A Simple Art of Making More Time
You’ve heard it a million times… “We all have the same 24 hours in a day.”
And yet, it seems like some people excel at getting everything done in those 24 hours while others struggle to make any progress.
The reality is no one has time to complete everything on their list. But a few simple adjustments can free up a lot of time in your day and make the work you do much more enjoyable.
Rather than give in to the typical, trite, and tired advice on prioritization and focus, I want to give you a practical recommendation on how to “create” more time.
Some of what I’m about to say might be counterintuitive, but it represents a short-term investment for long-term gain. It’s also going to require a mindset shift for some of you… So buckle up!
Getting Clear On Consistency
Way back in the 1970’s and early 1980’s Japanese cars were considered junk. They had reliability issues. Didn’t feel great. And, were shunned by American car buyers.
But during the 80’s and into the 90’s, that began to change. The Japanese obsession with electronics and robotics became the foundation of their automotive industry. The adoption of robotics meant they could build cars faster with greater consistency and higher quality. Automation also made it easier for them to continuously improve at a faster rate than their competition.
Today, and for decades, Honda/Acura & Toyota/Lexus are some of the most reliable cars on the road with longevity that American carmakers are only now starting to rival. (6 of the top 10 longest-running cars on the road are made by Toyota, 1 is Honda, 3 are GM).
While we’re not robots, we have the same objectives in our businesses. We want to get things done as efficiently as possible while delivering the highest quality. Doing so means more control over how we spend our time and more money in our pockets.
Call Your D.A.D.
So how do we get there and build a lean, mean, consistent quality machine? Remember D.A.D. No, not the hairy guy who likes to tell fart jokes at family holidays. Try “Document, Automate, and Delegate.”
Document: You may cringe at the idea of documenting your processes and procedures, but it’s the surest way to create consistent output before you get to automation. But don’t you dare fast forward to automation if you haven’t documented first. I’ve outlined a few tips on making documentation a lot faster and less painful in the next section. If you want to free up time, it all starts by making an investment in documenting processes and procedures.
Automate: Automation is a business owner’s secret weapon. It’s what enabled the Japanese automakers to leapfrog the competition. I’ve written about Automation a bit before, and we’ll be coming back to it in more detail soon. If you dive straight into automating something, you’re likely to create a huge mess that can be very difficult to undo. It can also be hard for others to understand what’s happening if it’s not documented as you move on to…
Delegate: If you can’t automate it, you’ll eventually delegate it. If you’re like most business owners, you’ll want to be sure that the person you hire is delivering the same high-quality experience that you provide for your customers. The best way to ensure that? You guessed it… Documentation.
Sidebar: Some people refer to documenting your processes as S.O.P.s or Standard Operating Procedures. But that sounds so corporate that it makes me throw up a little in my brain, so you’ll never hear me use that term. Just know it’s the same thing.
Documentation Made Fun and Easy
Believe it or not, creating documentation doesn’t have to be painful or super time-consuming. Here are a few ways to get it done without pulling your hair out.
A few simple rules to follow:
If you’ll need to do it more than 2 times, document what you’re doing. Whether it’s once a day or once a year, document it so you don’t have to remember/relearn what you did. Then you can automate or hand it off to someone else.
Don’t obsess over perfection. You’ll iterate over time and improve your documentation. Just get it down as best as you can as soon as possible. Better yet, when you hand ownership of the process over to someone else make them responsible for updating the documentation. Remember, it’s an iterative process.
The system doesn’t matter. I use Notion. Others use Google Docs. Some use expensive documentation software. Just pick something and get started. As long as your team can access the info and collaborate on it, you’re good.
Documentation can take on many forms. Many of you are envisioning long drawn out written docs that no one wants to look at. That’s one form you’ll use, but you can also:
Create a screen capture video of what you are doing that someone else can watch or follow along with. Loom is great for this. If you still need written instructions to go along with it, have a transcript made of the video.
Create a checklist to follow instead of a long written doc. Checklists are POWERFUL. In the healthcare industry, the humble checklist reduced surgical complication rates by 35%, death rates by 47%, and saved the health industry hundreds of millions of dollars.
Create that long detailed doc. Sometimes that level of detail is necessary, so dig in and do it.
Use spreadsheets or some form of database to capture relational information and make it accessible, sortable, and searchable.
Augment written docs with pictures. This is a good way to reduce the amount of writing you have to do. Be sure that the picture is clear on what needs to happen.
Create templates. Templates speed up things and encourage consistency. For this newsletter, I have a Notion card template that queues up the things I need to think about, want to include in the content, etc.
The sooner you get your processes documented the sooner you can get on to automation and delegation without sacrificing quality.
The end result should be consistency and confidence that things are getting done as you would like and more hours in your day to do whatever it is you want or need to do.
Other Stuff That Caught My Attention
The “Other Stuff That Caught My Attention” section is on hold this week. I’ve decided to do a digital detox from all social media for December, so I’m looking for other sources to pull stuff from. (FYI – I don’t miss social media at all so far).
In the meantime, if you’re a GenX’er check out the newsletter “Further.” Further is an email newsletter with the best hand-picked health, wealth, and happiness advice for taking it to the next level in your 40s and 50s. To get you started right, you’ll get our free three-part course: Generation X-tended – Living Your Best Life at Midlife.