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

[00:00] productivity is how much money you get

[00:01] out for the time you put in I know this

[00:04] because I went from $0 at age 23 to $100

[00:06] million plus net worth at age 31 simply

[00:09] by better investing my time and I'm

[00:11] going to teach you how I do it so that

[00:13] hopefully you can do it and I'm even

[00:14] going to show you my calendar at the end

[00:16] of the video and walk you through step

[00:18] by step how I get good Returns on my

[00:20] time have you ever had someone reach out

[00:22] to you and say hey God minute hey got 10

[00:26] hey let me introduce you to so and so

[00:28] they're going to be in town how does 10

[00:29] a.m. work a normal exchange like that

[00:31] you might say yeah I've Got 5 minutes or

[00:33] sure I can meet so and so for coffee the

[00:35] problem is that for one specific type of

[00:37] worker that five-minute meeting blows

[00:40] their entire morning because they can't

[00:42] do the development work they need they

[00:43] can't edit the video they can't write

[00:45] the book chapter because it disrupts

[00:47] their workflow on the other hand there's

[00:49] another type of worker where for them

[00:51] it's actually very optimal for them to

[00:53] take that meeting the question is which

[00:55] one are you and at what times also

[00:57] special shout out to Paul Graham who

[00:59] wrote a tiny blog this 14 years ago so

[01:01] if time is what we invest and money is

[01:03] what we make from that investment then

[01:05] the people who are the best investors of

[01:07] time were the ones who make the most

[01:08] money and so it turns out there are two

[01:11] specific types of entrepreneurs and

[01:13] you'll switch hats throughout your day

[01:15] or throughout your week the first and

[01:17] most common investor of time that people

[01:20] are familiar with is the manager

[01:22] schedule and these people have a very

[01:25] specific way of investing time and

[01:26] getting Returns on it so they can make

[01:28] the most money so let's talk about

[01:30] that managers divide their time into the

[01:33] smallest chunk possible they often have

[01:35] 20 plus chunks per day from 15 minutes

[01:39] sometimes 5 minutes all the way to an

[01:40] hour or 90 minutes and for managers an

[01:43] empty time slot is a lost opportunity

[01:46] that's time that did not get a return on

[01:49] investment for them and for that reason

[01:51] they treat time like currency and the

[01:53] only real cost for them to fill is just

[01:56] the cost of coordinating with somebody

[01:57] else's calendar to find a mutually empty

[02:00] slot so that they can work together now

[02:03] on paper since work on meetings is a

[02:05] mutually filled slot it makes both

[02:07] people more productive and so when a

[02:09] manager interacts with another manager

[02:11] and they mutually fill a slot both of

[02:13] them make more money now they talk to

[02:17] lots of different people and do many

[02:19] different kinds of tasks all day long

[02:20] this is the nature of the manager they

[02:22] collect data they report data to

[02:25] persuade to lead to train and encourage

[02:28] and make other decisions one-on one and

[02:31] sometimes in groups of people for them

[02:32] they have a pretty clear beginning of

[02:34] the day and a pretty clear end of the

[02:35] day the day begins when they start

[02:37] preparing for their meetings maybe 30

[02:40] minutes or an hour beforehand and it

[02:41] ends at the end of their last meeting

[02:43] now if they prep for the next day then

[02:45] they could add that on top but more or

[02:46] less the duration of their day is

[02:48] directly proportional to the duration of

[02:50] the meetings they have they basically

[02:51] work until their last calendar slot and

[02:53] that's how their day works and this is

[02:55] the key Point here the main objective of

[02:57] the manager is to use up all their

[02:59] chunks in the day day so that they

[03:00] maximize their time a fully booked day

[03:03] is a maximally invested manager they've

[03:06] used up all of their time slots and so

[03:08] they are

[03:10] productive now the second type of time

[03:13] schedule management is something called

[03:15] the maker and this is one that the vast

[03:18] majority of people do not know this is

[03:21] where the creators this is where the

[03:23] entrepreneurs this is where people who

