---
title: 'You’re Wasting 80% of Your Time (here’s how to fix it)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=GIRkQQHzsxI'
video_id: 'GIRkQQHzsxI'
date: 2026-06-19
duration_sec: 0
---

# You’re Wasting 80% of Your Time (here’s how to fix it)

> Source: [You’re Wasting 80% of Your Time (here’s how to fix it)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=GIRkQQHzsxI)

## Summary

The video explains the difference between two productivity styles: the 'manager schedule' (many small time slots, meetings as output) and the 'maker schedule' (few large chunks, deep work as output). It argues that most people waste time by forcing makers to work on manager time, and offers a three-pronged solution for individuals and organizations to maximize returns on time.

### Key Points

- **Productivity defined as return on time** [0:00] — Productivity is how much money you get out for the time you put in. The speaker went from $0 at 23 to $100M+ net worth at 31 by better investing time.
- **Two types of time investors: Manager vs Maker** [0:57] — Inspired by Paul Graham's blog. Managers divide time into many small chunks (15 min to 90 min) and fill them with meetings. Makers need large, uninterrupted blocks (4-6 hours) for deep work.
- **Manager schedule characteristics** [1:30] — Managers treat empty slots as lost opportunities. They coordinate meetings to fill calendars. Their day starts with prep and ends with the last meeting. A fully booked day is maximally productive for them.
- **Maker schedule characteristics** [3:10] — Makers have few large chunks (1-3 per day). A meeting can destroy an entire block due to the Zeigarnik effect (open loops). Empty calendar = opportunity for deep work. They work open-to-goal, not fixed end times.
- **The cost of a meeting for a maker** [6:58] — A single meeting can take 10% of a maker's weekly output (1 of 10 blocks). Managers have 100+ slots per week, so a meeting costs them 1% but costs the maker 10%.
- **The manager-maker conflict** [8:50] — When managers manage makers, they often kill productivity by interrupting. A manager's solution to falling behind is to interrupt more, creating a vicious cycle. Both parties lose.
- **Ruthless time management as success habit** [12:36] — The speaker's #1 success habit is being ruthless with time. Saying no to meetings during maker time preserves output. Relationships can be maintained because achievements create future opportunities.
- **Inverted schedules: maker vs manager days** [14:45] — Example: COO Lila has 1 maker day + 4 manager days; speaker has 4 maker days + 1 manager day. Both need both types, but the ratio depends on role.
- **Three-pronged solution: managers, makers, organization** [15:28] — Managers must understand costs, respect 'maker's no', and ask teams about ideal days. Makers must communicate how they work, batch meetings, and work when they say they will. Organizations should mandate quiet time and spread the language.
- **Organizational quiet time** [26:42] — Mandated quiet days (e.g., Wednesdays) where no meetings or messages are allowed for makers. This is especially important in remote work to build trust and measure output instead of activity.
- **Calendar walkthrough: maker days vs manager day** [30:07] — Speaker shows a week: Tuesday is manager day (team meeting, 1:1s, exec meeting), Wed-Fri are empty maker days (recording, deep work). Only 1 day of meetings per week.
- **Audit and delete meetings regularly** [33:50] — Lila starts each week by deleting meetings. Quarterly, she reviews all recurring meetings to combine or eliminate them. Meetings are expensive: a 1-hour call with 10 people at $50/hr costs $500.

### Conclusion

The key to maximizing productivity is understanding whether you are a maker or a manager at any given moment, and structuring your calendar accordingly. By using a shared language and implementing quiet time, organizations can dramatically increase both the quantity and quality of output.

## Transcript

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