I am Charles Schwartz Show - End Procrastination Forever

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to the I Am Charles Schwartz Show. Today, we're diving deep into the world of time optimization and productivity mastery with David Buck, the mastermind behind Infinity Lifestyle Design. David has revolutionized the approach to time management, turning it into a science that consistently produces high-performing entrepreneurs and business leaders. David doesn't pull any punches when discussing the challenges of managing time in today's fast-paced business world. He's seen it all, from entrepreneurs drowning in tasks to companies hemorrhaging productivity due to poor time management. But through it all, he's developed a comprehensive time optimization system that's nothing short of game-changing. You'll discover David's proprietary 50% rule that's transforming how people schedule their days.

Starting point is 00:00:44 He'll walk you through his unique productivity zone identification technique that uncovers hidden pockets of peak performance. And you'll learn why his approach to proactive time management has been a game changer for countless professionals. David's focus isn't just on personal productivity. It's on creating entire business ecosystems that thrive on optimized time use. He'll share his insights on breaking down the barriers between personal and professional time management and why this holistic approach is crucial for sustainable success and work-life balance. The show starts now. Welcome to the I Am Charles Schwartz Show, where we don't just discuss success, we show

Starting point is 00:01:19 you how to create it. On every episode, we uncover the strategies and tactics that turn everyday entrepreneurs into unstoppable powerhouses in their businesses and their lives. Whether your goal is to transform your life or... Hi, welcome back to the show. Today we're with David and we're going to talk about how to kill procrastination forever. I'm excited. Thank you for being on. Always an honor. Thank you so much, Charles. Appreciate you investing time in me. Thank you. Absolutely. So tell me a little bit more about you. I know you've written a book and you've done a whole bunch of things that most people haven't. I know we're going to get to killing procrastination, how to end it permanently, but walk me through this. Who are you? What have you done? Tell me about the book. So I have always had a fascination with time.

Starting point is 00:01:58 And that actually came from the fact that I have been in business development for all of my career. All of us who know that's a fancy word for sales. So I was a salesman and I learned early on, particularly those of you who are looking at me, I wasn't going to get far in my amazing, stunning, good looks and charisma. It wasn't going to do it for me. I think you made it sound to yourself, but okay. Thanks. And I found though, where my success slide was being better prepared than my competition. And that preparation came in the fact, part of it and how I used my time. And that became the defining element for me through my career is that I was going to provide you my product and service,

Starting point is 00:02:40 but I was going to help you manage your time. so you didn't have to be bothered by all the stuff that could come from me from not following through like I should. So that became my defined success and carried that through and then found probably about five years ago, I was helping friends, friends of friends, family members, people I didn't know, help them manage their time. They were asking for assistance and built a system around that. And four years ago, launched my company and two years ago, went in full force, stopped the side hustle, dove into it. And in that process, I really began to learn and understand there's some key components and elements about how people, what I call optimize their time or proactively use their time versus reactively or managing their time. And that inspired me to write the book, The Time Optimized Life, which seeks to take people's

Starting point is 00:03:37 mindset from first in, first out to plan, negotiate, and adapt through a proactive system, what I call time optimization. So when your clients work with you, what do they normally come for you? And what do they normally get out of it? So what are the problems they normally come to you with? Like, hey, this is what's going on. And then what is the end result? So in the case, I deal with two sets of clients. Most of them are either have

Starting point is 00:04:06 been business leaders or entrepreneurs. One phase is those who are in their career or in their business. So they're like, I'm trying to figure out life. Really their challenges there revolve around trying to find flexibility between personal life and professional life. The ability that I can flex into work when I need to and sustain there, but I also have the opportunity to flip into personal life and invest good time there. So that's the one element. Second element are those people who are thinking about heading into what I call post-career or retirement. What are you going to do with all this free time if you choose to stop working? So I craft around a lifestyle strategy for them.

Starting point is 00:04:50 And I love playing in both elements because both teach me, myself, how to be better in this idea of flexibility. There's a lot of people who, because I've been retiring entrepreneurs for 20 years, there's always this boomerang or slingshot idea that they always come back to like, hey, I'm retired. I have all this free time. Oh, God, I need to go back to work because I don't know what to do. So being able to plan this and optimize their time is so vitally important. And again, I know we're going to talk about ending procrastination. And that's going to be a huge thing because I suffer from it. I don't know an entrepreneur who doesn't

Starting point is 00:05:22 suffer from it because we have such burnout in our field. But if someone's going through and we can just give them a small taste of how to optimize their time outside of procrastination, how do they do that? If someone doesn't have the book in front of them right now, what are some key takeaways that they can do right now? What is something someone can do?

