Time Well Spent: "Don't optimize a thing that shouldn’t exist”
Hi Friends,
Greetings from the Calgary airport, as I head home from two wonderful keynotes for the Alberta Innovates accelerator alumni community. Big thanks to Craig Elias who recommended me and my work as “the modern-day E-Myth” — such a compliment! Check out his fantastic Founder Friday fireside chat series with business authors.
These were my first in-person gigs of the year, perfectly timed with Free Time’s second bookiversary today — they grow up so fast! 🥹
I’ll be closing the BOGOGO campaign (Buy One, Get One, Give One) at the end of March, so grab your copy now if you haven’t already and submit your proof-of-purchase for free audiobook access, delivered via private podcast feed.
Want to try before you buy? Read the free excerpt here » (Web)
Don’t miss the Chapter Summaries and Leader Kit (PDFs)
Now onto this week’s round-up + Plus extra goodies over the paywall rainbow at the end . . .
⚙️ Tips & Tools
Say what you will about Elon Musk—his five-step improvement process offers a nice distillation of many of the Free Time principles and the Free Time Framework: Align → Design → Assign. From a tour he gave Everyday Astronaut in 2021:
Before you start on the five steps, eliminate: “The most common error is to optimize a thing that shouldn’t exist.”
Question the scope: Make your requirements “less dumb.” I.e. remove scope creep and process bloat.
Remove unnecessary process steps.
Simplify and optimize.
Accelerate cycle time: “If you’re moving too slowly, go faster. But don’t go faster unless you have worked on the other three things first.”
Automate. Don’t make the mistake of reversing these steps, automating work that hasn’t already been streamlined (if not eliminated altogether).
recommends Make :)
JB note: I still use Zapier for automating and connecting to Notion for most processes in my business; our Free Time Operations Dashboard pro
🎉 Featured
I’m grateful to Cal Newport for the shout-out on James Altucher’s recent podcast!
📆 Upcoming Events
🏝️ All Subscribers: Does your business pass The Fiji Test? It’s time to say goodbye to repeating yourself, death-by-a-thousand-question cuts, struggling to remember where something lives, and letting important client work fall through the cracks. Freeing time is a skill, and it is one you can get better at.
The Details: Thursday, March 28 at 12 p.m. ET on Zoom [ Register here ] Those who attend live will get a special one-time discount for working with me 1:1 on your business operations ☺️ The recording will only be available for those who register and/or for paying subscribers. Learn more and register here »
💻 Paid Subscribers: May 15 — Office Hours hang: ask me anything about a question or challenge in your business, and get input from fellow Heart-Based Business owners! 🔗 The link to register and attend is below the paywall in the footer of this email.👇
💬 Quote
👏 Here here,
!! Beautifully said:💭 Questions
Where are you letting others—or technology itself—boss you around? How often do you stop what you’re doing to read, reply or react to inbound messages, regardless of whether it’s a good time for you or not?
📝 Permission
Take your time responding! So little is truly urgent. Decide on a turnaround time that works for you for each of your inboxes. For example: LinkedIn messages within one week, texts from family within 24 hours, etc.
🍩 Recent & Related at Rolling in D🤦🏻♀️h with Jenny Blake
🎙 Free Time Podcast — Recent Episodes
✨ New bonus episode!
270: 🌈 Taking a Quiet Sabbatical and Pausing the Podcasts — For Now . . .
269: “I am not a bank.” Strategies for Getting Corporate Clients to Pay on Time with Joey Coleman
268: Strategies for Surpassing “The Magic Number” of Book Sales with Todd Sattersten (Part One) and 271: Specific Road-Tested Strategies for Book Sales and Marketing with Todd Sattersten (Part Two)
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Thank you for being here reading and listening!
❤️ With Gratitude,
P.S. Extra Goodies Over the Paywall Rainbow 🌈💰
🔐 Thank you to our generous paying subscribers who help sustain Time Well Spent! Upgrade to unlock this week’s make-you-smile memes as a token of my gratitude ☺️