How to multiply your time (with Rory Vaden)

In a recent podcast (episode #551), I talked to master strategist, best-selling author and speaker Rory Vaden about finding the question you are the answer to and the problem only you can solve, how to multiply your time, when to say no, and so much more!

Rory?is a Self-Discipline Strategist, cofounder of the international training company Southwestern Consulting, and a New York Times bestselling author.?As an author and business motivational speaker, Rory's unique insights have been shared on Oprah radio, as well as in?Businessweek,?Publishers Weekly, and SUCCESS Magazine. He is also the co-founder of the Brand Builders Group , the world’s leader in Personal Brand Strategy.?They help mission-driven messengers to expand their reach, grow their income and make a more positive impact in the world by teaching them how to build and monetize their personal brand.?

Rory’s first book?Take the Stairs ?is a #1 Wall St Journal, #1 USA Today, #1 Amazon and #2 New York Times bestseller that has been translated into 11 languages. Rory Vaden writes and speaks about how the key to becoming wealthy and well-known starts with doing the right thing even when you don’t feel like doing it.?

Rory also frequently appears in the national media for his insights on overcoming procrastination, increasing focus, and creating more influential leadership. He has been listed as one of the top 30 leadership bloggers in the world by Alexa and formerly hosted a podcast listed by Inc Magazine as the #1 best business podcast.??

As Rory notes, finding your identity and meaning has so much to with finding your place in the world. But this often is impacted by diluted focus: when you are trying to do too many things at once, you can quickly lose what you were aiming for in the first place. Diluted focus equals diluted results. Many of us spread our attention, time, money and resources so thinly that our personal lives and work suffer.?

This is why it is so important that we learn what to say yes to and what to say no to. Don’t try to just make the “perfect” choice; rather, focus on the fact that you have a limited number of resources. If you try to spread these resources too thinly, you are more likely to fail or not achieve your goals. If, however, you put resources into making fewer things successful, the likelihood of these fewer things being successful is higher. It is not about making the right decision; it is about making your decision right.?

Life happens more in seasons than in an equilibrium, which is why it is better to focus on precision rather than balance. We need to give ourselves the permission to embrace the season we are living in, which may look different to what we expected, and be okay with spending our resources on whatever is the most important for that season, just like farmers have to focus on preparing their crops during harvest time.??

One thing that can trip us up while we are working hard towards a goal is procrastination. There are different types of procrastination:??

1. Classic procrastination, which is delaying what you know you should be doing.
2. Creative avoidance: unconsciously avoiding or delaying something you know you should be doing. ?
3. Priority dilution: getting interrupted or distracted while trying to do what you should be doing. ?

The last one, priority dilution, can happen if you have too many goals at once, or if you say “yes” to too many things. This is something I am sure many of us have experienced; how many times have you said you just don’t have enough time to do everything you need to do? I know this is something I experience often!?

Time is actually something you can get more of, regardless of what you may have been told or what you believe. You can learn how to multiply your time by making decisions today that create more time tomorrow—by spending time on things today that give you more time tomorrow. Part of this means eliminating what is not important in the season of life you are in right now. When you learn to say no to things today, you give yourself more time tomorrow.??

Rory calls this the “significance calculator”. Don’t just think about today—think about tomorrow and the next day and the next day. When you do this, you realize that when you say yes to one thing, you are saying no to an infinite number of other things. If you are not consciously saying no to the things that don’t matter, then you are unconsciously saying no to the things that do matter—either way we are saying no. The key to success in any area of your life is to learn how to say “no” consciously to what is not significant, so that you don’t end up saying no to the things that really matter.??

This is more about discipline than intelligence. Intelligence tends to load up the plate with a lot of different tasks. Discipline, on the other hands, tells you to go all in on one task. It helps you focus on what is important now to help you multiply your time tomorrow.?

This is part of what Rory calls the “focus funnel”—taking everything you have on your plate and narrowing it down to what is important. This starts with eliminating what is not important (or learning to consciously say no, as mentioned above). Next, ask yourself if you can automate this: how can you spend less time doing the task you need to do by creating a process for it? This may cost you time today, but will save you time in the future. Then, you need to delegate: how can you reduce the amount of tasks you have to do yourself and save time now and in the future, thus avoiding emotional and physical burnout? Lastly, you also can procrastinate on purpose: delay the trivial things so they do not take up time you need for more important things.??

What you have left after all of these steps are the things that you have to do. These are the things that are “significant”: by doing them, you create more time for yourself tomorrow. You will be able to focus on your contribution to the world—you can multiply your impact in the world. You discover the question you are the answer to.?

This is not just about finding success and happiness, which can often make us, paradoxically, unhappy. When you focus on what you can give to the world, what question you can answer, instead of trying to find something to make you happy, you can find someone you can help—you become useful and of high value to others, which will make you happy in the short and long term. Your life finds meaning and joy when you serve other people. Your truest why is a “who”.?