Starting point is 00:05:41 Two things, do this immediately. First element is to think of time you have to invest time to get more time so we all consume time at the same rate a second to you is the same as a second for me but we don't use time the right way or the same way so i can i my trade show days an hour being on a trade show floor that's slow, goes extremely slow. Add some customers to it and I'm like, oh, an hour has gone by already. So it's that perception. So the idea really ultimately for you is to say, what am I going to do to invest time upfront to then be able to adapt later. And that requires a discipline

Starting point is 00:06:29 that a lot of people are happy with and are really good at reacting, but then they struggle with, well, I set my time up, plans didn't go the way I anticipated. I'm throwing it all out the door and going back to the way I used to do. Right. That happens far more often than we'd like to admit to. So let's get into it. I want to know how to kill procrastination. I've suffered from it for 40 something years at this point. How do we reverse it?

Starting point is 00:06:53 How do we get rid of procrastination? I am really excited for this. Well, let's define procrastination first so that we have some guidelines to follow. And how I define procrastination is intentionally delaying on something that's important and shifting your attention to something less important that gives you a false sense of productivity. I think you've been my whole life. So that, and I think everyone suffers from procrastination at some point. I do myself. Just last week, I had a day where I was supposed to write for my second book, and I found every other excuse to do everything that gave me a false sense of I was productive,

Starting point is 00:07:45 but I failed in that because I didn't define strongly enough what my day was. So for all of us who delay intentionally on something and shift from a more important thing to a less important thing, that's procrastination. And it is a big challenge for those of us who run our own businesses or in a leadership role because we can get so sucked into the tactics that we forget about the strategy. So I'm curious when it comes to procrastination, are there certain things that create more procrastination than other things? For example, an iPad versus a TV versus, are screens worse or are being overwhelmed worse? What are the things that trigger the procrastination

Starting point is 00:08:34 for most people, especially your clients? So typically the biggest thing is they have not defined enough what they need to accomplish. I'll use a very broad example. So behind me, I'm in a white room right now. I have an off-white office. If I choose to want to do a project of, I'm going to paint my office. Typically, if I left it at that, I can wake up the next day and say, I got to paint the office. Oh, and before I know it, it's two weeks. I got to paint the office. The idea is to break it down then into more manageable tasks or project. Take away that.

Starting point is 00:09:15 That could be the ultimate goal to paint your room, but there could be 12, 13, or 14 steps that gets you to that final completion. So if you make a broad statement as a business owner that says, all right, I'm going to get a hundred more clients next year, wonderful goal. But if you have no process, you have no motivation set for that, and you don't have the right equipment around you, great. That 100 is still going to be 100 on December 31st when you went out of the gate on January 1st because you didn't have structure around how to complete it. Gotcha. So it's about the methodology. It's about the systems. It's about having all of that as an encompassing thing, like any other aspect of our

Starting point is 00:10:01 business and our lives. And one of the things we entrepreneurs forget is there's not a huge difference between our business life and our personal life. There was a friend of mine who had gone through AA and he said, the only difference between AA for alcohol and AA for entrepreneurs is in the one for entrepreneurs, you stand up and you say, hey, my name is Bob and I don't know the difference for my business life and my personal life. Like, oh, hello, Bob. Welcome, Bob. Welcome, Bob. Because it's basically that difference is you just have no idea. And the idea that, hey, I'm going to have balance here and I'm going to have balance doesn't exist. It comes down to systems and policies and procedures and discipline. So if someone's coming in, I know you break it down into three very specific sections when we're

Starting point is 00:10:42 going to go after and we're going to conquer procrastination we're going to try and end it once and for all for those who are listening what are those three so it's the processes you establish that define so that's the first one that helps define exactly what you think you need to do the second thing is the equipment that you use and of course as if you're a solopreneur who provides a service, you're probably thinking, what does equipment have to do with it? You do, you live in equipment. It doesn't have to be just a manufacturing facility. And then the third element is your motivation. What's driving the behaviors with which you are going to want to complete that. I'm a big fan of obviously

Starting point is 00:11:27 positive motivation, but there's been plenty of times in my life where I was negatively motivated to a positive outcome. So I think that's why I don't say just positive motivation, because that can give you a false sense of accomplishment, can even be toxic to you from the standpoint is, I'm going to, rah, rah, rah, I'm getting those 100. But if you don't have a realism behind it, then you'll find you continue to delay. So process, equipment, and motivation are the three key elements that I ask people to focus on

Starting point is 00:12:00 when it comes to procrastination. So when they jump in for processes, what are some of the tools and techniques that they can start using to optimize it the best way possible? What is something that someone can do immediately in the process section? I would say, take a look at your calendar today. When I look at, first thing I ask with a new client is, show me your calendar. Typically, what I see in that calendar is a series of blocks of time that are associated to a lot of times either client generated, or if they have a team, they're pulling a team into series of tactical meetings.

