A lot of people like the idea of growing and developing themselves, but that’s it. They just like the idea but they don’t take action. I hear a lot of excuses like – I don’t have time, I have a family, I have to help at home. Listen, there are 24 hours in a day so let’s break this down:
Workweek
- 8-hour workday
- 2 hours commuting
- 30-minute lunch minimum
- 1 hour of family time & dinner
- 2 hours helping kids with homework & getting them ready for bed
- 7 hours of sleep
- 1 hour to shit, shower, and shave
- 2.5 hours of free time
Optimizing your time
- First, find an accountability partner if you can to keep you in check, especially if you’re not self-disciplined.
- Listen to podcasts or an audiobook during your commute, when doing chores around the house or in that one hour you’re shitting, showering and shaving.
- Cut your sleep time to 6.5 hours and catch up on the rest on the weekend. I sleep for 6-6.5 hours and I can function effectively.
- Meal prep on Sunday night. Do 2 large meals so you have enough for lunch and dinner for 2-3 days. Do it again Wednesday night. This will cut down on your dinner prep and cleaning time during the week. It will also save you tons of money.
- Listen to a podcast or audiobook during your lunch break.
- Utilize the 2.5-hour free time to plan your week, set your goals, monitor your progress, research the net for a new course or area of study.
- By doing the above you’ll also cut your 3-hour dinner & family time to about 2 hours.
- You’ve gained time to workout at least 1 hour a day. If you want to workout 2-3 times a day great, now you have an additional hour the other days to work on your mind. What good is success if you don’t have your health, be sure to make time for this.
- Monitor your phone’s data usage to see how much time specific apps are taking up your time and cut them out. I disconnected cold turkey from Facebook after seeing how many hours a week I was wasting reading about other people’s life…think about that for a minute. I went to Instagram and after also seeing how much time I wasted on there I did something a bit different. Instead of disconnecting I started following thought leaders, industries and products I’m interested in and motivational type accounts. In addition, I replaced Facebook with LinkedIn. More on LinkedIn at a later time but this is a must-have app.
Weekend
- Sleep in and get 8 hours if you feel you need to.
- Since you’re not working use those 8 hours for friends and family time.
- The rest of the time I’ll use on myself, either while the family is still sleeping or when they’re off running errands. This way my personal development time doesn’t interfere with their time. If you have a supportive spouse then they will be on board, in the end, they’ll benefit through higher income. You should actually loop them in on your goals so they help keep you accountable.
- Every now and then I’ll give myself a break one weekend and totally disconnect from personal development. I’ll just vege out and catch up on some Netflix show/movie. R&R (rest & relaxation) is good for the mind & body every now and then but only use this as a reward if you achieved your goals that week.
- Another thing you can do is just do family time during the week and focus 100% on yourself on the weekends.
Look, all I’m saying is there are options here and there should be NO EXCUSE as to why you can’t work on yourself and improve. Follow the 1% rule and your income will increase accordingly. Just like compound interest (google it), this has the same effect.
Train insane or remain the same, your choice no one else’s. You are your own captain of your ship.