[03:25] have to make big things who build stuff

[03:28] get the highest returns on their time

[03:30] the vast majority of entrepreneurs at

[03:32] some point have some or all of their

[03:34] time that's dedicated to making stuff

[03:37] this is the Deep work this is the stuff

[03:39] that moves the big ball forward there

[03:40] are often tasks that are not urgent but

[03:42] incredibly important and when you look

[03:45] back on your month or your quarter or

[03:46] your year the few things that you

[03:48] remember that actually move the ball

[03:50] forward that actually move your business

[03:51] forward in the long term were these

[03:55] chunks of work now the problem is most

[03:58] entrepreneurs do not have the time and

[04:00] do not have the system for maximizing

[04:02] that time of important work because

[04:05] fundamentally if those are the footholds

[04:07] that allow you to push yourself forward

[04:09] towards your goal then you want as many

[04:11] of those as possible the difficulty is

[04:13] that it's never urgent this is like if

[04:15] you're a coder and you need to develop

[04:16] software obviously if that software is

[04:18] developed that's the most valuable thing

[04:19] you can do if you're an editor and you

[04:21] make videos then actually editing the

[04:23] video so that it can get out in media is

[04:25] the most important thing that you can do

[04:26] if you write copy for emails or you're

[04:28] an author and you write books you

[04:30] actually writing the book and actually

[04:31] doing the work of the book is the most

[04:33] important thing that you can do all of

[04:34] those things are maker work you create

[04:37] something that before this did not exist

[04:39] although this work is important it's

[04:41] incredibly expensive in terms of time

[04:43] and the problem is the vast majority of

[04:45] the world works on manager time not on

[04:47] maker time so let me explain the

[04:49] difference so for the maker when you get

[04:51] into maker mode instead of many small

[04:54] slivers like the manager has you have

[04:56] only a few large chunks and the reason

[04:59] for that is because if you put a meeting

[05:01] or you interrupt a 4-Hour long block

[05:05] then you often can't get back to the

[05:07] work that you were doing before also if

[05:09] you know that you have a block that's

[05:10] coming you can't get into the flow

[05:13] because you know that you're going to

[05:14] have to get out of the flow and so this

[05:16] is like the end of day meeting that

[05:17] kills you this is called the zernick

[05:19] effect it's that we tend to remember

[05:21] open loops and meetings are open Loops

[05:23] because you have to set timers so you

[05:25] don't forget it you have to start

[05:26] setting a timer before the timer to

[05:28] start wrapping up even if you're using

[05:30] right now then you start thinking about

[05:31] the meeting and what you have to prepare

[05:32] for that meeting and now you're not

[05:34] thinking about your own work and this

[05:35] eats up your brain power and saps your

[05:38] ability to make unlike the manager where

[05:41] the decisions the direction and the

[05:42] coordination is the output of their work

[05:44] for the maker the stuff the things they

[05:47] build the things they make is the output

[05:49] of their time and so instead of working

[05:53] on meetings they work off meetings they

[05:56] work on projects that can't get done in

[05:59] 30es minutes sometimes those projects

[06:01] last weeks months quarters until they're

[06:04] done and so the way that that work

[06:06] actually looks is that most makers have

[06:08] a set start time but variable end times

[06:10] so unlike the manager where they they

[06:12] know when they start and they know when

[06:13] they finish most makers work open to

[06:16] goal if you've ever lost yourself in

[06:17] your work and you're like man I just

[06:19] want to keep riding this this High I

[06:21] want to keep riding this flow that's

[06:23] what it feels like to make you want to

[06:25] stay in there as long as you possibly

[06:27] can and that's why having no cap on the

[06:30] allows you to get lost in the work and

[06:32] produce more than you ever could so if

[06:34] you have only large time chunks that

[06:36] means that you only have one or two per

[06:39] day sometimes three if you're working 18

[06:41] hours and so that means you usually have

[06:43] a morning block and a post lunch block