Starting point is 00:12:37 I'm not discounting any of those that's important. But what I typically see is a lot of white space, a lot of just grid lines from the counter. So I said, well, what's happening in this time then? Well, I've got a list of things I have to do and I'll go ahead and work in those open times. Well, what happens if a client wants to meet with you? Oh, I'll shovel that time into that open spot that becomes a client. And then I figure out what to do later. And so, well, that will cause you to procrastinate because the process of not having a calendar

Starting point is 00:13:13 system in place where you're proactively laying out what you think your time's going to be, for me, I counsel two weeks minimum, knowing that it's going to change. I use a wet cement analogy that says, when a company pours a foundation for a building, the concrete has to set and cure. So there's still time to change it. Week two is your wet cement. It's where you're going to say, I'm going to do my best, but I know it's going to change. But in and amongst all that simple process of account of just one thing of your calendar, you are allowing yourself to negotiate for when people want to demand your time. And therefore you're like, can't do this because I've got this project I'm working on, or I can't do this because I've made a commitment elsewhere here that's important that I complete. So that's

Starting point is 00:14:05 one of the biggest areas that you can do from a readily available tool to minimize procrastination. When you're breaking down the calendars, are you using, do you see better results with digital or analog paper? And then from there, how do you break up the time clusters? Do you do in 15-minute clusters, 20-minute clusters, two-hour clusters? How do you get into those level of minute details of what's better, what works the best? I personally try to tell clients that a digital calendar is the best way because if you have an email with an exchange server, it's there. It's there. But I also know people who are very old school who still use planners.

Starting point is 00:14:48 I'm like, that's great. The methodology is the same. I think you lose those some, you get some inflexibility with the planner because you can't share that. You have to go digital to be able to share it. But I don't challenge people if it works, I'm not going to break that for you. But if you go to the digital calendar, then the idea for me is anything, whether you have business related meetings tied to the functionality of your business, just day in and day out, and client calls, that's for me

Starting point is 00:15:22 are the two priorities that define my calendar. So once those fill up, that's great. But then the open time, I still fill that up, but it's normally generally tied to a project or a tactical processes. And so it could be an hour of what I call administrative work. Then I'm going to define what that administrative work means outside my calendar. But if you are using a calendar, I don't block that as busy. Because if I say that I'm going to work an hour on administrative, but that's lower level, and a client sees and wants to book a meeting with me through Calendly, I use HubSpot, one of those, they see that as open and I'm willing to do that. But if I have 2025 business strategy locked in for three hours, that's blocked off on my calendar because I don't want the client to be able to book during that

Starting point is 00:16:21 timeframe. They'll figure it out. There's plenty of other availability left because I need to devote that time. So right then and there, I have on the motivation standpoint and the process standpoint of those two, I've identified that's important to me and I'm going to carve that time out. So I think, you know, when you were saying before about exchange, how vitally important it is for people who don't have VAs, please get one as quickly as you possibly can. If you got to work at Taco Bell, if you got to do Uber drives just to pay for the VA, it's worth it. Because my VA, we sit down, she's been with me for six years. Her name is Christine. Everybody knows who works with me. We will sit down and we will go over every 90 days. What are we going for? What is the main goal? What are the priorities? And they very rarely change.

Starting point is 00:17:03 And I'm okay. This is what I'm available. This is what's negotiable. This is what's non-negotiable. And then I set it and forget it. I barely check my emails. I barely check my messages, all the social media. That's not my job. I've outsourced that to someone else so that when I wake up in the morning, my calendar

Starting point is 00:17:18 is fully digitized and I roll over. I do my morning routine that we all do. And I'll look at my calendar. I'm like, what am I doing today? It is wonderful to have that level of feminine energy in your life to tell you this is what you're doing today I'm like okay it's just so much easier because she can control it and she also knows the priority so if you're going to share it with somebody please sit down and make sure they know what your priority is and I love that you mentioned that like listen my clients

Starting point is 00:17:41 this is important but also if I have this for 2025, that's also important. When you block this up, I know Benjamin Franklin, he has a very famous one that he had in his diary of how he broke his up. How do you break up your time structures? So it breaks it up. I do not try to do anything more than three hours. So I go as sometimes as little as 15 minutes, because I do offer 15 minute shots with clients and prospects. Somebody has a specific question, they can do that. So 15 minutes, but I try not to do, I limit the time that I'm available for 15 minutes in areas that I know aren't in, I'm not needed to be hyperproductive because typically those are lower level,

Starting point is 00:18:30 very specific things. So again, we have through the wonderful digital calendar process, the ability to decide when we want to be available to clients, depending on the type of meeting. And I probably have six different types of meeting structures that I have based upon that. So if you click on one type of meeting, that's going to tell you I'm available on one time. And if you click on another, it's going to be available on another because it's tied to when I'm going to be most productive. And you're using HubSpot? I use HubSpot as a way which links to my Outlook calendar.

Starting point is 00:18:58 So it's all so, and there's very specific questions I'll ask in. Calendly does the same thing. I use TidyTown use because then that way you can also qualify. So if somebody says, well, I'm going to come talk, I want Dave to file, solve my problems in 15 minutes. That ain't happening. So there's very specific questions I ask of them in that, like, what are your goals? And if someone comes back and tries to circumvent that and says, yes, Dave, I want you to be able to help me set my lifestyle strategy in 15 minutes, I'm going to say, I'm sorry, I'm canceling this meeting. That's not what this is for.

