Effectively Multitasking
How do Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey manage two ventures at once? Here are my tips.
Life is an ocean; our actions create ripples. You can either be a tsunami or a ripple.
When I’m talking about multitasking I’m talking about it in the macro sense of juggling projects, not the 50+ tabs you have open. To date I’ve probably taken on three outside projects aside from school on a consistent basis. Some of them are successful and some of them fail, but I’d say my hit rate is solid. To date the true value I got from my outside projects has been building an extensive network. Bundling all these projects together has shown me the power of leveraging efforts. By helping head efforts for Lean Startup Machine, InteractATX, and putting together a Netherlands-Austin partnership, I built my network to a point where I could “scale my network” by building communities of second degree connections who knew each other through me and could help each other. This is one example of how to leverage multiple projects. You need to get to a critical mass in some way, and although difficult, the reward is exponential.
Many would argue against the positives of multitasking for focus, but ever since reading Peter’s Laws, law #3 has become a life mantra:
“Multiple projects means multiple successes” — Peter’s Laws #3
Since harvesting my social capital, I’ve shifted my focus to more traditional entrepreneurship. I will apply the “multiple projects means multiple successes” mentality to new ventures. Entrepreneurship is like baseball; favor fortunes the person who swings the most.
Here are some takeaways you need to apply this principle correctly
- Build a team
Having at least one other person with you on any given project is critical. If either of you are working part time on it, your time can now equate to a full-time staffer. If you can identify someone with complementary skills who has a common vision with you and can cover tasks when you’re not there, you’re getting to the right point. I can speak to how critical this is being both the visionary and the wrench. Elon Musk takes credit for both SpaceX, Tesla, and sometimes SolarCity, but he wouldn’t be there without maniacal management and insanely inspired teammates. Jack Dorsey is another notorious multitasker managing Square and Twitter. Read his tips here
***Building your community is the quickest way to build your team, so have at least 2-3 coffee meetings a week. Pick a consistent spot, make yourself as available as possible online, and email 2-3 people you’d like to meet.
The longer it takes to find a teammate, the less likely you’ll get to deliver.
2. Focus on convergence
Last year I worked on InteractATX, Lean Startup Machine, and TAASCC (Netherlands + Austin Smart City partnership); these organizations all had an education and networking focus, so learning to manage one also meant building skills for the others.I learned a lot about fundraising, branding, and working with big organizations. Having to deal with those three things constantly in a compressed amount of time accelerated my learning, and helped me build momentum into new ventures.
This guideline competes for being the most important because sequential successes will bring momentum to new opportunities. If you have projects that counter each other, you negate your energy potential. You see engineers and CEOs maneuver the top of the corporate food chain all the time and that’s because they’re constantly riding their tsunami-sized wave of success.To build your own wave, you need to be working on convergent projects.
***Having a whiteboard where you can draw a mindmap is incredibly helpful. Sometimes writing a story about how the projects all come together is helpful — you have to see some pattern or mesh between all the projects to identify convergence.
3. Partition time based on outcomes
Time management is incredibly important when taking on multiple projects. Without it, your projects will become a chaotic mess. Become a master of prioritizing the critical path for each project and focus only on the next step. If you need to handle multiple projects in a given day, partition your time and make sure that each action you take leads to something “finished.” The action can be as tiny as a meeting, but make sure that action adds value to the project and can go in the “done” pile and propel you to the next task. If you’re not getting important things done, then you’re just busy.
***Sticky notes are my best friend. On my palm rests I usually write down all my daily “need to do’s” on a sticky note and leave them there so I can cross them off throughout the day.
4. Be strict about deliverables and deadlines
Set deadlines and be maniacal about delivering. Even if it’s imperfect you need to ship, internally or externally. People respect people who keep their commitments, even if it’s not at 110%. Deadlines keep you accountable.
“Showing up is 80 percent of life.” — Woody Allen
Recently, I’ve been spending time on the Entrepreneurship Roundtable and Office of EIR at UT. I’ve noticed the ones to my left and right are the ones who are known for shipping. When Nick and I first founded UT Entrepreneurship Week with around 6 weeks to deliver, people were incredibly surprised by our launch and Nick has carried to momentum ever since to create the Longhorn Entrepreneurship Agency.
***Time feels as if it slows down when you approach your work with an “every hour counts” attitude. The constant barrage of deadlines will keep you moving forward. Others will become astonished that you can actually be a part of so many things successfully.
***Be religious about Google Calendar. If you have violated Google Calendar, you failed. Keeping commitments is a habit, so get started with the little things today, like showing up on time for that coffee meeting.
5. Stay Balanced
While you’re working on all your projects, it’s important to make time for your community. If anything, practice the 50 coffee meeting routine.
Keeping up with your community helps you identify new opportunities. Imagine every person in your network as a pipeline of dealflow. Staying open-minded and remembering to give back to the community keeps the pipeline busy. Communities are very karmic, so give a lot and you’ll get a lot.
More importantly, make time for family and your significant other. Brad Feld, founder ot TechStars and the Foundry Group, has an eye opening book called Startup Life that covers these “outside of work” things you need to balance carefully. I’m working with Brett Hurt, co-founder of Bazaarvoice, and his ability to live holistic, balanced, and happy life is awe inspiring.
***Personal performance reviews — This is a great tool to use once a month with family, best friends, or your significant other. Schedule a regular dinner date where the agenda is reflecting on the last month and set goals for the next month. Overall the goal is talk about what’s going on in your respective lives. This can be used to handle difficult conflicts, learn from mistakes, share goals, etc.
Brad Feld writes about it in more detail here.
I’m lucky because I have a wonderful girlfriend to reflect on my relationship performance weekly, but make time at least once a month with friends, family, and significant other to review your relationship and set policies in place for future success. One example is setting up performance reviews in the first place. Can’t improve what you can’t measure.
6. Know your sleep routine
This is the best advice I don’t take, and always wish I would: have a sleep routine. Understanding your sleep schedule will change your life. Getting to a point where you can sleep less, but still be productive can transform the amount of waking hours you have to produce things. Based on a study of 1.1 million people, those who lived longest actually slept only 6.5 hours a day versus the recommended 8. Read more below.
Jonathan V. — Co-founder & COO of Technium & other fun stuff.
Introductions to Jack Dorsey and/or Elon Musk to learn first hand their tips and tricks would be priceless <3
