I love waking up super, super early in the morning.
I mean something like 3am early!
Some people are night owls, but since my high school days, I’ve always thought it was cool to be walking around the city while others were still sleeping.
I never went to my local high school. Instead, I was accepted to a “magnet” school called Stuyvesant High School, which required a one-hour commute from my house.
As early as 13 years old, I had to get up every morning at 6am and walk 20 minutes to the subway station, and that was followed by a 45-minute train ride from Brooklyn into Manhattan.
I remember those days. No matter how cold it was, I enjoyed being up and walking in the dark at 6am to the subway.
There is something magical about being the only person up while others are sleeping.
I love the peace and calm.
Years later, I find myself waking up every morning to enjoy that same peace and calm. I could sleep longer, but I cherish the peace and quiet so I force myself to get up.
I never regret it!
I’m writing this to you at 4:39am, and it feels great.
I’ve been up for almost an hour, and have done my spiritual devotion and self-development. Once I finish writing this, I’ll be heading to the gym!
How I Get It All Done
Last week, I posted on Facebook that it feels so good to get so much done early in the morning.
Many of you messaged me back and asked how I do it, so I decided to share some time management tips in this week’s post.
Time Management 101: Planning Ahead
The foundation of time management is planning ahead.
If you want to get more things done in less time, you MUST plan ahead.
The same way you must have blueprints of a house created before you start laying the foundation, you must have a plan created before you start your day.
The more detailed your daily blueprint is, the more efficient you will be.
The reason your daily plan is so important is that, if you don’t have a plan, you will easily fall into wandering mode and have to waste valuable minutes or, even worse, hours figuring out what you should do.
Instead, every minute needs to be thoughtfully planned out. That allows you to easily move from one task to another.
When you create your plan, make sure you set out to do your most important tasks first.
You want to tackle your biggest challenges when you have the most energy.
And NEVER, NEVER, NEVER check email or Facebook messages first thing in the morning!
Never Check Emails or Messages First Thing in the Morning
The simple reason for this is because your priority is to stick to the daily plan that you had created the night before.
Emails and messages have an opposite agenda. Their purpose is to sabotage your daily plan.
When you read messages, you go into reactive mode and you end up spending time doing things that others need you to do. In other words, those messages immediately derail you from your daily blueprint.
For example, if I had already prioritized my day and decided that writing this blog was the most important thing that I had to get done in the morning, it would be dangerous for me to check my emails.
I have only two hours of working time before my kids get up, so I must get this blog done before I transform into full-time Daddy.
However, even if I take three minutes to glance at my emails, I may notice something that someone needs right away.
What Happens When You See the Incoming Messages
Once I see that incoming email, a few things may happen.
I may be tempted to reply to that email and, thus, take the valuable time I had dedicated to writing my blog.
Or even if I don’t reply, the thought of that email enters my mind and I start pondering it.
I will get distracted, and I won’t be able to write my blog as effectively.
Even though I may have spent only a few minutes, the time cost is great because when I go back to writing, I’m not as focused as I was previously. I won’t be able to get my blog done as quickly.
I just gave you an example of writing, but this is especially important if you are prospecting!
Prospecting becomes easy when you get into a rhythm and make a bunch of calls in a row.
If you are sitting down to make a dozen prospecting calls, the last thing you want is to be distracted and do another task. Once you are distracted, getting back into the flow is difficult.
The Myth of Time Freedom and the Reality of Time Flexibility
As I get older and have kids, I see that there is never enough time to do everything I want.
Even though I’ve achieved success as one of the top distributors in my MLM business, the concept of Time Freedom is a myth.
If you have kids, you know that Time Freedom does not exist.
Don’t get me wrong, with MLM you can get Time Flexibility, but you never get Time Freedom.
Did you notice what I just said?!
There is a difference between Time Freedom and Time Flexibility.
Time Freedom is a myth, but Time Flexibility is very real and achievable.
Time Freedom doesn’t exist for me because I have kids, and I can never do everything I want to do.
If you don’t have kids yet, then wait until you have one. You will understand exactly what I mean.
If you want to be a deadbeat parent that doesn’t invest time to properly raise your kids, then this doesn’t apply. However, if you want to do it the right way and invest time to properly raise and love a child, then time freedom does not exist.
If you want to be a good parent, children will rock your world!
Having kids rocked mine, and I had to scramble and learn how to get more things done in less time.
Time freedom doesn’t exist because there is simply never enough time to accomplish everything you want in life.
One of my mentors said it the best.
We live a life where we have unlimited goals and ambition but with only 24 hours less.
It’s not negative thinking or the lack of abundance.
It is simply a fact.
There are tons of things I want to do, but I simply don’t have the time to do everything!
Even if you have achieved success in MLM, you still never have the time.
I’ll give you an example.
I would love to spend 10 hours a day with my older son Ethan, but at the same time, I want to spend 20 hours alone with my younger son Brendan. I also want to spend time to take Obi out to the doggy park, and spend time with my wife Kelly…
Those things alone are impossible to do in 24 hours.
And that doesn’t even include my personal goals and dreams such as training for a triathlon and launching two other businesses!
Time is always the limiting factor.
Time Flexibility Is Possible
I was discouraged when I first discovered that Time Freedom was a myth.
However, I was determined not to give up so easily, so I set out to study and master time management.
There is no such thing as time freedom, but what is possible is time flexibility and that is what an MLM business can give you.
Though I’m still limited and can’t do everything I want to do, my MLM business has allowed me to do things when I want to do them.
I’m not constrained and limited to strict working hours where I have to be at the office.
I work when I want to work, and play when I want to play.
Most importantly, I don’t have a boss that makes me check emails first thing in the morning. 🙂
I get to plan my day and do things whenever I want to do them.
That said, I live in Los Angeles, and I’m free after I drop off Ethan at school so if you ever want to go for a bike ride with me at 11am, just let me know!
It’s a great time to ride because traffic has died down while others are at work. 🙂
THAT is time flexibility!
Two Things to Apply
I shared with you two major tips on how to get more things done in less time.
1) Plan your day in advance, and make it your major agenda to stick to that plan.
2) Never check emails or messages first in the morning.
This one thing alone will shock you as you realize how much more you can get done.
If you want to learn more tips, go check out my My Extreme MLM Productivity Regimen that has over 35 tips for you to get more done in less time. Once you go through the course, you will realize you will magically create two extra hours in your day.
Start planning your days, and let me know how it works out!
Have a productive week.
Sincerely,
Simon Chan
P.S. If you find yourself having trouble to find the time to focus on your home business, I highly recommend you learn and implement some of the 35 Time Management secrets that I teach in my Extreme MLM Productivity Regimen Time Management course. Click Here to learn how to create 2 more hours in your day so that you can build a successful business and still have time to have a life!
