Many people want to tell you what they think you ‘need to know’.
I haven’t watched, or read, the news in several years. Guess what? I didn’t miss one thing that required my attention.
Take note of what you do not need to know right now, and actively ignore it until later. It will take some practice.
I recommend an AM/PM split. You’re going to push lots of less important tasks until the end of your night, right before bed time … after everything else is done. Here’s how to start today:
1) Take note of everything you read or watch. Ask yourself each time, “Do I need to respond to this right now?”
2) If the answer is ‘No’, you’re going to ignore it’s next occurrence. Some examples:
2a) Morning reading the newspaper – out.
2b) Morning watching the news – out.
2c) Mid-morning voicemail from your wife – call her back right away.
2d) Mid-morning skim of Facebook feed – absolutely not.
2e) Responding to emails as soon as they come in all day long – unrealistic.
2e1) I recommend sitting down to respond to emails 3 to 4 times per day at a maximum. I am highly successful at work with this tactic. Sometimes I find doing it only 1-2 times per day is even better. You’ll write better, more thoughtful email that requires less incoming responses back from the other side.
3) Save the last hour of your night for all of the stuff you skipped. I’m not asking you to cut it out completely. You will find that you can get up to date on everything you need to in one hour.
Remember, if it doesn’t need a response right now, then it doesn’t need your attention right now.
If you do not gain two hours of free time per day by the end of the week, please write me and I will personally spend the time to go over your entire schedule with you to help, for free.
The question I have is, what are you going to do with your free time?
Matt Fried 