Even if you’re already convinced of the importance of systems, Rory Vaden argues that many of us are applying them incorrectly. This entire section paraphrases his TEDx Talk “How to Multiply Your Time”:
Technology has made more possible than ever before, yet we still never seem to have enough time. The reality is that we can’t manage time; it is the one thing we all have an equal amount of. We can only manage self. Therefore, time management is emotional, not logical. It’s about giving ourselves emotional permission to work on the things we want to.
Let’s look at existing time management theories:
1-dimensional thinking = Do things more efficiently (faster)
2-dimensional thinking = Prioritizing (Eisenhower Matrix)
| Urgent | Non-urgent | |
|---|---|---|
| Important | Quadrant of necessity DO | Quadrant of quality PLAN |
| Crises • Project meetings • Last minute demands • Deadline driven projects | Goals & Planning • Strategic planning • Working towards goals • Personal care • Relationship building • True recreation | |
| Not Important | Quadrant of deception DELEGATE | Quadrant of waste ELIMINATE |
| Interruptions • Phone calls, emails • Reports • Some meetings • Other people’s minor demands • Busywork | Distractions • Web browsing • Social media • Binge-watching Netflix • Analysis paralysis • Any procrastination activity |
While both the 1st and 2nd dimension are important, there’s still something missing: the 3rd dimension = significance.
“Spend time on things today
– Rory Vaden, Brand Builders Group
that will help you create more time tomorrow.”
Most people don’t get around to automating or delegating certain tasks because it takes them too long to do it. But that’s the wrong approach, they aren’t accounting for significance in their mental evaluation of a task. For example, setting up an automated bill payment might take 30 minutes; it’s something neither important nor urgent. But if you do it, you’ll save 5 minutes each month in manually paying your bills. After 6 months, you would have effectively broken even on your time investment; every month thereafter is bonus time!
Rory introduces the Focus Funnel, a life-changing concept I rigorously apply to all my tasks. It is a 5-step process for evaluating and prioritizing tasks:
1. Eliminate
The first step involves identifying whether a task or activity is of low value or unnecessary. We often say yes too easily. By eliminating these non-essential tasks, we free up time and mental energy for more important activities.
2. Automate
The second step is, if it is repetitive or routine, to determine if it can be automated. Automation reduces the need for manual effort, saving time in the long run.
3. Delegate
If it can’t be automated, can it be delegated? If you don’t have to be the one doing it, you shouldn’t. We often resist delegating a task because it requires the upfront commitment of training someone on it and an accompanying decline in productivity as they are often subpar when they start. But this train of thought lacks the significance factor. Once delegated, the new person should eventually be able to do it as well, if not better, than us.
Once delegated, it is no longer something you need to dedicate your attention to, allowing you to focus on higher-priority activities. Delegating tasks not only saves time but also empowers others and encourages collaboration.
4. Procrastinate
Failing all the above, the task falls to you. The remaining question at this point is: does it need to be done now, or can it wait? If it’s not urgent or important, you should intentionally delay acting on it.
This is not the same as avoiding responsibilities or neglecting what you know you should be doing because you don’t feel like doing it. This form of procrastinating on purpose allows us to focus on more immediate priorities without feeling overwhelmed, revisiting those tasks at a more opportune time in the future.
Procrastinated tasks then enter a holding pattern where they eventually become urgent and you need to act on them now, you realize they weren’t important and should have been eliminated in the first place, you find a way to automate them, or someone else takes them up and they get delegated.
5. Concentrate
If the task is urgent, important, requires your immediate attention, or has the greatest impact on your goals and objectives, we focus and concentrate on getting it done.
ASSIGNMENT
Review your current to-do list using Rory Vaden’s Focus Funnel:
- What should you eliminate?
- What could be automated?
- What could be delegated and who could you delegate it to (employees/contractors/freelancers)?
- Now vs. Later?
Humane Automation
It’s unavoidable; automation or any technological improvement is bound to displace some degree of human talent. Any process improvement that enhances the efficiency of a task creates the opportunity for more work to be done by fewer people. But is that a bad thing? No. We should view improvements as an opportunity to do more, not less; to do different things that add more value.
When considering automation, my main advice is to automate to be more, not less, human.
Less Human
For instance, if you follow up with customers who have recently purchases with a personalized phone call, automating that process with a scheduled email triggered after a certain date makes the interaction less human and provides a worse experience for your customer.
More Human
Instead, if you set up an automated reminder that triggers so that your SDRs don’t need to track and remember to reach out to all their recent customers with the follow-up call, it alleviates their administrative and data entry work, thus freeing them up to spend more time with more customers.
Tech is a Loudspeaker
It’s also equally important to realize that technology, automation, or any form of process optimization works like a loudspeaker. It amplifies everything, both the good and the bad.
If you have a prospecting process where you call 10 people and 3 of them will buy, and you decide to optimize for that, you may now be able to do a lot more and close 30 out of 100.
But if you jump to this without first testing and determining if this is the right approach or the right profile of prospects to be reaching out to, you could inadvertently create a lot of unnecessary noise. Perhaps there is another process or group of prospects where if you call 10, 7 of them will buy.
Delegation: LEGOs
My favorite analogy when it comes to considering how to approach delegation comes from Molly Graham’s interview in the First Round Review. In the article, she addresses many of the emotional turmoils that come with a rapidly scaling organization, drawing similarities between the experience and how a child feels when they have to share their Legos.
“One of the secrets of people who are really successful at fast-growing companies is how rapidly they’re able to adapt to the chaos and uncertainty of adding new people. They become adept at redefining their jobs on a regular basis, and they become comfortable with the largely uncomfortable emotions that naturally happen when a team doubles or triples in a short period of time.”
Building on her analogy, here are some key points:
Don’t lend them
If it’s your favorite piece and you enjoy doing it, you might not want to give it away. If you plan on delegating, make sure you’re ready to commit to letting it go. Don’t try to take something back if it’s already been given away.
Don’t give them away fully assembled
Where’s the fun in that? It’s boring when you give full and exact instructions and demand they be followed to the letter. If that’s the case, you should be automating instead. Give people the opportunity to experiment, learn, and improve. You can share best practices and what you’ve found to be effective, but ensure you’re open to having the person who takes over explore and find ways to improve. After all, what works best for you might not work best for them.
Nor with no instructions
The reverse is true as well. It won’t be a great experience for the person picking it up, and you can’t expect them to perform well if you don’t participate in the knowledge transfer to give them a good foundation to begin.
Don’t leave it lying around
Don’t be ambiguous, hoping someone will come around and pick up your mess for you. You need to explicitly designate responsibility.