Buying Back Time & Overcoming Limitations

I recently asked my new best friend: “Please summarise the book: Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell.” I was interested in what the fuss was about because in the work I do in helping leaders max out their effectiveness this book is making a few waves in my world.

She gave me the bat. Amber Ivy, my wife calls ChatGPT (short for AI, gettit?) is not really helpful on anything after 2021. The book was written in 2023, so she hasn’t really onboarded any info on it yet. So she just shrugged her shoulders and encouraged me to move on.

Undeterred, I took a new tack. I went to Youtube, found a video of Dan talking about the book, and used the new Chrome plug-in to summarise. Point 4 was where he discusses the contents of the book, and I just asked Amber to expand on that point. Voila, here is a list of things you need to do to Buy Back Time, courtesy of Dan Martell.

Surprise surprise, there was nothing really new. But just like my hero Stephen Covey, he just found a way to package the good stuff that’s been around since the Greeks were top dogs in a way that made sense and is easy to digest. Here’s his to-do list, and I’ve taken the liberty to tack on some source material that might be helpful for a deeper dive:

• Time and Energy Audits
• Outsourcing
• Building Relationships
• The Power of Connections
• Overcoming Beliefs and Mindset

Time and energy audits? My fellow trainer Andy Clayton has already covered this in his book Sweetspot, and he provides a great tool for doing the same. For that matter, Warren Rustand in The Leader Within Us tackles the same topic. Go back a week, a month, a year. Track where you spent your time. Track where you were drained of energy. Once you have a clear snapshot of the current, you can start working on the future.

Outsourcing? Pretty sure Tim Ferris owns this topic from way back in The 4-Hour Workweek. Get a VA, a company, a service to do your social media, accounting, marketing, fulfillment. Fiverr is a good place to start.

Building Relationships & The Power of Connections? Stephen Covey wrote the book (literally) on Win-win relationships. It’s called The SPEED of Trust, and if you have high trust, you have high effectiveness. You have high effectiveness, guess what? Things happen with greater speed… And in terms of how Connections can smooth your way, look no further than Smartcuts by Shane Snow for a brief on how mentorship is a game-changer.

Overcoming Beliefs and Mindset? Well, hell. There are a million books on this. But skip Anthony Robbins and Covey and The Secret and go check out Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. It’s all in your head buddy.

Here’s my list, and it’s free:

1. Cultivate a habit of reflection. Daily, weekly, monthly, annually. It’s time well spent, I promise.
2. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Let them know you give a shit, and act on it.
3. Give yourself a break. Limiting beliefs is the name of the game, and you’ll have a lifelong struggle to overcome yours. Give yourself a break but do the work.

Next week, we’ll have some fun with the energy audit. Seeing as we’re smack in the middle of 2023. Good times.

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PG's Pro Tip

When you set up your day, and it feels like it’s going to be a horror…make a list. Of every single thing on your to-do list. Then rank ‘em. A’s need to happen today, B’s are tomorrow, C’s can wait till the day after. Then rank ‘em further. A1 then A2, followed by A3, and then move to B1…??

This will do two things. It will force you to tackle A1 even if you don’t want to, and once you’ve gotten over that hump, the rest will seem pretty easy and you might cruise through all the way into the C’s. Momentum, buddy. It’s a thing. Tomorrow you won’t need a list, because everything on it can wait until the next day. Make a list anyway, and crush the C’s that are now B’s. Who needs the pressure of making it wait??

Tales of the Trails

Kind regards,

PG