Starting point is 00:19:34 If you would like to, here's an alternative booking, whether that's a paid booking or not. It depends on how you have it set up. But then you're identifying to them what's important to you in the use of your time. So I think it's a great question. Take advantage of that. That's an automation process to your equipment that allows you not to have to think about that. Put it on the onus of, and Charles, your process that I had to go through to get on to your show did that as well. It put onus on me to provide you with information to help you bring value, not only to me, but to your listeners. And so that is a great example of what you did. Thank you. We also do that in job postings. We will hide in the job posting when we're hiring

Starting point is 00:20:19 someone and say, oh, by the way, make sure you say blah, blah, blah, put it as a subject line. So we know that you're detailed oriented. So we have that in there. One of the challenges that I run into, because I'm very structured with my time as well, I'm exceptionally protective over it, is how to deal with hard stops. Now I've learned a specific technique that I use. I'm curious when you run into these meetings and these calls where people want more of your time, or you've got back to back back calls, how do you handle the, hey, this is a 15 minute call? How do you normally address that? And that happens on the pre-side. So the preparation element of it that says, I ask a series of qualifying questions. So if it's a 15

Starting point is 00:20:55 minute call, I actually have 15 minutes is very short. What is your main goal that you want to achieve from this 15 minute session? So it's all the's all the pre preparation aspect of it. Then it's the reminder, even if it's an hour meeting, I will go ahead and say to somebody, if, uh, if I have a hard stop, I'm like, I've got an hour. Yep. So at five minutes to the top of the hour, uh, I'm going to be calling timeout so that I can regurgitate back to you either what I owe you or you owe me. So that's important. Where you can, I do try to build in time between appointments, just from the simple fact, particularly if it's a client, I want to be able to stop back and reflect a little bit about what happened during that client or that prospect's timeframe. So then I am putting it into my CRM, any follow-up that I have to do.

Starting point is 00:21:51 So I'm doing the work when it's fresh on my mind, but there are times I can't do that. And so that idea then is to announce and even remind. It says, okay, we're 30 minutes through. I'm seeing we're 25% through the agenda. So we either need to speed things up or let's just stop right now and tell each other, we need to invest more time at a future date and we will then go ahead and finish up what we can. So there's not that pressure of, you know, speeding it up to two times what we normally were to say, ah, I got everything done for that meeting. Meanwhile, your client or you are dissatisfied because key elements weren't discussed.

Starting point is 00:22:37 I think the magic words are a hard stop. Whenever I run into a call, I'm like, hey, thank you so much for jumping on call. I've got a stop at 5 p.m just want to give you a heads up this is what's going on and I agree with you always giving some sort of leeway whenever you can you know one of the things that and I we we notice this because you do shows and you've been on shows and you know things of this nature is I'll always join and start the call a little bit earlier and I want to see who shows up early I always want to see who shows up early because those calls nine times out of ten are the better episodes than the people who show up right on time so i've always seen yeah the people who show up early nine times out of ten are going to deliver better and it's more of a calming process because if you show up right on time there's a

Starting point is 00:23:20 sense of panic that comes into it so the people people who show up early is always huge. And being able to say hard stops, vitally important. I will say I'm not as good as the CRM as you are. I will just send a voice note. I'll send a voice note to the team like, Hey, I spoke to David, this is what we talked about this what's going on. These are my thoughts on them. I love this. I don't love that. Do this, that and then they'll regurgitate it back to me and they put in the CRM. Again, please invest into a VA with the love of everything holy. And I would say, I didn't mention, even though I don't mean to say this in a negative way, that's part of the equipment. A VA can be part of the equipment. And I don't have a VA and I'm exploring that. I know I'm going to need a VA as I'm beginning to scale up. There's no, and automation, it's one of the

Starting point is 00:24:07 pillars of my business strategy is this continuous automation. What is it? What it is? When you and I talked previously, you gave some great automation stuff behind that. And I geeked out on that and went and looked at that stuff. But for those particularly, I don't care what size business you are. You need to be thinking automation through everything in your processes that allows you to take tactical out of your brain and put strategic and innovation in your brain. That's the time that needs to be covered there. Yeah, I think it's being taught early on that, hey, you don't have a Ferrari, deliver pizza. You're the owner of the company. You're a Ferrari, don't deliver pizza.

Starting point is 00:24:47 Go out and outsource. And that's no offense to my team or the people. There are things that they do better than I ever will. But being able to sit there and have everything automated, hugely important. And so as we go through and we've laid these things out and you've used the tools and you're using Tidy Calendar or you're using HubSpot or you're using Calendly, you're using these tools. You now process through that. You've got your day within reason laid out. You've got your priorities. You're like, this is what I'm going to do. This is

Starting point is 00:25:14 what I'm not going to do. What's the next step? What are the next things we get into? And what are the tools that we can use in that one? It depends on how deep you want to go. If someone's particularly struggling with procrastination, I say, then you need to track your time. And you're thinking, I got to spend more time? What? And that's a frustration. I get exasperation out of that. And I'm like, when you have something that you keep delaying on and you spend time. I personally use Clockify as a means for that. It's a time tracking tool. It's a free version. They have a very robust free version. That's why I like them. I do the paid version because there's a lot more reporting to it, but just spend time. It doesn't have to be all detailed, but just say, what did I do in this hour? Or great thing with

Starting point is 00:26:04 Clockify is you click the button and it tracks it for you and you start and stop when you're done. And then it provides you with the report. You will find, particularly if you're procrastinating, you will probably be shocked after a couple of weeks where you're wasting time. Oh, immense amount of time. Immense. Yes. And the fact it begins you to help prioritize so you can say, all right, you know what? I don't need to pick this up, this phone. I don't need to check those messages. It challenges you.

