Owning Your Time: 5 Sure-Fire Tactics

Imagine you're 99 years old on your deathbed...

Will you regret how you're using your time today?

5 sure-fire tactics to owning your time:

— Barrett O'Neill (@barrettjoneill) March 8, 2023

Everyone can relate to this:

We want to be a great parent/spouse, earn lots of money, have a social life, and be in shape.

We're told there will be tradeoffs - we can't have it all.

But we can have more than we think if we control our time.

— Barrett O'Neill (@barrettjoneill) March 8, 2023

SCHEDULE OPTIMIZATION

I got this trick from Kayak Founder Paul English ($1.8B exit to Priceline in 2012).

Paul says (and I agree) that happiness is a function of balance.

Try a color-coded calendar to quickly identify priorities and time breakdowns.

— Barrett O'Neill (@barrettjoneill) March 8, 2023

Create a list of core priorities and assign them a color. For me:

1. Time with wife/son
2. Business activities
3. Creative exercises
4. Physical exercise
5. Social activities

As life changes, so will allocations. But this is a bulletproof way to manage each bucket.

— Barrett O'Neill (@barrettjoneill) March 8, 2023

MAKE TIME TO THINK

Being busy is comforting because society equates "busyness" with productivity or hard work, which gets glamorized.

Remember - washing machines work hard, but they go in circles.

The real secret is working hard on things worth executing.

— Barrett O'Neill (@barrettjoneill) March 8, 2023

As the wealthiest man in US history, John D. Rockefeller said:

"Those who work all day have no time to make money."

Use your greatest asset, your MIND, to free up time for the things that truly matter while still earning tons of money.

— Barrett O'Neill (@barrettjoneill) March 8, 2023

UNCOVER LEVERAGE

We all get 24 hours a day... but doesn't it seem like some people have more?

They use leverage to get more done in the same amount of time.

The most common types are:

- Labor
- Capital
- Code (Technology)
- Audience (Earned Media)

— Barrett O'Neill (@barrettjoneill) March 8, 2023

Leverage (in all forms) amplifies returns on inputs.

The goal is to use leverage in your business to disassociate time from income.

Priorities like family and exercise CANNOT be outsourced, so if you value them, your presence is required.

To have it all, you need leverage.

— Barrett O'Neill (@barrettjoneill) March 8, 2023

FASTER DECISIONS

We're faced with thousands of decisions daily. Thinking through every angle of each decision would be exhausting.

To combat this, I developed a framework called:

"The Person I Want to Be"

I create a detailed description of exactly who I'm striving to be.

— Barrett O'Neill (@barrettjoneill) March 8, 2023

I write down how this version of me shows up for his family, makes money, and even what house he lives in.

Then I ask:

"Would the person I want to be, do this?"

This prevents short-term/convenient decisions that don't align with my priorities.

— Barrett O'Neill (@barrettjoneill) March 8, 2023

LEARN TO SAY NO

I'm convinced the most incredible luxury in life is the ability to say "no thank you."

As you become more successful, opportunities (professional/social) become abundant.

It's easy to get trapped into saying "yes" to everything ("no" is surprisingly hard!)

— Barrett O'Neill (@barrettjoneill) March 8, 2023

But every "yes" takes away time from priorities, including:

Ventures you've committed to, or even worse, family and health.

Politely saying "no" is critical to owning your time. The inability to do so is the fast track to over-commitment and misery.

Double down on priorities

— Barrett O'Neill (@barrettjoneill) March 8, 2023

Life has many competing priorities.

But the most successful people create schedules and processes to get more done with less.

You can't have everything, but you can have more.

Follow me @barrettjoneill for content on building high cashflow companies.

— Barrett O'Neill (@barrettjoneill) March 8, 2023