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Hi,

In 2016 I watched a video where Casey Naistat (link:https://youtu.be/ZexvTZ1sV8U) took 24 dominoes and used it to figure out how he's spending his time in a day.

In 2017 I did that exercise to find some time around my job so i could get back into doing creative work. Specifically filming and editing. And it worked, I eventually quit that job and freelanced and then turned it into an agency and eventually folded it when the pandemic hit.

Yes, the gurus have a way of making it sound much easier…

To clarify, I'm not a “up at 3am, work out, cold shower, email, grind, network, grind, social media, bullet coffee, grind a bit more, deliveroo-Salad ‘coz the place looked healthy in the app” kind of bro.

I like computer games, movies, afternoon naps and snacking.

Every once in a while I like to revisit this exercise, however for the last 4 years I've been tormented by a shrieking banshee that wont sleep and demands all my attention every minute i’m home. since becoming a dad it's been hard to manage my time with the ever changing needs of an infant. She also has very irregular sleep patterns so it's not one we can plan around.
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This is me at 11:30pm when I first became a dad. This kid refuses to sleep. You can’t plan around it.

And, side note, I've often found the gurus that like to preach on time management either ignore their kids, don't factor in the idea that people procreate, are children themselves or are outsourcing their parental duties to an off-shore VA.

So I thought I'd try the exercise again. Doing that time audit. And before I show you mine I want to highlight that my priority is not to have a six figure business, the goals and objectives for Effinlazy go beyond that. My priorities are to get my daughter to school, pick her up from school and get to school if there is an emergency.

And thanks to the new year energy going around I wanted to add some habits or parameters around my day:

1. Go for walks: I work better when I start my day with some form of exercise first.
2. Automate life things: wear the same clothes every day, eat the same breakfast and lunch. Remove some of the ‘thinking’.
3. Schedule nutrition breaks. Sometimes I forget to eat or overthink what i’m going to make. That's time I lose.
4. Make meaningful connections. I love talking to strangers, the primary function of my landing page but when we do social media and go to networking events I want to be more intentional about it.

While these aren't all of them It helps to be mindful of the little things and maintain a focus on the big thing you are trying to achieve.

And this is what my plan looks like:

Even before I started this I knew this wasnt actually going to work out for me on a daily basis, fuck I live in southern ontario and it’s January. The first 4 hours after I wake up will be spent shoveling snow so we can make it out of the house.

But I do this as a way to anchor back to how I should be spending my day. Just having a beer or wine in the evening can throw off your morning. Having a child in JK this time of year they are constantly getting ill and someone needs to take time to look after them.

It's not a rigid framework but a guide that tells me to not watch Top Gun Maverick while I eat my lunch because that will be two and a half hours not working towards where I want to take my business.

This might be something you want to try if:

• You feel frustrated by your schedule.
• You have a project, idea or hobby you want to find time for.

If this is something you want to do then;

1. Start with a clear intent, why are you doing this and what will it help you accomplish?
2. Reflect or audit on how you spend your time, I like to start with how much good sleep I actually need and go from there
3. Realize there is no shame in watching Netflix for three hours at the end of the day.
4. Set rules or boundaries around what is realistically achievable in your day.
5. Establish the big picture of what you want to achieve for your business.

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As someone who struggles with staying consistent I've been applying this for the last two weeks and I can definitely say it's helping.

But I'd love to hear back from you, do you live by your schedule? Are you working with intent? What big thing are you working towards?

I hope this was useful and have a great weekend,

Sid

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