One of the greatest lessons that I learned on productivity was by my mentor Dan Sullivan.
He taught me the Entrepreneurial Time System, which changed my business and life forever. If you’ve ever been “too busy,” felt burnt out, or never seem to have enough time to get your most important tasks done, then this system is for you!
THE THREE TYPES OF DAYS:
At its core, The Entrepreneurial Time System completely alters an individual’s relationship to time. It allows one’s personal and professional lives to receive an equal amount of attention – to be in balance – and thus generate energy for each other.
The program calls for dividing days into three distinct types, which we call Free Days, Focus Days, and Buffer Days, and attending differently during each.
DAY ONE – FREE DAYS:
A Free Day is a 24-hour period, Midnight to Midnight, in which you, the Entrepreneur, do not engage in any business-related thinking, communication, or actions.
It is an admittedly difficult concept for many company founders to take time away from their business; they may feel as though they are abandoning their child.
However, the opposite is true: You become a detriment to your business when you don’t take time off. When you refuse to delegate tasks, you slow down your team. When you run out of energy, you don’t have the creativity to seize opportunities. When you become reactive, you harm the organization you want to build and protect. Your personal life suffers, also. One successful entrepreneur I know says, “I was boring! I only had one thing I could talk about: work.”
The best Free Days are planned in advance—and are protected, inviolate, and non-negotiable. When you learn to disconnect from the stream of demands and information (much of which is soon irrelevant) and invest attention and care in the other aspects of your life, you start making choices against a broader backdrop. Your life becomes more integrated, and less a tug-of-war between conflicting elements.
Your free time should be devoted to rejuvenating yourself physically, mentally, and spiritually. When we return to work, we’re able to be more creative, confident, and productive, and the whole company benefits.
DAY TWO – FOCUS DAYS:
A Focus Day is a 24-hour period, again Midnight to Midnight, in which you spend 80 percent of your time on the activities that create results for your business. To use a sports analogy, these are “game days.” On Focus Days, you concentrate on your most important business-related activities, relationships, and opportunities. If you’ve planned your Free Days strategically, you will be rejuvenated and thus able to be fully “on” and “present” for your performance on Focus Days.
By communicating to your team in advance that you’ll be “focusing” on a particular day, you will enable them to clear a path for you, setting up whatever you need to maximize your time and earn results.
What should you be doing on your Focus Days?
Think about what you do personally that makes the greatest contribution to your company. Pick the three activities that create the best results. These are likely the activities that also energize you personally, because you feel a sense of progress and accomplishment when engaging in them. Imagine how productive you could be if you could spend a day attending to just these tasks, without interruption, and with full preparation and support. This is what Focus Days are for.
DAY THREE – BUFFER DAYS:
If Focus Days are for performance, Buffer Days are for rehearsals.
On Buffer Days, you handle all of the details that would otherwise distract your attention on a Focus Day. You use these days to catch up, clean up messes, run errands, and learn new skills. You use them to maintain and restore simplicity and order in your life – what could be more satisfying than clearing a week’s worth of phone calls to return from your to-do list? Most importantly, you use them to do the necessary planning that will ensure that nothing intrudes on your Free Days & Focus Days.
Living the Good Life.
Consider the emphasis and breakdown — Free Days first, then Focus Days, and finally Buffer Days – in a ratio of roughly three, three, one. Now imagine applying this system to your week, your month, your year – your entire life. What would you have to change both physically and mentally to make it work for you? Is there anything you would lose as a result? What would you gain?
Thousands of entrepreneurs have learned this system and have multiplied their business, freedom, and productivity.
Many struggle initially with the paradoxical concept of working less yet earning more. Time and again, though, I’ve seen individuals surpass all their previous business achievements while finding new satisfaction in their lives, because they now have more freedom than ever to do what they feel passionate about, to be with the people they love, and to enjoy a richer array of experiences.