Starting point is 00:26:38 But if you don't want to do that, like I'm not tracking my time, Dave, whatever. Thanks for the advice, then it's simply, you take time at the beginning of the day to give yourself a gut check of what my day was like. And then even if it's five minutes at the end of the day, you self-evaluate, how did I do? So the blocks of time, did I really spend that time in those blocks of time? Did I have to adapt for something more important that meant to do that? But ultimately, if you had something that you're saying I'm procrastinating on, did you make progress on that in that particular day?

Starting point is 00:27:16 Many cases, if you say, yeah, but I didn't get done what I exactly wanted to get done, give yourself some grace. You made at least some progress. It's when you're at the end of the day saying, I really needed to work on that project and I didn't, that then that's when the time that you say at the end of the day, you don't beat yourself up. You say, tomorrow's another day. What do I have to adjust tomorrow to either get back on track or start making progress towards it. And it's a beginning and the end of the day routine that you do going forward. I have to say it never stops. And it sounds like you map that into your time.

Starting point is 00:27:53 You're like, okay, this is my pre and this is my post. I'm going to map that out no matter what so I can know what's going on. What do you do when you're running to, you've built all this and you've got some processes going and you've got some tools in there, you're tracking it. And all of a sudden, as it happens, Tyson's got a great quote, everyone's got a plan until you get punched in the face. What do you do when life will do that? It will punch you in the face. We've got a tropical storm coming.

Starting point is 00:28:17 What do you do when you've got to pivot those? How do you get rid of the rigidness of some of the system that's being created. And that's a great point because I love rigidness and I have to battle against that because I can look at my calendar and every hour is planned and I'm so proud of myself. And then you're right, things change. And this is where I call the rule of 50%. If it is important to you, so you're working on something, you're like, I've got to get this done. The pre-planning part of it, the preparation says, I try to estimate how many hours that that's going to take. And then add up to 50% more on top of that, because the plan never goes the way you account for it. And you build that into your calendar.

Starting point is 00:29:08 So if you say, well, I'm going to plan two hours tomorrow, but this is really important. You know what? I'm going to carve out three hours. If you get it done in two hours, wonderful. You have found another hour of which I know you have plenty of things to fill that with. But if you're at two hours and 50 minutes and you're going, wow, I'm on a roll. I really would love to be able to spend more time, but another appointment's booked up in that you lose that momentum. So just plan 50% on the important things. It's a bit like in real estate, whatever you think the project's going to cost, three exit, because it's just going to cost three times as much every single time with oh i remember flipping houses and expanding my real estate portfolio people would come in like this is what's going to cost and i'll just write three acts on top and like it's going to cost three times that it's

Starting point is 00:29:54 going to be twice as long and three times as much just is what it is it's murphy's law so many war wounds on that one all right so many war wounds having trauma right now. All right. So as you come through, you map this out. You're monitoring it. You're adding an extra 50% to everything. Where do we go from there?

Starting point is 00:30:13 What is the next step that we do? So the next step is to monitor your progress and ensure that as you go along, you are understanding the steps you need to take to meet that ultimate goal. So again, if you're painting your room, have I picked a paint color? Have I decided on the brand of paint? The type of paint? Do I want high gloss, satin, flat? Then I say, what materials do I need to get that done? Do I have them already

Starting point is 00:30:47 or do I need to do that? Where's the retailer I want to go to buy that paint? Is it Sherwin-Williams or is it Home Depot? Then what's the prep I have to do? Do I have to prime before I paint? So all those get broken down. And again, even if you say, I'm giving myself a month to decide if I'm going to paint this room, you're like, okay, cool. I've already picked the color, style. I already have the things in place. So as you see progress, and I find people when they do that, they actually find they're ahead of time when they break it down into those small chunks. So an owner's got to give a proposal to a client in two weeks. Well, when they set it up into small chunks, they find a week, I'm 75% done here because it didn't either take as long or they

Starting point is 00:31:40 get in a momentum that says, oh, I'm really digging what's happening here. And I'm seeing progress. So I'm excited because I hit the next thing. And that goes to that motivation aspect. I'm now motivated to do it. Now, you could also wait until the day before and be negatively motivated, but you're still motivated. And then you consume all your time. You're up late to do that.

