Walt Hampton | The Power Principles of Time Mastery

Step 1: Do Less.

• We all tend to be busy. Busy means you lost control of your time, you are stuck in the urgent at the expense of important.
• Following the Pareto principle that 20% of our efforts lead to 80% of our outcomes, focus on getting clear on that 20%. Put aside and say “No” to the rest of the things that don’t serve the big outcomes.

Step 2: Make “No” your default answer.

• When you say No, you can always reconsider later.
• Define your business and life values using the Values Matrix below.
  • Fold a blank piece of paper and fold it in half.
  • On the left side write the top 5 things that you value most.
  • On the right side write the top 5 places or activities that you spend your time on.
  • Most of the stress and overwhelm comes from the fact that there is not a congruity between the two lists.
  • With that awareness, begin to say “No” to the things that do not serve the values.

Step 3: Have a plan.

• Stop checking your email very first thing in the morning, and use your inbox as a plan for the day. That puts you in reactivity mode.
• Have a daily, weekly, monthly, plan that honours your business and life values, and that creates boundaries around the things that don’t serve those things that matter.
• Use the plan as a roadmap for your day, your week, your month, the quarter, the year, for your life.
• Weekly planning system to use:
  • Write down your plan for the next week on Friday afternoon or on Sunday.
  • Question #1: What do you want to experience in the week ahead? This creates a framework of how you show up.
  • Question #2: What are the concrete results that you want to create this week? Those are the few things that would lead to the big outcome in your life – finance, business, health and wellness, relationships, spiritual and emotional life.
  • Schedule time for those things on your calendar as appointments.
  • That plan puts you in execution mode through the week, instead of being in reactivity mode, and holds you on track with what you need to be doing.
  • Leave white space between the appointments, to have flexibility when unplanned things happen.
  • When something important comes up, and you can’t complete an appointed task, reschedule it.
  • At the end of the week do an assessment of what did well and what you will do differently, and adjust for the next week.

Step 3: Use Power Tools.

• Smartphone management: don’t check your email first thing in the morning.
• Work in 60-90 minutes blocks of time.
  • This is the best amount of time to focus on a task and be productive.
  • Work often expands to the space that you give it, so using blocks eliminates that.

• Don’t multitask, focus on one thing only.
  • You lose between 11 and 25 minutes for your brain to switch back focus fully between two tasks.

• Work on batches on repeatable tasks, or tasks with a long span like creating social media content.

Step 4: Have a rest.

• Block out rest days on your calendar.
  • You are the most important person in your business. Take care of yourself in order to keep a sustainable peak performance for the long run.
  • Don’t do “fake-ations” – fake vacations, where you check emails or do other work. Take time to actively rest or do creative work or things that inspire you.