In many podcasts and interviews I get asked what is the hardest part about going from employed to self-employed. For many people it is the insecurity of finances, the feeling of being lost or all by oneself or the not-knowing where to go. But to be fair and square, these are only results of one simple fact: Being self-employed means that you are in charge now. You have to decide where to go and what to do. Normally it works like this: Work 40 hours at company X and you earn 1,500 USD. During the 40 hours you have to do this and that and if you do not show up at 9am or leave before 5pm you get kicked out. You have to do this 50 weeks a year, otherwise you won't keep your job. Basically, it is ALL LAID OUT! And that ensures all the other things, such as finances, time, insecurity etc. is all laid out as well.
For me it was the same when I became a full time entrepreneur. Suddenly this plan was all gone, and I was in charge. That is also, why I devote chapter 21-25 in my book 25 Stories I would tell my Younger Self to exactly this cause: How to move from being employed to being self-employed. And what is really important here to mention is actually that I am a big fan of being employed, as long as people do it wisely. I might throw out a blog post about that in the future if you like (maybe drop me a message if you feel that is important). So neither my book nor this blog post is about hammering against being employed, it is really targetted towards the single most important challenge when moving from one side of the cashflow quadrant to the other:
THE WAY YOU USE YOUR TIME
Now, you are in charge, and no one is telling you when to work, when to leave, wehn to go and pee, when to take time off and maybe even more difficult:
WHAT TO DO DURING THAT TIME
Chance are you have heard it before: You need to have a daily routine if you want to be productive! And to be fair and honest: It is 100% correct and becomes even more true when you start becoming an entrepreneur otherwise you just run around like a headless chicken. Chapter 22 in my book is actually devoted to exactly this topic, and I do NOT want to double talk about what I wrote in there already, so just read it or listen to it if you want all the background info. You can get it as an E-Book, Paperback or Audiobook on Amazon and most other Online Sites!
I won't talk about important vs. urgent here nor how to block out notifications on your phone or computer. I cover that in my book already, and in this blog post I want to share MY EXACT Daily routine that I am running at the moment here in Hong Kong. Of course, yours might look different, but I hope it helps you get an idea what mine looks like and I consider myself quite productive.
I used to have a super rigid clear layout, but the problem was that as I was travelling over 50% of the time, and this year probably 2/3 of the year, it was impossible to implement my routine as soon as I left to somewhere else. So what I am doing now, is run my routine in blocks, where the blocks itself stay pretty similar, but I can move these blocks around when days get messed up due to the travelling. You can see my block layout here, with starting and end times on a perfect day. Especially these times shift a lot when I travel, but there are a couple of things I focus on all the time in my daily routine:
- Get up before 6am - Actually I shoot more for 5am. I will talk about this being the single most important factor in a good daily routine below.
- Don't spend too much time on eating, except for Lunch when it is with someone.
- Don't commute much - only meet with someone if it is really necessary
- Follow this plan 6 out of 7 days a week - 1 day a week is mess-up time to relax and be different
I will start with my Evening-Block as this is how your daily routine should start. This is what I do starting at around 9pm:
- Medidate 10-15min - I use the Headspace APP for this. Helps me to shut off quicker
- Shower, Brush Teeth and Floss (I try to floss twice a day and I love long showers - very inspirational for me) 10-15min
- Drink 0.5 - 1.0 liters of water with Ceolith to maybe wake up automatically in the morning having to pee
- Write down 1 thing I learned today that I should remember long term
- Write down 1 Business Idea I came up with today
- Write down a few things that happened today, focusing on the positive and what to take away for other days
- Write down the 3 most important tasks for tomorrow
- Add a few other tasks that are not as important
- Prepare my sports gear for the Morning-Block
- No Internet anymore after 9pm
- Go to bed and read on my iPad or listen to a podcast
- Fall asleep before 10pm
- Nothing work related after 9pm
This makes sure I get out of the box in the morning for my Morning-Block well. I covered this above already: Waking up early is THE KEY about a productive day. Why? Because you have to go to bed early, you cannot drink or party, you start with structure and you need to have a plan what to do, otherwise you are bored. Your morning block won't happen unless you have a good evening block:
- Smart Alarm Sleep Cycler wakes me up before 6am, but actually I am trying to move in 15 minute steps to wake up before 5am.
