One super-successful investor's techniques for how to fit more into a day (while enjoying yourself)

How do highly successful people manage their time to do so much? As we all scramble to take care of work, family and maybe a workout -- and getting stressed out by juggling it all -- highly successful people are starting companies and accomplishing a lot at a high level. 

How? 

I've studied that question for a while, which is why it was so fascinating to interview Fabrice Grinda, the "superangel" who was an early investor in Uber, Airbnb and a host of other household-name startups. He is the founder of FJLabs, which has invested in 400 early-stage companies so far. I talked to Fabrice for La French Tech, the group that is driving the French startup renaissance and connecting French and American entrepreneurs. You can hear our full conversation here.

Fabrice starts 1 or 2 companies a year, reads 100 books a year and invests in 50-100 companies a year (at an average investment of $400K per company). He also regularly travels internationally to do business.

That is...a lot.

And yet, his energy is high, he calls himself an optimist, and his intellectual curiosity never flags. I met him one morning last week (with my usual latte in hand to wake me up) and it was like a jolt of espresso just talking with him.

I was immediately curious about how he managed this, so I asked about how he thinks about his time.

His approach: "What are the things in my life I like doing, and how can I structure my life towards that?"

That means he approaches all of his time as a productive resource, and protects it that way. Treating your time as valuable can change your whole approach to life.

What does that mean specifically? Here are a few general rules.

1. He outsources the things he hates to do. He uses virtual assistants, booking agents and other services. Cooking is not his favorite, so he finds ways to have his food prepared. (Familiar to many New Yorkers who rely on takeout). He's not a fan of keeping track of his very busy calendar, so he uses a virtual assistant for that. As he says: "You can outsource more than you think."
2. Pick someone to work with who complements your skill set. His partner at work is excellent at handling legal documents and similar work, which allows Fabrice to focus on what he does best, which is evaluate entrepreneurs and their ideas. If you're a manager, this means having people you trust around you, so you can delegate. (If you're not around people you trust, maybe it's time to switch jobs to a place where you are.)
3. Schedule your free time. Fabrice says he gets home at 8 pm and goes to sleep around 2 am, and he schedules that 6 hours of non-work time to go to the gym, write a blog post, or spend time with loved ones. Most of us get home, make dinner and sprawl out in front of the TV with the kids. The key is that scheduling -- even blocking out reading time or video game time -- keeps free time from sprawling into lazy time watching Netflix or being on social media mindlessly. Your calendar may be full at work so that you want unstructured time at home -- but fight the urge to wander around aimlessly at home and try scheduling in your fun, too, with the faithfulness that you give to office meetings. Doing one thing every day that you love can make you feel more in control of your day, and your life.
4. Live lighter. It struck me immediately that Fabrice, a CEO and investor, owns far less stuff than I do as a journalist. Fabrice used to own a home in Bedford, NY; a penthouse apartment in Manhattan, and a fancy car. That may be a dream for many professionals, but instead of feeling wealthy and grounded, he found himself owned by his stuff; he felt pressured to go Bedford because he had already paid for the house, and that kept him from exploring as he wanted to. Maintenance took work and planning, and going back and forth tired him out. Eventually he gave it all away to charity, reduced his personal items to 50 things that could fit into a small suitcase, and couch-surfed with friends for a while. That was too light (and annoyed his friends, who were often tired at night when he was just gearing up to spend time with them). He decided to finally buy an apartment on the Lower East Side of New York, which is completely minimal. Even though he can buy anything he wants, less stuff means fewer things to have to mentally track, which frees up space for other things.

If you want to see and listen to our conversation, the video link is here. The productivity part of the conversation starts at 5:30. Give it a listen and let me know what techniques you use to accomplish more.