Starting point is 00:32:02 You still get it done. But I would ask you, it's not necessary. Please don't do that. Plan it out more so you get a good night's sleep before you have to give the proposal. How do we, you know, we talk about how you get an elephant, which is one bite at a time. It's a very famous idea. How do you, what tools have you used to say, okay, I've got ABC project. It's this big project that we have going on.

Starting point is 00:32:24 What tools are you using what are the methodologies that you break down that project is there certain aspects or certain ways that you're like hey you know what as you said with that with the painting the room where am i going what am i buying what is it a matte finish you know going through all of those what are the things that you've used and your clients use with you that you're like, hey, this is how I break down so I can swallow that elephant. So if it's individual, so for example, if it's me and I've got something, or if it's a client, I usually ask, so the nature of this project, is it you alone in isolation that you have to get this done? Is it you who has to collaborate with others to get that done? And then is it you working with the client through a series of others to get that done? And then is it you working with the client

Starting point is 00:33:06 through a series of steps to get that done? So those are the three elements you have to decide. If it's just you, I say, keep it simple. Use your calendar and tasks function. Get that down in the steps through a task function that ties Outlook, Apple, whoever you use, has a built-in task and calendar function with it. Make that simple. However, if you're going to collaborate with others, that's where

Starting point is 00:33:35 I really recommend it's some type of tool for collaboration in Teams. If you have Microsoft, you can do Microsoft Teams is very robust. Slack is another one if you have that sort of thing. So there's a lot of readily available software functions out there that allow you to collaborate in there because then you identify the key elements within that project. And if you assign it to somebody, it allows you the opportunity to emphasize urgency to this. Charles, I'm going to need this step done because nobody can go forward through that. So explain to me how you're going to do that. So there's investing time to understand clarifications, roles and responsibilities, timelines, and how that's going to get done. Then if you're going to deal with clients outside,

Starting point is 00:34:27 so it's a client-based project or whatever, then I try to adapt to what they're doing. Tell me what systems you use today. How do you want me to communicate as I get through the various gates to get to the end of this? Is it an internal system you want to invite me in? I do, I get

Starting point is 00:34:45 clients who invite me into either their Slack or their Microsoft Teams so that they can communicate directly or others can. Some don't, they're a little wiggy about having someone into their system. So let's say, what's the best way? Here's systems that I use. And so between those three, you're identifying expectations either to yourself personally or to others, how it's going to get done. What are one of the systems? Because I'm just going to try and steal information from you. What is one system that you use or you've seen a client use that, you know, you talked about sharing some of your systems with your clients. What is one of the systems that you're like, you know what, if their stuff is really bad,

Starting point is 00:35:22 or they've never done this before, or there's absolute chaos, this is a system I implement that like clockwork, it really helps start moving that ball forward. Yeah. If they particularly want me to see, like if I'm coaching them one-on-one, biggest element, again, going back to simplicity is share your calendar with me. So I get to see exactly everything that you're doing and I can challenge. So if there's an open space, tell me why it's open. What are you doing in that open space? Or if I see a block of three hours that says administrative work, I'm like, you need to tell me what you're doing in that administrative work. Have you planned for that out there? Then if they're still struggling, then share your tasks with me so I can see exactly how

Starting point is 00:36:08 they're aligning the tasks into a block of time and challenge them if it's realistic or not. And if you don't want to use somebody like me, I'm just like, if you're a business owner, you know somebody in your life you can trust. Find that accountability person that you can then share that with who's not going to tell you, oh, this looks fantastic, but they're going to tell you, hey, I think you got 80% right. 80% needs to be adjusted. Tell me how you're going to be able to accomplish this. And again, if it's delivered in the right way with someone you trust,

Starting point is 00:36:47 you'll see that you will begin to think differently and try to anticipate to that level of trust to say, are they going to like what I have here? Have I done enough to do that? What do you do when someone sits there and they get overwhelmed? Because you and I seem very similar being anal retentively disciplined and organizing and mapping everything out. do you do when someone sits there and they get overwhelmed? Because you and I seem very similar being energetically disciplined and organizing and mapping everything out. I'm very old fashioned, I start with the very small post-it notes. And then I go to the bigger post-it notes, and I map it all out. And I brain dump everything away now, and then I'll transfer it over to digital. But I love that, that that organization, that you know my uncle says it's not OCD

Starting point is 00:37:25 it's CDO because at least it's in the right order there's a little bit of that in me what do you do when your client comes up to you and they're like oh my god I have to map out every oh and you get that pushback you get that resistance how do you get them over that hurdle of hey you know what you can keep doing it the way you were doing it, but this probably worked better for you. How do you get them over that? Well, Rome was not built in a day. So if they're overwhelmed, like there's no stinking way, Dave, I'm planning my calendar out the way you want to. Then I said, tell me where your productivity zone is. Where are you the most productive for yourself, for your team, for your clients? Tell me that zone. And once we figure out what that zone is, then I'm like, you just plan that.

