15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management pdfdrive com

particular subject, I try to allow myself more time to focus and concentrate my
energies there. This helps me keep my grades up across the board, and not just
in the subjects I may have a stronger interest in.

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CHAPTER 21
Time Secrets of 239 Entrepreneurs
Innovators, risk takers, dream chasers, business moguls, self-made
millionaires…in other words, entrepreneurs. Arguably no other group feels the
pressure of multiple obligations. Most are overseeing sales as well as product
development. Customer service and raising capital. Podcasting, writing books,
speaking at conferences. How do entrepreneurs manage to be so productive?
I collected over 25,000 words from entrepreneurs in response to my questions
about time management and productivity. With such diversity in people and
answers there is of course no one consistent answer to increasing productivity.
However, as the answers started coming back what did surprise me was how
many entrepreneurs brought up the importance of a morning routine. These
responses were totally unaided—I didn’t ask about their routine, or if they had
one, and was actually startled by how many brought it up.
Other themes that emerged included the importance of scheduling everything
you want to accomplish on your calendar, the dangers of unmanaged email, and
the need for focus. No multi-tasking for this group.
The full unedited comments received from entrepreneurs appear below.

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Stephan Aarstol (Twitter: @stephansarstol)
www.towerpaddleboards.com
Free time doesn't materialize by itself. You have to manufacturer it. Step one is
to try to strip down your current responsibilities to the bare minimum. It's a
management by absence practice. You basically just stop doing certain things
that you previously thought were nonnegotiable...then you see what breaks.
Maybe stop answering the phone. Maybe stop coming to work on Wednesdays.
Maybe only do email at a coffee shop with your laptop that has a battery life of
90 minutes. Then see what breaks. You'll be surprised at how much doesn't
break. It will also force you to clean up your processes because you will
basically be operating at the level of productivity, but with a significantly
reduced input of time. Then, you take the free time and devote it entirely to your
next project, or some sort of business development function, 100%. I did this
when I transitioned from my poker chip company BuyPokerChips.com to
TowerPaddleBoards.com. I got my time commitment on BuyPokerChips.com
down to about 12-15 hours per week (from 40-50). I literally spend all of
Tuesday and Thursday exploring new business ideas, as well as half the day
MWF. The result is I went from having a business doing $500K per year with no
growth prospects, to one now where I did $5M last year and was named the
fastest growing private company in San Diego. I attribute that leap to this exact
process.
Stephan Aarstol is the CEO and Founder of Tower Paddle Boards, and a past
contributor to Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Search Engine Journal, Inc. &
other publications.