- Scrub my tongue, floss (wax-free!) and brush teeth with electric Sonicare and sometimes handbrush
- Drink 0.5 - 1.0 liters of water ( I try to get 4 - 5 liters a day in) and I have a spoon of Ceolith
- Put on sports stuff, put in audiobook and go for a morning walk. Start jogging after getting a bit warmer. I listen to an audibook about "Google" at the moment.
- Do bodyweight exercises for a few minutes. I do a 100 burpee challenge at the moment.
- I hit the sauna or pool if I can after that.
- Long inspirational shower.
- Listen to Darren Daily
- Prepare 0.5 liters of tea to get my water intake up (I mix between green, jasmine and fruit)
- I don't drink coffee anymore atm.
- I make sure my morning block finishes within 1 hour after waking, so normally by 7am latest
Now I go into my first TASK-block. I try to get in 4 of them a day, each lasting around 2 hours. Normally I go for 50-55 minutes straight, then take a short break, and then I do part 2 within a block. I work through these tasks the way I set them up the night before. These are typical things in these blocks:
- Write blog posts (like these)
- Send newsletters
- Meetings with people
- Events
- 1 Block a day is: Social Media
- 1 Block a day is: Email, Calls, Replies
I really want to focus on my personal development in 2016, and I have 2x 1 hour of that in. The first block is called the LEARN BLOCK and covers:
- Do Contactually to know who to reach out to (not learning, I know, still)
- Do my daily accounting - I have strict financial goals and I cannot reach them without that
The other block is in the afternoon called the READ / REST block:
- Read book
- Learn Coding (atm I do Python)
- Read 1 Blink book summary
- Read 5 facts on Curiosity app
As I mentioned above I either cut my time short for eating, or take some time to meet people for lunch. This is really important I feel. Also, evening I sometimes go to events, workshops or meetings. The last block is the Gym block where I do the Insanity Max 30 at the moment. Also, I block in 1 hour as a puffer when things don't work out or just to chill.
A few questions I constantly get when people see my daily routine:
What do you do if your day gets messed up for whatever reason?
Happens every once in a while - I try to avoid it of course. But then I just jump into the next best block.
Gym 6 times a week? Is that not too often?
Short answer: NO
Long Answer: No, because I don't do that same stuff every day in my workout
That does not look like fun - it is all planned out!
Well, it is your choice of being productive or not. And I have not found any better way! Let me know if you have and I am happy to compete with you in a productivity competition.
It is too rigid - how can you be spontaneous?
Fair point, and I would not give the same answer as above, as I know spontaneuity spurs creativity. That is why I run these blocks, that allow me to shift around and I also have an hour puffer in there.
I cannot put in a daily routine - my day is too busy already!
LOL... That is why you need a daily routine. Busy is the enemy of productive and most of often the friend of chaotic. I am never busy, but I always know what I have to do next! Warren Buffett is said in the book "The making of a capitalist" that when he was asked when people could have a meeting with him, it was either "never" because he did not want to, or "whenever" because he could.
In my book 25 Stories I would tell my Younger Self I talk a lot more and extensively not only about daily routines, but many other productivity hacks and tricks. You can get it as an E-Book, Paperback or Audiobook on Amazon and most other Online Sites!
So, just like at the end of every chapter of my book, let me inspire you to 3 Key Take Aways:
- Daily Routines are essential - they are not maybes
- Structure your day in blocks - and fill in the blocks
- Stop the excuses
Would love to hear your feedback, either if you think this is absolute B.S. or it just blows your mind! If you are bold enough, let me know in the comments below, drop me a message or post it here on Facebook.
If you want to get more things like that sign up for my newsletter here!
Have super productive day!
Cheers,
Julian
