:04] really only get upset when you have
[25:05] unmet expectations they expect you to
[25:07] respond immediately and then you don't
[25:09] and then they question if you're working
[25:10] when the reality is that's why you're
[25:12] working is the fact that you're not
[25:13] responding so change them so let
[25:17] everyone know that this is how you work
[25:18] and this is when you're going to be
[25:19] responsive and if you do have that time
[25:21] period where you say you're going to be
[25:22] responsive then be responsive which
[25:25] leads to step four actually work when
[25:27] you say you will if you if you have the
[25:28] luxury of having people who respect your
[25:30] time and respect your schedule and
[25:32] understand this maker manager Dynamic
[25:34] then you owe it to them as a maker to
[25:36] not waste your time because if you don't
[25:39] you will confirm their suspicions this
[25:41] whole time that you've been goofing off
[25:43] all day because you're not actually
[25:44] working and that's what the vast
[25:46] majority of managers think when they
[25:47] look at your calendar and see that it's
[25:49] empty is that you're not actually doing
[25:50] anything and what you don't want to do
[25:52] is prove them right so I covered what
[25:54] you have to think about as a manager
[25:56] right you want to understand this lingo
[25:57] you want understand how makers work and
[26:00] you want to tryy and respect that and
[26:01] Empower them to the greatest degree
[26:02] possible as a maker you also want to
[26:05] understand that you work within an
[26:05] organization there are times that you're
[26:07] going to have to take meetings if you do
[26:08] take meetings you want to block that
[26:10] time and then Crush as many meetings as
[26:11] you possibly can be responsive when you
[26:13] say you're going to be responsive and
[26:14] then work like a madman during the times
[26:16] that you actually have empty time slots
[26:17] on your calendar great so we have both
[26:19] of those covered but how do we install
[26:21] this into an organization so that we can
[26:23] make this Canon so that we can make this
[26:24] standard and this is what I'm hoping
[26:26] across many organizations so if I can
[26:28] use my platform to like help businesses
[26:31] make more money and help people actually
[26:33] enjoy their work more than like can't
[26:35] think of a higher return on my time than
[26:37] doing that across thousands and
[26:38] thousands of
[26:39] businesses so as an organization and
[26:42] this is if you're the entrepreneur who
[26:43] can make those decisions step one
[26:45] consider mandated quiet time on the
[26:49] calendar so during these times entire
[26:51] teams can't message one another or meet
[26:54] and so either make this a a a time of
[26:57] day every day or make this entire days
[26:59] of the week so for example for us
[27:01] Wednesdays are quiet days for the
[27:02] editing team like no one talks there are
[27:04] no meetings they can just crank on one
[27:07] or two big projects they want to work on
[27:09] throughout that day and I want to be
[27:11] very clear on this caveat it doesn't
[27:13] need to apply to the entire organization
[27:14] only the ones where you have makers so
[27:16] think Engineers developers copywriters
[27:19] editors Builders writers presenters
[27:21] media whatever the people who have to
[27:23] work on projects that require intense
[27:25] periods of time without interruption the
[27:27] reason I I think this is more important
[27:29] now than ever is because of remote work
[27:31] remote work has removed the transparency
[27:33] between someone working and so I could
[27:36] walk I can walk around my office now and
[27:38] walk past the editing Bas and see people
[27:41] plugged in working on their computers
[27:42] editing so I know they're editing even
[27:45] though their time block is empty if I
[27:46] just check their calendar but in a
[27:48] remote setting if I look at someone's
[27:49] calendar and see it's empty but I have
[27:51] no way to check in on them or see them
[27:53] then I don't know if they're actually
[27:55] working or if they're just like rock
[27:56] climbing and so I have no way to know
[27:58] that then you think okay well I'll just
