Recently, during a presentation I gave about The 400-Hour Work Week, I was asked to summarize my guide in a few words to someone who’s so busy he can’t read it. As I told you earlier in the book, there are two kinds of people in the audience: people who look for tricks and tips which are actionable right away (those looking for the how to DO a certain task), and people who want to expand their knowledge and mental agility (those looking for how to THINK about a certain task). With that in mind, I knew I needed two answers, to get the double queen effect. Though, I didn’t want my answer to be a recital of the book’s sections, so I told them two things related to time management I had in mind, starting with my first queen, the actionable tip:
“Here’s the Rosetta Stone of time management. Always maintain a dual focus on:
The most important aspect of time management,” I continued with my second queen, “isn’t what you do per se; it’s what you become, as a result of what you do. Let me give you the secret, the elixir of long life for your business, the philosopher’s stone of time management that shows you how to turn your activities into gold, not only in your business but also in your life. This is the secret of EXTREME PRODUCTIVITY and also the secret of HAPPINESS:
Sacrifice what you want NOW for what you want LATER, that is, sacrifice what you want to DO for who you want to BE. Because it’s not about what to do, it’s about who you are.
When you get this, your life changes forever.”
As you’ve understood by now, time management is a much larger topic than what you read here and there in social media; it actually encompasses everything. Now you’re equipped to have your 8-figure company. But what matters the most is not what you have, it’s what you are. You can easily lose what you have. But the real importance is in the transformational process: the person you’ve become by applying The 400-Hour Workweek principles can also easily build up another 8-figure company. That’s something nobody can take away from you. Hence the primary importance of who you’ve become.
Then later that day, someone in the audience asked me, “What if someone follows your guide down to a T but wants to go even further? Is there anything else they can do?”
Here was the first section of my answer to those in particular who want to know more about the how to DO:
“There’s actually something NOT to do that most people are in the habit of doing: taking long breaks after completing an activity, or worse, during one. They go for a coffee, check their messages, waste time online before taking on the next valuable task they have in their schedule. Their daily waste is between sixty and ninety minutes. People tend to confuse the time they spend at work with the time they actually work. It’s not about working long hours, it’s all about the INTENSITY of your work. If you want to boost your efficiency, never underestimate the value of spare minutes. When you work on something and you finish it, jump right into the next valuable activity. No time out, no postponing, no delaying. Be disciplined.”
And I continued with a few words for people who wanted to know more about how to THINK:
“I once had a conversation with one of the finest musicians of our time: David Osborne, known as the Pianist to the Presidents. As I myself used to play piano, we quickly got talking about work and talent. As per his own philosophy, there was no secret to his success other than: ‘Don’t practice until you get it right. Practice until you CAN’T get it wrong.’”
What he meant by that was there’s always a way to go further to improve your skills. You might get it right once or twice, but should you stop there? Never. Hence the importance of ongoing training and repetition.
I can give 200 other answers, and we could talk about The 400-Hour Work Week forever … Why is this activity so important? Why is the concept of PRACTICE not ranked as a super-high-value activity? Why didn’t I develop such a section more? Because there’s no time to split hairs. As Abigail Adams, First Lady, and spouse of President John Adams, stated over 200 years ago, “We have too many high-sounding words and too few actions that correspond with them.”
“Yeah, I know, time is passing by!” you might utter. Not really, my dear friend. Actually, we are passing by. And time has NO MERCY for those who take it for granted, to quote Patrick Bet-David.
I’ve given you the clear instructions for creating a schedule where it’s hard NOT to get the right things done, which in turn engenders an environment where it’s hard NOT to grow your business.
More important, the principles in this book are exactly what all 8-figure business owners live by—including those I’ve worked with for almost a decade.
So just do it. Nothing can replace action. Better to have a good plan executed today than a great plan executed next week. Taking action is not as comfortable as reading a book, but it makes all the difference in how much value you get out of this book … and it’s more fun.
Besides, a book that leaves the reader as he was before reading it is a failed book. Don’t do this to me.
Improving is never comfortable. The only thing that’s comfortable, by definition, is the status quo. If you’ve ever been into running or lifting weights, you know what I’m talking about. Resistance makes us stronger. Always take the path of MOST resistance.
Be focused, and most importantly: be committed. Only then will you be able to bring INTENSITY to your activities … and go to sleep empty but proud. Empty because by giving all you have, you might feel exhausted sometimes. Proud because by giving all you have, you will get this deep satisfaction: the one you feel when your potential is in accordance with your reality. It’s like coming home. That’s when you find yourself—better said: that’s when you CREATE yourself.