[06:45] now if you're somebody who likes to also

[06:46] work after dinner then you have a post

[06:48] dinner block so you basically have three

[06:50] four to six hour chunks per day that's

[06:53] it and on a sustainable basis most

[06:55] people just have two per day and so if

[06:58] someone takes one meeting in the morning

[07:00] they blew one of your 10 work blocks per

[07:03] week if you only work 5 days a week and

[07:05] so someone's taking 10% of your total

[07:08] output by having one meeting the issue

[07:10] is that that manager who's working on

[07:12] manager time puts that thing in and for

[07:15] them they're becoming more productive

[07:16] but they're destroying your productivity

[07:19] when this happens is when you finish

[07:21] your day feel like you look back and

[07:24] know that all your time was spent but

[07:26] you got no return on it you have nothing

[07:28] to show for it and if you feel like you

[07:29] have that happen again and again and

[07:32] again this is how businesses stay small

[07:34] this is how entrepreneurs fail to grow

[07:36] This Is How They relive the same 6

[07:38] months same 12 months same two years

[07:40] over and over and over again because

[07:42] they do not know how to invest their

[07:44] time for the maker an empty time slot is

[07:48] not a lost opportunity the empty time

[07:51] block is the opportunity to get the

[07:53] return if you're a maker you understand

[07:56] what I'm about to share with you if you

[07:57] look at your calendar and see that you

[07:59] have literally nothing on there you have

[08:01] no meetings you have no nothing it's

[08:02] just empty until the end of the day how

[08:04] much energy are you filled with you're

[08:06] like oh my God I'm going to crush this

[08:07] day there's all this this big project I

[08:09] want to sink my teeth into it I'm going

[08:10] to be able to take a huge chunk out of

[08:12] it that energy that you get is because

[08:14] that is a maximally productive day is an

[08:17] empty calendar rather than a filled

[08:19] calendar and so for context when I was

[08:21] writing my book my days every day were

[08:24] just writing the book and I told my team

[08:27] that that's all I was going to be doing

[08:29] you're like but don't you run this

[08:30] portfolio of all these companies and

[08:32] there's all this money and these deals

[08:33] and decisions that have to happen and

[08:34] the answer is yes and when I show you my

[08:36] calendar it'll all Mak sense so

[08:37] literally diametrically opposed

[08:40] calendars are both maximally allocated

[08:44] to invest time to get the highest

[08:46] Returns on it in terms of money the big

[08:48] problem is when the two need to interact

[08:50] because if you just had makers making

[08:52] and you just had managers managing

[08:53] everyone would be happy the problem is

[08:55] when managers manage makers and they

[08:58] have to meet

[09:00] so when a manager doesn't know how

[09:02] makers work they kill the productivity

[09:03] of their team managers often assume that

[09:06] makers can work like they do on demand

[09:08] they think it's hey it's just 30 minutes

[09:11] and you've got free time what's the big

[09:12] deal I looked at your calendar you have

[09:14] nothing all day you're barely even

[09:15] working because they're using their

[09:17] measuring stick of work their way a

[09:19] calendar looks when they're maximally

[09:20] effective and then transposing that on

[09:23] top of the Maker's calendar and thinking

[09:25] these two are the same when they

[09:26] couldn't be more different for a manager

[09:28] a short meeting costs one work unit

[09:31] which is maybe 15 minutes and for them

[09:33] they've got 20 plus per day so they can

[09:35] easily spare one whereas if they take

[09:37] one from a maker they take one of the

[09:39] two time slots you have per day and

[09:41] sometimes you take both based on what

[09:43] the topic of the meeting is if you say

[09:45] hey we're going to do your quarterly

[09:46] performance as an employee at 2:00 in

[09:49] the afternoon the likelihood that the

[09:50] employee leading up to that is going to

[09:52] be able to think about the work that

[09:53] they're going to do when they're worried

[09:54] about their job or they're worried about

[09:55] their performance all day long and then

[09:57] afterwards they thinking about what they

[09:58] said and they could have said

[09:59] 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