[28:00] slack them but by doing the slack
[28:02] message you then disrupt them anyways
[28:04] and if they're super responsive on slack
[28:06] you feel like they're working when the
[28:07] likelihood is that if they're really
[28:09] responsive on slack they're not working
[28:11] cuz they're on slack and so the real
[28:13] real is that if you're remote or the
[28:15] teams that you have that are doing
[28:16] making a remote you have to have an
[28:18] element of trust and you still need to
[28:21] measure on output so you can give I
[28:23] would say basically extend longer
[28:24] periods of trust where you say hey we
[28:26] have this big project this is the
[28:28] deadline for that project and then you
[28:29] want to remove as many obstacles as you
[28:31] possibly can to allow that person to
[28:32] work and let's also be real there have
[28:34] been days where I wake up and I'm like I
[28:36] don't have it in me like wherever the
[28:37] magic is or the Muse didn't show up to
[28:39] work today sometimes if you're a if
[28:41] you're a maker then maybe see if you can
[28:43] get meetings on that day because you're
[28:44] like dude my brain's dead like I don't
[28:46] think I'm going to I'm going to create
[28:47] anything today but there are some days
[28:48] where I wake up and I feel like the the
[28:50] touch of God is upon me and I'm like oh
[28:51] my God I think I actually can cure
[28:53] cancer today and when that happens then
[28:55] sometimes it's worth changing the
[28:57] meetings and saying hey man I'm in the
[28:58] middle of something right now and I'm
[29:00] crushing it is there any way we can just
[29:02] meet later you know what's crazy most
[29:03] people when they get that message are
[29:05] like sure no problem it wasn't urgent
[29:07] anyways and sometimes they're like you
[29:08] know what we don't even need to
[29:09] reschedule the meeting I actually
[29:11] handled it already and so I would
[29:13] strongly encourage you as a maker to
[29:14] kind of keep a pulse on yourself and
[29:17] also managers to extend the time trust
[29:19] where you allow makers to make now if
[29:22] they do not meet the deadlines and they
[29:24] are not meeting the output then you need
[29:26] to be very clear about this is the trust
[29:27] that extending to you so what is the
[29:29] reason that you have for not getting
[29:31] this done and real real a lot of times
[29:32] you actually have to dig into their
[29:33] personal lives cuz that's usually the
[29:35] mess anyways as an entrepreneur you're
[29:37] often going to have times where you're a
[29:39] maker and a times where you're a manager
[29:40] and being clear to your team about Which
[29:43] hat you're wearing so I literally say
[29:46] hey I'm putting my maker hat on today
[29:47] hey manager hat before I step into
[29:49] something and that gives me and them a
[29:52] mental cue to know how I'm operating for
[29:54] that day and kind of the Rules of
[29:55] Engagement and by doing it that way it
[29:57] sets it's it sets all the expectations
[29:59] with one thing one change of hat rather
[30:01] than me have to re-explain the rules
[30:03] every
[30:04] time all right before the last and most
[30:07] important point for organizations let me
[30:09] show you my calendar and walk you
[30:10] through it so this is an actual time uh
[30:13] block I think today is the 31st of May
[30:15] um as we're actually recording this and
[30:17] so this is my this is my actual calendar
[30:19] and so you'll notice that we had uh we
[30:21] had Labor Day weekend right so Monday um
[30:23] I actually took off on Monday um so this
[30:25] was a short week but Wednesday Thursday
[30:28] Friday I have nothing on here except for
[30:30] maker time so you recording for me is
[30:32] maker time like I'm making these videos
[30:34] I can't do this and then take a meeting
[30:35] and then come back and make this video
[30:36] right like I have to stay in it until
[30:38] it's done and so this whole day all
[30:41] three of these days are just straight up
[30:42] empty and you can see I have a gym
[30:44] meeting with myself uh in the afternoon
[30:46] so I can get swole so I was telling you
[30:48] that on Wednesdays we have our quiet day
[30:50] for editors but it's actually
[30:52] organization wide and we just separated
