The Art of Doing Less and Making More

How to Pick Your 3 Daily Tasks

Photo by Jordan Bauer on Unsplash

I used to work hard, 7 days a week from I woke up and until I went to bed around 2–3 or 4 am.

Then I took one day off per week.

Surprise: My productivity didn’t go down.

Lately, my friend, mentor and coach, Sean Mize, told me to work only 2 hours a day.

Four days a week.

And I’m laughing as I write this, because now I get even more done than before.

So how do you get down to working 2 hours a day?

(If you have a day job, this only relates to your side hustle.)

Use the 80/20 Rule

Here’s what you should do.

Step #1: List everything you do during your working hours.

I wrote down my daily routines from I started in the morning and until I ended in the evening. That was shocking. So much procrastination.

This was a wake-up call for me.

Step #2: Pick 2–3 things that make you 80% of your income.

Pretty self-explanatory.

I took a look down my list. Three things stood out. The rest was just stuff that “kept me busy.” And “busy” doesn’t make money.

Choose the 2 or 3 things from your list that make you the most money.

Step #3: Skip the rest.

So simple.

Yet, perhaps the most scary step. Until now, it’s been theory. It’s been looking at what you had and what you did.

Now, we’re turning the theory into practice.

All kinds of thoughts may run through your mind now. Like, “Can I do this?” or “For sure, I can’t skip all the other steps, can I?”

Try it for a week.

For me, it was surprising. It felt great. I had plenty of time to recharge my batteries. And my income didn’t go down at all.

Now for the planning, you should use the 30/30/60 rule.

Use the 30/30/60 Rule

Not familiar with that one?

Haha, can’t blame you. It’s one I came up with when I planned my 2-hour daily work week. It works.

If you have 3 things on your daily to-do list, work on them in 30-minute intervals.

• Work 30 minutes on the first.
• Work 30 minutes on the second.
• And for the slightly more time-demanding task, work 2 x 30 minutes on that one.

Before you start, there’s one very important thing you should know.

Without it, the whole system will fail.

Focus, Focus and Focus

You need laser focus on your present task.

• Don’t do anything else before you’ve finished.
• Block social media, Telegram, email etc.
• Don’t fetch email until after you’ve finished your tasks.

I’ve often ignored the last one… with disastrous results.

Emails are super-distracting. You read something, and you keep thinking about it. Or worse, it makes you change your planning.

Stay away from email until you’ve done your 3 tasks that day.

Your day starts when you wake up. What you focus on first will get your focus for the whole workday. Focus on your tasks.

In case you’re curious about my 3 things… here they are:

• Emails to my list(s)
• Medium articles
• Info product creation

Why these three?

They are the three things that move the needle.

• Audience
• Communication
• Monetization

I’ve written emails since 2003, so I can write them fast.

Therefore, I’ve allotted 30 minutes only for writing emails. I track time with Kanbanflow. I love their simple boards, and it makes sure I don’t forget time and accidentally spend 80 minutes on a 30-minute task.

It’s important to have things planned beforehand.

So when you sit down to do a task, you know exactly what you should do. For me that means I know what products I’m going to promote that week. I know which Medium articles to write. And I know what info product I’m working on.

That’s all it takes to go from 8 hour busy days to 2 hour work days.

Try it out and let me know what you think.

If you want to learn more about writing compelling emails, I have just the offer for you.

And right now it’s even completely free to join.

Just sign up here with your best email address, and you’ll get the course over the next five days. (note: clicking this link will take you offsite outside of Medium)

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