Don’t you wish there were more hours in the day so you could get more done?

Well, the bad news is that I can’t give you more than 24 hours and you’re going to have to use some of that for things like sleeping and eating and enjoying your family and friends.

The good news is that I can give you two strategies to help you leverage the time you do have to accomplish more…

There are two strategies I use almost every day to get more important work done.

 I call them Double-Ups and Free-Ups.

A Double-Up is when you’re accomplishing two important things at the same time. To get more done, use more Double-Ups.

Some examples from my current week are:

• Watching online course training videos while I am on my stationary bike. I can even take (sweaty) notes while I’m pedaling. For me, having a barstool in front of the bike with my laptop on it, pop on my headphones and pedal away. I have a second barstool next to me with coffee, water, my notebook, and a pen. This allows me to knock out 30 minutes of cardio and watch some important training all before breakfast.
• Hanging out with friends while cooking dinner together. This COVID mess has reduced my friend circle to a “germ pod”. That means I have a few friends I trust to have over for social distancing dinners. If we are inside, we wear our masks and wash our hands a lot. But we can still cook dinner and eat together outside. Heck, I’ve got to cook and eat anyway, why not do it with people I love?
• Listening to books/podcasts while I walk or run outside. Like you, I invest a lot of time in learning how to be better at what I do. That means I have a lot of content to consume. Anytime I’m out walking around, I’m listening to a book or a podcast. I keep a small notebook in my pocket so I can jot notes if I need to. If it is a really important point that is too long to jot down, I just make a note of the timestamp on recording so I can easily go back later and capture the concept.
• Cleaning out my email inbox while I’m cooling down from my workout and eating breakfast. Gotta eat, right? Might as well work on a low-level task (inbox maintenance) while I’m cooling down after my morning bike adventure. By the time breakfast is done, I’ll have finished my workout for the day, learned a few new things and cleaned out my inbox.
• Calling my parents when I’m walking outside, cleaning up the yard, or even cooking a meal. Wireless headphones make all the difference. Note: my parents love that I’m doing work while we are talking. It makes them know they raised a kid who can get things done. 

My other strategy is what I call Free-Ups. That is when I use someone else to do something lower-level or that I’m not good at while I’m doing what only I can do. 

Some examples from this week are:

• On Monday, while I was writing my follow-up emails for a series of reports I’m releasing for a new quiz, my freelance designer was putting together the Quiz reports. (cost: $200). 
• Tuesday, while I was creating Quiz content, my VA was learning how to use Mailchimp so she can keep track of the results of the quiz. (cost: $50)
• Wednesday, while I was running an all-day Mastermind call for a client, my VA was loading the emails I had written into the software and her daughter was creating some great graphics in Canva for my FB group. (cost: $50)
• Thursday, I was running the all-day Max Mastermind, one of my team was running our weekly coaching group for their hour. (cost: $100)

I put the costs in so you can see that Free-Ups don’t have to cost a fortune. If you have kids, you can leverage them for all sorts of useful free-up like posting for you on social media, creating graphics, etc.

Free-Ups are all about using your time for your Superpowers. Those are the things that you love, that you’re good at and that are the highest and best use of your time.

I wrote a blog post called “Why Superman Never Swims”. In it, I talk about the fact that Superman can swim, but he doesn’t have to because he has Aquaman. Having Aquaman frees up Superman to do what he does best - things that involve flying and great strength on land.

To incorporate more Double-Ups and Free-Ups into your day, make a list of everything you have to do today. Then pick one item and finish this sentence - I can do  TASK1  while I/someone else does TASK2.

I would love to hear ways you get more done with Double-Ups and Free-Ups. I’m always open to great ideas!