[30:54] people into are you a maker are you a
[30:56] manager and so if you're a manager you
[30:58] deal with lots of time slots and this
[30:59] just doesn't apply to you but for
[31:01] everyone else in the organization which
[31:02] everyone else has transparency into all
[31:04] of Wednesday is an acquisition. comom
[31:06] quiet day and the reason that we put it
[31:08] on Wednesday was that way if you think
[31:10] about how the week works out it's like
[31:11] you have two quiet days on the weekend
[31:13] no matter what and then you have two
[31:15] days that could potentially get
[31:16] interrupted with another day in between
[31:18] so basically the longest amount of time
[31:19] that you have to wait is two days before
[31:20] you can have a guaranteed quiet day now
[31:22] you'll notice that Tuesday basically
[31:24] functioned as my Monday for this week I
[31:26] had a team meeting with my whole company
[31:28] I had a one1 with my head of investment
[31:30] he's the one who runs our deals I had my
[31:32] executive meeting uh which is just uh
[31:34] all the leaders in my company at
[31:36] acquisition. comom I had a oneon-one
[31:38] with my book manager I had um meeting
[31:41] with our Workshop manager because uh we
[31:44] wanted to touch base and after that
[31:45] meeting I said let's not have this
[31:46] meeting anymore immediately after the
[31:48] meeting so to be clear like I try to
[31:50] always audit like do I need to do this
[31:52] again or is there a processor a person
[31:53] who can do this instead of me and most
[31:55] times there is a processor person after
[31:57] after that I had my school games Q&A so
[31:59] I had once a week I take a call with the
[32:01] school games and notice I do these calls
[32:03] that I have with customers on my meeting
[32:06] day because it's still an interruption
[32:07] and it to me it feels the same it's like
[32:09] I hop on I'm asking questions I'm
[32:10] answering questions I'm directing I'm
[32:11] doing whatever then I had my marketing
[32:13] meeting for our internal marketing stuff
[32:15] and that was it I had a hair trim and
[32:17] then I had my gym all right and so
[32:19] you'll be like wait that's it I just saw
[32:21] Alex's whole week that's all the
[32:22] meetings he takes and the answer is yes
[32:26] now I think what might be more important
[32:28] than the things that you saw or the
[32:29] things that you didn't see and so
[32:31] there's meetings that happen all the
[32:33] time with the leadership with my team
[32:36] and portfolio companies with you know my
[32:38] media buyer and their media buyer my you
[32:40] know uh portfolio operating partner and
[32:42] the CEOs of the companies that we own
[32:44] right all of those meetings you'll note
[32:46] none of them were on my calendar at some
[32:49] point I see the entrepreneurial Journey
[32:51] as a relinquishing of control and at
[32:52] every level of Entrepreneurship you need
[32:54] to learn a new level of giving up
[32:56] control and so it's interesting is that
[32:58] when we get into entrepreneurship we do
[32:59] it because we want freedom but as soon
[33:01] as we do it to get Freedom we actually
[33:03] have absolute control over everything
[33:04] because you have control of you're a
[33:06] solo preneur now like you have no team
[33:07] it's just you but when you have control
[33:09] over everything you actually don't have
[33:10] freedom so you cannot have both absolute
[33:13] control and absolute freedom at the same
[33:14] time and so if you want freedom you have
[33:16] to relinquish control you have to extend
[33:18] trust to people now those trusts can
[33:20] have guard rails and you can still have
[33:21] outputs that you measure people on and
[33:23] then you basically tighten up the Reigns
[33:25] if things don't go to plan but as as
[33:27] long as people are doing their job and
[33:28] meeting the outputs then you can
[33:29] continue to kind of extend the leash I
[33:31] don't really like the terminology but
[33:32] you get the idea and so at the end of
[33:35] every one of these meetings I'm telling
[33:37] you like if you could just put a little
[33:38] reminder to yourself those do I need to
[33:40] do this again a like does this meeting
