Building an online business requires a tremendous amount of TIME, ENERGY and FOCUS and you only have a handful of hours in the day to get stuff done. In this lesson I’m going to show you a simple technique to take control of your time and energy so you can achieve your most ambitious goals.
Your focus can be broken down into a simple graph like this. On the vertical axis you have your focus and energy levels. On the horizontal axis you have your time throughout the day.
Let’s quantify your focus as a percentage, from 0 to 100% percent. Now let’s add some hours in the day from the time you wake up to the time to get ready to sleep. Maybe you like to wake up later, start work from 12 and work throughout the night or maybe you like to get up early and start before the everyone else gets up of course you adjust these hours to match your rhythm.
Now you may be tempted to think that your energy starts off high at the beginning of the day, and then slowly dips as the day goes by. And you may even think that you’re working 8-12 hours a day.
However this is not the case. In reality your focus look more like this….
Your focus comes and goes in bursts of 2-3 hours followed by short breaks. And depending on how much sleep you need, you will only be able to fit in 3 focus sessions a day, maybe 4 at a push.
One thing to note is that your focus decreases throughout the day with every cycle, so you have to plan your day accordingly to get the most from each session.
And in between every focus cycle are your daily chores. This includes exercise, breakfast, lunch, dinner, family time, and other tasks.
So if you want to run an online business, what’s the best way manage your time?
Reality of your focus…
Well based on my personal experience, here’s what I recommend…
First, sleep as much as you need to feel awake throughout the day and wake up at a time thats right for you.
At the start of your day, you should have breakfast, exercise and shower. A light jog or quick walk will get oxygen to the brain and make you feel good throughout the day. A shower will wake you up and make you feel refreshed and a hearty breakfast will keep your energy levels high for a few hours. Find the order that works for you.
Your first focus cycle is your most important. Your concentration levels will be at it’s highest and it sets the tone for the rest of the day. Do your hardest most brain-instensive tasks here this should last up to 3 hours with mini breaks in between.
As soon as you find it hard to concentrate, the first cycle is over, and it’s time to take a break and have lunch. After eating expect a ‘carbohydrate crash’. It’s hard to concentrate immediately after a meal, so give your body time to digest the food and you will regain your focus.
On the next cycle, continue working on what you were doing, or work on an easier task. Your focus won’t be as sharp as your first cycle, but you’ll still be able to get stuff done. Again this cycle will last up to 3 hours with mini breaks in between.
As soon as you find it hard to concentrate, the second cycle is over and it’s time to stop and have dinner. Again after eating, expect another carbohydrate crash, and give your body time to digest the food.
On the third cycle, your focus will be at it’s lowest in the day. If you can continue working on what you were doing in the previous cycle, or work on an easier task, that’s less intense, even repetitive.
When you find it hard to concentrate again, the third cycle is over and it’s time to stop working. This is also a good time to write down what tasks need to be done for the next day.
So now when you see your day planned out like this, you can see how important it is to PROTECT your time. This is the time that no one interrupts you, you’re not distracted by your phone, or checking your emails.
Focus over long-term…
So now you that you have your day organized, let’s spread this out over the span of a month. In a perfect world, you’re consistent and have at least 3 focus sessions a day. However this will not always be the case.
You may have a few days where everything goes how you want. Then you will experience burn out and will find it hard to focus on your business. So during that time you take a few days off. Then you recover and your focus comes back for a few more days.
Then you may need to spend time with family. Then you regain focus and continue working on your business for several days. Then you experience burn out again and take another two days off. Then you recover and work a few more days.
Then something unplanned happens and needs your attention and you miss one or two cycles. so You resume your work in the afternoon, then the next day something else needs your attention and you miss another cycle. The next day starts and you continue from where you left off.
There will always be something that slows you down so the best you can do is minimize the interupptions, and have a ‘to do’ list so you can always pick up from where you left off.
The key here is to keep moving fowards. Aim for progress NOT perfection and break down big goals into smaller tasks that you can tick off throughout the day.
Key Points…
So here are some key points to take away…
- Shower and exercise at the start of the day to increase your blood flow and get oxygen to your brain. This will puts you in a good mood throughout the day.
- Cook and store food in large portions so you spend less time preparing meals and thinking about what to eat
- Work on your hardest, most important task in your 1st cycle.
- Then work on easier tasks on your 2nd and 3rd cycles.
- Focus on progress not perfection because you will never get big projects 100% complete first time round
- You will experience burn out and interruptions so leave space for timeouts
- Break down big tasks into a small ‘to do’ lists that you can tick off throughout the day and finally
- Prepare next day in advance by writing out a new to do list for the next day so as soon as you get up you know exactly what you’re doing.
So whilst you may think you have 24 hours in the day, there are only a handful of hours to focus throughout the day. The real change in your life happens when you focus and take action. So use this system to keep you on track and I promise you, with the right training, you’ll be able to achieve anything thats important to you in a few short years.
Did you find this lesson useful? Have you experienced any scenarious mentioned above? If so, share your thoughts and comment below.
