entrepreneurial time management: how i rock it

Excellent advise. Will report back on how it works for me in a month or so, as I've just reworked my own schedule and love the "buffer day" addition!

ETM sounds perfect for me... so glad I read that.

Great stuff, D! I'm always looking for ways to manage my time. I do so love "Never check email in the morning" by Julie Morgenstern. But will check out Dan Sullivan...

I'm implementing ETM immediately it sounds like it will make my life a lot easier to manage. Thanks!

now i really want to be an entrepreneur

Great piece! I like the buffer days system... might try them.

What works for me is the ABCDE method which I found in 'Eat that frog!' by Brian Tracy. It helped me to do the things I really need to do first, instead of filling my time with the easy tasks - avoiding the hard work. Here's how it works: A stands for things I must do: it has a great influence on personal or professional development and I will have to face the consequences if I don't do them. B is a should do: the things that others want or need me to do, no big consequences for me personally. C is what I like to do, but does not have a really big influence. D is for delegate and E if for eliminate.

When I have made a list of things to do, I mark them with the letters and add numbers if there is more than one of the same letter. Than start from A1, not doing any B or C until the A's and B's respectively are gone. Half a day a week I work on the B's and C's that do need to get done at some time - I guess that equals your buffer day to do things that keep you from fully focusing on your top priorities. Once a month I break up big projects in smaller chunks (the A jobs) to fill my what you call 'focus days' with.

Even though I don't always get enthousiastic at the thought of the A jobs, when I start working on them the energy starts flowing, the feeling of working on something big and at the end of the day the great sense of accomplishment and fulfillment is there, waiting for me. The more A jobs get done, the more good energy around and the easier it is to keep doing the important, hard things! Also, I find it liberating that I no longer have to think every day about how long something will take or how big the total project is, I just start working from the top and ease my way through Mega Projects.

Oh, Danielle...Woman, you better believe you rock it! And my world to boot! Getting caught up on all your delicious posts. This sounds as though it may just be doable for me. What works for me? Lord have mercy, I wish I knew! But this sounds SO sensible!

Thanks for putting all this brilliant freaking light out there! :)

This has been a refreshing discovery for me. I am still working a rotating schedule of my J.O.B. but can now map out a chunk of Focus Days and designate others for Buffers and Free Day.
I'll let you know how it goes.

Love it!
Here is my weekly ritual to share.....hope it inspires and encourages.

Monday
“get it done” day
while the energy is rejuvenated and I have rested from the weekend, this day is to make my list, check it twice and get it all DONE! So I can go about my week feeling focused and with an intention to move forward on the path.

Tuesday
“Think tank” day
with all of the immediate must-do tasks out of the way, I can sit back for a moment, ruminate, contemplate and let the good stuff surface. It is not about getting “there” today, it is about being here. Innovative ideas, philosophical musings, basic realizations that are key to living and working a life with purpose. I have conversation with others for ideas and inspiration.
I listen for the good stuff to surface. I act on my inspiration. A

Wednesday
“A day to create” - out of the office
A necessary luxury to keep my balance and reconnect myself to my soul. A day to live as passionately as possible in what brings me joy. Perhaps getting started on some of the exciting ideas from the previous days’ work, or starting a new project. Taking time to see something new and inspiring, but also time for quiet and rest. Creativity and non-doing. An amalgamation of Julia Cameron's Artist Way "artist date" and the Geshe Michael Roach's Diamond Cutter "circle day. "

Thursday
“A day of service”
A focus on contribution. I look at this day as an opportunity to connect with others and contribute to the community spirit of what we are all creating together.
It is a purposeful ,supportive, delightful, grateful day.
I devote my time to being conscious of others’ needs and how what I do brings balance and support to the business.

Friday
“Celebrate day"
Celebrate the accomplishments from the week . a little time for play, laughter and good food shared with others at the table. Prepare ourselves to get ready to let go by outlining the tasks and goals for the upcoming week. Let them rest on paper, in waiting for Monday’s arrival.

a weekend of rest of rejuvenation.
Sacred Sundays are non-negotiable.

Great, especially the embracing of Monday as a day to be lost in details - that happens whether planned or not.

I also try to organize each day with a similar breakdown - scheduled times for details, other scheduled times for focussed work, bigger projects, big picture stuff. This especially helps me control the email fiasco. I only let myself check emails twice a day, at times when I can immediately deal with everything that can be dealt with in less than 5 minutes, and immediately file bigger things into a separate folder that I open only at designated times. Saves wasting time re-reading the same emails multiple times, and the distraction of checking incoming mail instead of remaining focussed on the bigger project.

Love this post, Danielle, and hope to implement it when I because a solopreneur and only a solopreneur. Do you suggest something, though, for those with "day jobs" (Mon-Fri, 9a-6p) and/or students, at the whim of your work/class schedule and unable to customize? As a student, a day jobber, a wife, a friend, and someone who really want to grow my business, it's tough for me get things done. Any thoughts?

cool! i've already started some version of this. it's great to read a well-thought out system exists out there that validates my current flow. thanks!

Great advice! I've been figuring this out myself this past month, but you put it together so succinctly! Thank you.

Ooo I love this- now my only problem- I work one day a week at the job I LOVE, one day at home with kids and Two days at a job I like pretty well...I am constantly frustraated-----maybe because I never get to really "rock out" for three days consecutively!! arghhh-

Great stuff. Its the discipline eh!

Hi Danielle. This is very cool. I've been running myself into the ground working round the clock on projects for the past few weeks. I took a half day off today, and spent a few hours in a pub reading the sunday NY Times. As much as newspapers are a dying breed, it's remarkable how much you can learn and get inspiration from random articles about the post-recession trend towards classy low-key hotels among hollywood's power elite, or the true source and content of ground beef, and why people are still dying and getting paralyzed from E.Coli poisoning... ordinarily, i might experience some slight guilt about such indulgences, but in the grand scheme of things it's just part of the process. A necessary one at that. Thanks for the encouragement. Good to see you rockin' it. Cheers~!

Danielle,

Returning from the desert and taking a long nap today must have put me in the right mental space to dig into this stuff.

It is making me completely rethink the GTD process (which I have been trying to "incorporate" into my life with greater or lesser success for years). GTD has always been formalized and structured for my life, but his other book (52 Productivity Principles of Work and Life) works wonders. You read it?

I'm going to spend some more time sitting with this. Will give it a go this week. Big love.

I've been wishing for a schedule exactly like this, consciously and unconsciously. To have you not only acknowledge but promote it rocks my world. Life's too short to be on somebody else's schedule.

Dig it!

What I love the most about this system is that it supports my life on my terms. Rock on!

1. Dymaxion Sleep, as done by Socrates, Bucky Fuller, and Obama. Time mag article: http://is.gd/4mPwm

2. Cultivate clients worldwide so I needn't conform to any local/regional "business hours"

3. Always busy, never hurried.

Schedules are for buses and schoolchildren. I do what I wish whenever I wish to do it.

Oh My Goodness this is exactly what I need! My question is how do I convey this to clients so when I don't respond on those 3 days they understand why? Will explore the question, but I feel the moment....

Have had to-do's on the brain as well as time mgt so I got it written out and this made the list:
http://tanyageisler.com/much-ado-about-to-dos/

so glad I found this! It's a great plan for my personality and the way I do things. I shared it in social media with everyone I know. I'll update in a month with results. Thank you for writing this!

this really looks like a nice merge between what I've been doing with my "focus days" and the freedom in my schedule that I think I need.