Starting point is 00:38:16 Plan that zone with your most important activities, with the things that you can't procrastinate on. So if from nine to noon is your high productivity zone, do that. If you're an after lunch person, if you're an evening person, if you're a night owl, maybe your zone needs to be from eight to 11 at night, whatever that is. I don't want you to do that in lieu of also taking care of yourself. But if that's your zone, then plan the most important things that you can do in that zone. So then you find you're not procrastinating. Once you do that, then I do the good mission creep, then try to do an hour or two outside that zone until at such point, you're planning both your professional and your personal day out there.

Starting point is 00:39:07 So if you look at my calendar now, I have an hour at night for reading. I don't read every night for an hour, but it's there to remind me this is time for you to invest in your personal development or just great. I'm a sci-fi fan just so that I take time reading literature that I like. So do your productivity zone and then expand out from there. So they've gone through, they've got the conflicts, they've mapped everything out, they're starting to prioritize things, they're implementing some of the tools. Hopefully they hire a VA for the love of everything. Holy. Can't believe you haven't hired a VA at this point. We're going to talk about this after the camera stops rolling. Very fair.

Starting point is 00:39:48 Very fair. Yeah. Get that needs to be on your list. Hire a VA by the end of the week. It is, it is on my list. I interviewed quite a few people recently. Get it done. It changed my life. I would not be where I am without a VA. Absolutely not possible. They've gone through, they mapped it all out. As we've gone through these processes, what is it of the three that we've talked about? Which one is the hardest normally for people to implement and to execute on? So I will speak personally for myself and include everyone in there. The third element is, quote, equipment slash automation slash VA, to affirm what you said. In and amongst, once you establish a cadence on your process,

Starting point is 00:40:33 you cannot rest on your laurels. At that point, again, you as an owner, a leader, I want to spend as much time in strategy and innovation and less time in tactics. So it's a constant challenge for me where I block off time to think about how can I automate this? What is the way that I can do this that will bring me scale without sacrificing customer service. And we live in such an amazing time where even outside of AI, you can still automate your processes. Like my entire client engagement is automated. Now you might be thinking, what does that mean? Well, it is automated in the sense that those tasks are defined. Some are the email goes out. I never even touch it or look at it. I won't do anything until the client engages back.

Starting point is 00:41:31 But then also automation is a reminder to say, once I'm in a particular sales funnel or process funnel, it reminds me I need to call the client. So all of that stuff, David Allen, who wrote a book called Getting Things Done, it is a very tactical. Yes, I have it on this side. David Allen's book was all about talking about how we have, and we're like a computer. Our brain has open memories and it also has a file system. The idea you want to do is not to have your open memory or

Starting point is 00:42:07 your desktop filled with a bunch of crap. You have a clean desktop because you have in the file system already reminders set for you to do a particular activity. So I don't have to think about, did I email Charles back on the follow-up? I don't have to think about, did I email Charles back on the follow-up? I don't have to think about it because I am going to be reminded by the system and the equipment to say, it's time to call Charles. And then I get to spend the rest of the time trying to figure out how do I improve my business? We sat there and we used to do this as a litmus test when I would hire people. And I would always, if they were going to be managers or senior level, they'd come over. And right before the end of it, because I'd always be the last conversation, I'm like,

Starting point is 00:42:51 take a wallet out. I'm like, excuse me? I'm like, take a wallet out. And they're like, take out your money. And I'm like, show me the money. And if it was all facing the same way from one value to the other value, I'm like, you're hired. If they pull out a ball of garbage, I'm like, nope.

Starting point is 00:43:04 And then from there, it was open your phone. I'm not going to read out of your messages. I just want to see other value. I'm like, you're hired. If they pull out a ball of garbage, I'm like, nope. And then from there it was open your phone. I'm not going to read out of your messages. I just want to see your phone. And if all of a sudden you've got 30,000 messages that haven't been read and five, yeah, I'm like, you're not going to be my, you're not my person. That's just it. Because those were those litmus tests of putting those things in place. What are some of the tools that you've been using to make sure that this equipment and this automation starts using you talked about how emails automatically go up what are some of the software what are some of the tools that you're using to make that happen so i usually convert kit is as a way i find um you know you've got convert kit you have things like mail chimp constant contact what you want to do is you want to investigate for your business if you haven't

Starting point is 00:43:47 chosen one yet what automation best fits your business type and each either are positive and negatives to each one of those email marketing platforms and so while i use i used to be mail chimp i'm now convert kit uh and and i likeKit, but I don't want to make that as a wholesale endorsement because you might have a product or service that requires something different than what they do. But you want to look at a system there that is highly automated, that allows you to either use, they have got a robust template base, if you want to start out with, so you don't want to, how do I think about this? Then versus how do I then customize my automation that fits

Starting point is 00:44:32 me? So I think that's an important tool. I will go back to like Clockify or some time tracking, particularly if you bill by the hour with a client avenue there, the calendar is not going, you can do that. But literally, if you're going to bill by the hour, those time toggle or clockify will allow you to start and stop. So you can legitimately tell a client, I was 7.6 hours on your work last week. And they might say, but we only met for two. Well, that's because there's a lot of stuff behind the scenes that I have to do to be able to deliver you what you see in front of you. And so that allows you justification there for billing, if that's the case. It also then does that ability to say, where am I carving out my time and how can I improve that? So I think marketing tools key, a time tracking tool is key.

