Do you let work drip-drip-drip throughout every. single. waking. hour of every. single. waking. day?
Do you struggle every Monday to schedule the week’s work, or face a long list of “uncompleted” tasks, just as each weekend starts?
Freelancers often struggle to manage time. We may think we can work on whatever, whenever and wherever we want. But many of us work harder and longer than we ever did in our “day-jobs.”
American business coach Dan Sullivan’s “Entrepreneurial Time System” can restore healthy boundaries between our differing types of work and rest:
On “Free Days” (often Saturdays and Sundays), Sullivan says, we should not meet clients or do work. This is time to relax and to connect with family and friends.
Enforce that.
On “Buffer Days” (often Mondays and Fridays), we should handle administrative work (e.g. marketing, bookkeeping, answering messages, etc.).
Make sure you get those tasks done.
On “Focus Days” (often Tuesdays to Thursdays), we should work to earn income. Since Pareto’s Law tells us that 20% of activities create 80% of our income, we should dedicate our “Focus Days” to that intensive 20%.
Block off all distractions.
Moving from “Free” to “Buffer” to “Focus” Days, “Buffer Days” can create a transition between “Free” and “Focus Days.” But you can structure your week as you wish.
Some entrepreneurs find quiet time on, say, Saturday, to be very productive: it could be a “Focus Day” for you.
On his blog last fall, Ed Gandia posted about Sullivan’s “Entrepreneurial Time System,” recommending the system as a “game-changer” for busy entrepreneurs.
Though simple, the “Entrepreneurial Time System” restores boundaries between our differing activities, so work doesn’t creep into every waking hour! It’s counterproductive (not to mention terrible for our health) to be more-or-less working all the time!
Gandia says this: “If you don’t create boundaries, every day becomes a work day. And you end up with zero margin.” And that brings overwhelm and burnout, fast.
Sullivan’s system can prevent that, paradoxically increasing our productivity while also restoring our time for rest.
The “Entrepreneurial Time System” is more fully outlined by David Braithwaite, one of Sullivan’s proteges, on the “strategic coach” website. The system does take a few weeks to adapt to (as I am finding). But the relief you feel is almost immediate: those who make the effort never turn back!
Dan Sullivan has been described as “legendary” by Gandia and Braithwaite–as one of America’s foremost entrepreneurial coaches.
Give this system a try and you’ll see why!