[33:42] even need to occur again and secondarily
[33:44] is there somebody else or a system we
[33:46] can put in place to eliminate this all
[33:47] together Lila and I she's even better
[33:50] about this because she has more meetings
[33:51] as an operator than I do um every single
[33:54] week she starts her week by looking at
[33:56] all of her meetings and deletes she
[33:58] deletes first and then on a quarterly
[34:01] basis she looks at all recurring
[34:02] meetings and says how do I how can I
[34:05] change the time that's being allocated
[34:07] across the whole company so she sees
[34:08] everyone's calendars and everyone's
[34:09] meetings she does some Rainman stuff
[34:11] where she says I don't think we need to
[34:12] do this anymore I think we can combine
[34:14] these two I think you don't need to
[34:15] attend the and she tells people I don't
[34:17] think you need to attend this anymore I
[34:18] don't think you need to attend this and
[34:19] I think that's where a culture of
[34:20] meetings don't make you productive is a
[34:23] very important subline here for
[34:25] organizations in general and you'll
[34:27] notice this with Elon Musk and basos and
[34:29] some of these these great entrepreneurs
[34:31] they talk about this where they want to
[34:32] standardize like hey you can get up in
[34:33] the middle of meeting and say hey I've
[34:35] just got stuff I need to do and I don't
[34:36] think I'm relevant here or I don't think
[34:37] I'm adding value that's you returning
[34:39] time to the company because this is the
[34:42] thing that everyone forgets is that
[34:43] let's say let's say uh you make $50,000
[34:46] a year that means that you make around
[34:50] $25 per hour in general and so if you
[34:53] have and let's say you've got some
[34:54] people are making $100,000 a year on the
[34:56] meeting so that's $50
[34:58] per hour that means that if you have 10
[35:00] people on that on a on a on a one-h hour
[35:03] call it's like that was a $500 call or a
[35:06] $400 call now if we took the whole team
[35:10] out to Chili's and we spent $400 on
[35:13] drinks and chips and whatever it'd be
[35:15] considered a major expense right but
[35:17] every day all the time you're taking the
[35:20] whole team out to chilies 10 times a day
[35:23] this is why people stay poor because
[35:24] they don't know how to allocate time to
[35:26] get the highest return
[35:28] so let's walk through the last step for
[35:31] organizations to make this real to get
[35:34] the most out of everyone spread this
[35:37] content to Makers and managers alike so
[35:40] that everyone can use the same language
[35:42] to describe this larger source of waste
[35:45] and prevent it because if you are
[35:48] working with a maker manager schedule
[35:50] where everyone understands where people
[35:51] can get the highest returns in their
[35:52] time and your comp competition is not
[35:55] working this way you will get higher
[35:57] returns Returns on human capital on the
[35:59] time you invest in people because they
[36:01] will be happier they will stay longer
[36:03] they will have higher output and the
[36:04] quality of their work will go up so
[36:05] you'll both get higher quantity of work
[36:08] and higher quality of work both by
[36:11] changing how you allocate time and try
[36:13] and actively remove as many makers as
[36:15] possible from meetings and also managers
[36:17] don't need to be there and my goal with
[36:20] this video is to increase the awareness
[36:22] of these two types of working Styles and
[36:23] put words to something that plagued me
[36:25] for a very long time and so if you're
[36:27] listening to this and you're like this
[36:28] is music to my ears this is what I've
[36:30] been trying to describe for such a long
[36:32] time and I have been able to put words
[36:33] to it I made this for you so that I
[36:36] could put words to something that
[36:37] hopefully everyone else can use and
[36:39] distribute at a bargain on time is that
[36:41] you don't have to worry about making
[36:43] this thing you can just send it so that
[36:45] people can understand it for you and
[36:46] hopefully this gives words to the makers
[36:49] whose work moves the world and helps
[36:52] managers understand how expensive got a
[36:54] minute really is