Fixed-scheduled productivity Jan 08 2010
12 comments Latest by Devan
Fixed-scheduled productivity: “Fix your ideal schedule, then work backwards to make everything fit — ruthlessly culling obligations, turning people down, becoming hard to reach, and shedding marginally useful tasks along the way.”
A big part of this: saying no. The author gives Jim Collins as an example:
Even though Collins demands over $60,000 per speech, for example, he gives fewer than 18 per year, and a third of these are donated for free to non-profit groups. He doesn’t do book tours. His web site is mediocre. He keeps his living expenses in check so that he’s not dependent on drumming up income (he and his wife have lived in the same California bungalow for the past 14 years), and he keeps only a small staff, preferring to bring on volunteers as needed.
Also shows the freedom you get from having low overhead. The less you owe, the less you have to do things you don’t want to do.
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12 comments so far
Luca 08 Jan 10
I completely agree. This is what I have been doing in the last 9 years in my small business: keeping overhead down I am free to adjust the job to my needs. Plus, I just realized I extracted a lot of value from my earnings the first years when I was travelling (not for business) 11 months out of 12 with the money my business made. I made less money but I had more out of it.
matthew lyons 08 Jan 10
I love this line.
“The less you owe, the less you have to do things you don’t want to do.”
Noam 08 Jan 10
Awesome post as usual!
Soah Nsug 08 Jan 10
I really think I need to get into this mode of thinking. Time has a way of slipping away from me only because I let it.
jforth 08 Jan 10
I’m in the process of doing this right now. I think it just makes sense.
Chris Cuilla 08 Jan 10
@matthew lyons: That is a good line. I think few people realize the burden of debt in their lives. I read an article once that used a phrase that put it into perspective…it said that borrowing money (today) is really borrowing work from the future.
Jason 08 Jan 10
I second the line Matthew Lyons loves. “The less you owe, the less you have to do things you don’t want to do.” Talk about keeping it simple; very cool. I like this approach and am going to give it go starting…Now. Really resonates with Tim Ferris’s “4-Hour Workweek” which I’ve been enjoying again.
Cam Collins 08 Jan 10
Matthew’s favorite part was great, but I especially liked “ruthlessly culling obligations, turning people down, becoming hard to reach, and shedding marginally useful tasks along the way” as these tactics will help develop productive habits.
I second Jason’s comment about @tferriss as well. It’s funny because I just “re-listened” to David Heinemeier Hansson’s podcast about the secrets of building a successful internet business. The “fun” is not working 70-hours per week and trying to be the next Google, the “fun” is building a sustainable business that allows you to have a life.
AC 08 Jan 10
I agree with the thought, but the example is a bit off.. If I could bring in a $million on a month’s work I would live a (very) happy life. What would be interesting is how Collins worked before he got to that position.
Derek Scruggs 09 Jan 10
Bungalow in California? Jim Collins lives in Boulder, in a pretty nice area called Chataqua. A lot of the research in Good to Great was done by his grad students that the University of Colorado.
Adam Landrum 10 Jan 10
Thanks for sharing. Excellent post on time management. Reminds me of the “scarcity principal” in the Millionaire Next Door-Millionaires pay themselves first, creating a “scarcity” of money for everything else. As with this post, create an artificial scarcity of time to force you to get everything done within that time frame (where otherwise you would take as long as you wanted—in a sense, Parkinson’s Law).
Devan 11 Jan 10
“Also shows the freedom you get from having low overhead. The less you owe, the less you have to do things you don’t want to do.”
That is a beautiful phrase. I am going to print it out in large font, frame it and hang it in front of my work desk! :)
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