Starting point is 00:45:30 Those are really two elements. If you're like, where do I start? Start with those. I would also say, don't get married to whatever element you choose. There was one element for a very long time and we were bringing on a specific talent. We wanted him to take over and he's very good at what he does we know what his results were we had that whole conversation he's like what are you using now i'm like whatever you tell me to there's a great line from forrest gump where

Starting point is 00:45:54 he goes what's your purpose in my army and he was like whatever you tell me to drill sergeant when you're bringing on talent when you've gone through the entire hiring process and you're going to scale make sure that you sit down and say okay okay, I've hired the best talent I possibly have. It's kind of like bringing a pitcher into a baseball game. If he prefers to wear a certain type of glove and your team doesn't do that, give him his damn glove. It doesn't matter at the end of the day. Just give him the glove he wants. Same thing with the equipment you use. Same thing with the software you use. Make sure that you have those things. I would also, sorry, Charles, if I may, I forgot one.

Starting point is 00:46:29 Oh, please. And that's a CRM. Having a customer relationship management tool, whichever direction you go, again, pros and cons to each one of those. I mentioned I use HubSpot for that, and there's definite pros and cons. But the idea there is it can be broader than just your customer relationship management. It can be an amazing tool for collaboration within your organization. I like to think it is, it allows you to develop hopefully a never ending story for your clients. The idea that says, and I have clients that i've had for years that that story is very detailed i don't have to think about what did i say to that client two years ago i don't have to try to go into outlook or you know apple to try to search for it i simply have a story right there

Starting point is 00:47:19 to say and so that's the third element that i would ask that if you don't have that, research that because it's really important. It really is. I mean, I'll add on to that. Whenever I send the voice notes to my team, they will attach it to inside our CRM and they'll forward it back to me as I'm like, hey, you're meeting with so-and-so today. I'm like, huh? Because you and I both talk to so many people. I'm like, huh? And then I'll play the voice message back to myself. I was like, okay, I know who this is now. I get it. Because I'm a visual person. I need to see the face because I'm horrible with names. I don't remember anyone's names. When talking about collaboration, if someone's like, okay, I get it. I've got so much work that needs to be done. I need to fix my procrastination. I need to redesign my lifestyle. I really need to

Starting point is 00:48:02 look at this. I need to optimize what I do. If someone wants to collaborate with you, if someone wants to connect with you, what is the best way for them to reach out and get ahold of you? So I would say first from social media, if you want to do that, I'm on LinkedIn. It's at David S. Buck. Just send me a connection request. It gives you a great idea to understand a little bit more. But then also, I'd encourage you to go to my website, infinitylifestyledesign.com. Again, infinitylifestyledesign.com, one word. And at the front, what I want you to do first is get

Starting point is 00:48:33 a benchmark. And so what I offer clients is they can go to their, you can take either of my two main assessments, the retirement time analysis, if you're on that part of your life and want to figure out what time's going to be like there, great. But if you're definitely an entrepreneur, a leader, take the time management analysis assessment, because that'll give you a benchmark right then and there of where am I strong? How can I use my strengths to then help my opportunities? And then again, another thing, if you'd like my book, The Time Optimized Life, at the top, if you click on that link, there's a way for you to download chapter one. So if you're kind of like, what is this time optimization thing about?

Starting point is 00:49:15 What's this guy trying to tell me here? Download chapter one. It gives a great overview of how you can optimize your time by being proactive. And then, gosh, if you want, the book's available anywhere for you if you'd like to order it from there. I really appreciate coming on. I'm going to start implementing some of these because procrastination is something I have fought with since ever. So thank you for sharing some of these. I really appreciate you coming on. What an honor, Charles. Thank you. To me,

Starting point is 00:49:42 the time flew by, so at least I had a good time. So thank you. As we conclude this episode, we trust that David's innovative approach to time optimization and the transformative power of a proactive, holistic approach to productivity is pure gold for professionals and entrepreneurs alike. For those of you itching to overhaul your relationship with time and master the art of productivity, you won't want to miss David's comprehensive companion guide. It's a goldmine of actionable strategies, including a detailed breakdown of his 50% rule, techniques for identifying and leveraging your productivity zone, and tips for scaling your business through strategic time optimization. Don't let this valuable resource slip away. Head over to our website at podcast.imcharlesschwartz.com to grab your copy of the companion guide. It's your

Starting point is 00:50:42 personal roadmap to reclaiming your time, boosting your productivity, and scaling your business to new heights. Remember, your approach to time management is the cornerstone of your success. So go ahead, implement these revolutionary strategies, and watch your personal and professional life transform. Until our next session, keep optimizing, keep growing, and never forget that your time is an ecosystem. Nurture every moment of it. forget that your time is an ecosystem. Nurture every moment of it.

Starting point is 00:51:09 The journey to time mastery begins now.

I am Charles Schwartz Show - End Procrastination Forever

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