With this book, I’ve given you a proven plan that will not only optimize your time management and grow your business but also make your life easier and more pleasant. There’s no downside, except the one I mentioned earlier regarding the relinquishing of some activities you enjoy. If you need my personal help, I’ll help you optimize your time management with a tailored plan. I know how to keep people accountable, and I know how to grow businesses.
I have seen firsthand dozens of successful business owners follow this framework, then I’ve tested it myself. It works. Stuff that works is often boring. But so what? Do you want to achieve your grand vision? Don’t try to reinvent the wheel.
There are only two components to success: KNOWLEDGE AND ACTION. When you implement what you’ve learned, you won’t find yourself meandering around in search of what to do. You’ll be forced to stay focused. Why would you drag your feet now that you know the way? When you do the right things and go at speed, that’s action squared, and you’ll land results much faster! It’s a formula which goes like this:
SUCCESS = KNOWLEDGE + ACTION²
When it comes to making big decisions in life, I don’t like to be the one who tells other people what to do … but let me tell you what to do. I feel like I have an obligation when the way forward is so clear to me. So, follow The 400-Hour framework, and set yourself the challenge of starting a huge transformation in your life by changing your schedule, your priorities, and your daily activities. The change in your business will automatically follow, in a matter of weeks.
It’s up to you now. No excuses. By now, you know that the only activities that deserve your attention are the ones that are part of a transformational process. This is your time—regardless of what’s going on in the outside world—to flourish and serve your clients and employees more effectively. The next step for you is simple: start. Decide if you want help or if you want to do it alone, but start. Make a decision, then take one step forward.
NEED FURTHER SUPPORT?
Some people told me to develop an online course instead of writing a book. But that’s not my area of expertise. I’m an old school guy, and regardless of technological advancements, books will always be here to stay. Not only that, but if I personally go on to work with somebody who’s read this book, at least we’ll have something in common: that we look to similar means of educating ourselves. It’s a way of filtering out my niche. Birds of a feather flock together. You attract who you are.
If you follow this book’s framework, fewer of you would need me and more of you will succeed.
But there are some people who need an extra nudge. I was that person at once stage when I had my 8-figure business mentors show me the way. If you think you’d benefit from some personal help to get your business from 6- to 7-figures, or from 7- to 8-figures, just give me a call—there’s a straight line between where you are and where you want to be, you just need to see it:
I do everything I can to help my fellow business owners because I firmly believe that we are the lifeblood of this country. When you grow an 8-figure business, you directly create an average of between twenty to sixty jobs, not to mention supporting all the various suppliers that you buy products and services from. Multiply that by the number of business owners who have been inspired either by my book or by working directly with me, and you find the reason why I’m doing all this.
THE WORLD NEEDS US SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS
In our world, we create jobs and give our people significant responsibilities. We train them to sharpen their skills, take the initiative, and realize their potential. In the other world, the bureaucratic world, there’s no job creation: they follow economic cycles and spend their time firing and hiring back—often for degrading work.
As Ziad Abdelnour states it in his book Economic Warfare: “We are engaged in a war (…) What we have now is definitely not free-market capitalism. It is a reign of financial terror.”
That’s why people need us.
If you feel like you haven’t reached your full potential as a business owner and that you can bring much more to the world, this book is for you. Just model what has worked for decades for so many 7-, 8-, and 9-figure business owners, and clone their time management framework. This is what most business owners lack today: a structure which they can confidently operate, knowing that they’re always working on the right things. From there, many doors will open.
By the way, do you remember when I mentioned earlier that selling your company was the golden gate to freedom? Now let me tell you why. It deserves an entire seminar, but I’ll try to be as concise as possible with an example. Let’s say you make $5.5m in revenue and $1.5m in profit, and you sell your business for $6m (real life example). You pay $1.2m in taxes, so you net $4.8m (grossly stated). Let’s say you keep $300k to enjoy immediately. Now here’s an idea of what you can do with the remaining $4.5m: use it as a down payment to buy a $20m company. In a couple of months, you’ll have gone from managing a $5m business to managing a $20m business. How about that? It’s all about leverage. Once you make a couple of millions in sales, leverage is the name of the game. The world is your oyster.
Whether they’re aware of it or not (most of the time they aren’t), high achievers have become masters in writing, directing, and acting as the protagonist of their lives. They define their characters and goals, and don’t let anything or anybody interfere with what needs to be done. That’s what time management ultimately is: life management. Or just LIFE. Because we ARE what we DO. Don’t let anybody make you think otherwise.
Dear reader, in a moment, you’ll close the book and go work on the right things. Again, there are only two components to success: KNOWLEDGE and ACTION.
Now you know.