3 Easy Steps to Get More By Doing Less

Once a homeless, addicted, highschool dropout, now a sober endurance athlete and business coach, John Henderson credits 3 steps for being able to get it all done. 

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As I slowly sunk to the coral below me, the pressure on my eyes and ears was intense. The hard jagged coral came into contact with my bare hand and I was able to turn myself over.

I looked up through the 30 feet of deep blue water that separated me from the catamaran I had been on just a few short minutes earlier, and I could see some of the other snorkelers from the boat pointing at me. It was clear they were trying to get the attention of the lifeguard.

He was lackadaisically sitting on top of a surfboard watching the other passengers kick furiously atop their flotation devices as they struggled to see the fish at the bottom. The same fish that were at the moment, surrounding me. They were so much bigger and brighter than they appeared from the surface. I wondered how small I looked to the lifeguard as he slowly put on a mask and looked through the 30 feet of water that separated us. I thought I could see him cringe when he saw me lying on the bottom of the submerged volcanic crater that was situated between the islands of Kahoolawe and Maui. The only other person that deep was the ships photographer. However he had on his complete wet suit and scuba gear. I had a mask, snorkel, cheap fins and my shorts. I felt under-dressed!

Just before the lifeguard could jump off his surfboard but after the photographer stopped his camera, both in an effort to “save” me, I gave them my best shaka; the Hawaiian hand signal that means “hang loose”, “everything is cool”, or “I’m not drowning, I’m down here on purpose.”  You see, one of the skills I have learned here in my new home state of Hawaii is how to free dive, and to be honest, 30 feet is nothing, but only if you know a trick!

It’s a trick that will help you dive 50-60 or more feet under water with nothing but a mask and fins, but it’s also a trick that will move you towards success in business and in life.

The trick is to have no wasted effort.

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Here is a scenario that plays out in my business more often than not. A client asks me how they can reach the next level in business or in life when they don’t have time to manage what is already on their plate. There is no possible way they can do more. They are barely holding on as it is. This person is a classic case of wasted effort. They aren’t lazy  They are usually very smart and work very hard  They just don’t know they are wasting effort somewhere.

When you can find wasted effort in your life, and divert that energy towards other goals, you will begin to feel like there are two of you!  Here are the 3 steps we go through.

1. Divide and conquer. 

Our efforts fall into seven different categories.  They are as follows.

• Spiritual
• Family
• Health
• Personal Development
• Career
• Money
• Social

In my eBook I explain that every action a person takes can be categorized into one of these areas.  That being said, the first step in eliminating wasted effort is to find it.  Spend one week writing down what you did in each category during each day and for how long.  There are 168 hours in a week.  Subtract 56 hours for sleep (8×7) and you are left with 112 hours (although sleep counts as health!)   This will begin to paint a clear picture of where you time is going.

Please allow me to read your mind.  At this point you are looking at the list thinking “There is no place for fun!  What a jerk!  He won’t even let me spend a little time on the internet reading about UFO’s and Bigfoot, work on my muscle car, or finish watching Breaking Bad!”  To which I would say “Really, you haven’t finished Breaking Bad yet?”  Then I would say that there is a place on the list for all of that.  Hobbies, relaxing and down time are all Personal Development.  They help form us into who we are.  There is nothing wrong with any of your hobbies (well maybe the Bigfoot thing).  Just know that they are shaping and molding you into the person you will be next week, next month and next year.  Choose wisely!

2. Re-organize

Now that you know where your efforts are spent, something should pop out at you.  Look at the results you are getting from that time.  For instance, if you are exercising 10 hours per week and the result that is you look good, you are losing time.  Now if you are a fitness model or will run a marathon you can justify it.  But if the only thing you get is looking good at the office, you can do that in 5 hours per week or less.  I have found people who spend 20 or more hours a week on social media, with the result being they are “caught up” with their friends and family.  This is too much time for the results.  You can “keep up” in six hours a week.  20 hours per week is enough to write that book you’ve always wanted to write about how much better Facebook is than Twitter.  By the way if you write that book we can’t be friends (#lovetwitter!)

This lost time is what prompted Leslie Samuel from becomeablogger.com to make the interesting choice he made regarding social media.  In this article he kisses social media goodbye in an attempt to re-gain some of his wasted effort.  I’m not saying you have to swear off social media or workout like Jillian Michaels after an espresso/Red Bull cocktail.  I am saying that those things eat up the potential of many people not because they are bad, but because they go unchecked and unmeasured.

3. Take control!

Now you should be staring into the face of your future success!  You have just carved out enough time to start the business, write the book, spend time with the family, or countless other things that will take you where you want to go right?  Wrong.  Just because you have more time does not mean you will accomplish your goals.  You have to manage your efforts.  Remember the seven areas.  Each month sit down and organize your time into those areas.  What are you going to do?  When are you going to do it?  What result do you expect to get from the time spent?  Budget your time into these seven areas and you will find out that it doesn’t take more effort to accomplish something, it takes focus. This is where the 80/20 rule comes in.

The 80/20 rule says that 80% of your results come from 20% of your effort.  Actually there is a longer name and definition because the guy who came up with it had plenty of time!  Maybe because he had no wasted effort in his life!  In any case find the 20% of your effort that is yielding your results and spend your time there.  For example, I used to blog three times per week. This resulted in a decent amount of traffic and clients, moderate opt-ins and a ton of time away from my family and my workouts.  I decided to blog once a week and spend much less time blogging and a little more time promoting my blog and emailing my list.  Guess what happened.  For less time I got the same amount of traffic and clients, the same amount of opt-ins and more time to spend with my family and workouts.  The time I was spending on the extra blogs weren’t getting results.  Now that time is getting me huge results just in different areas.  Working with the 20% is where success comes from.  It’s how to take control of your time and how to dive deeper that all of your friends!

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The view from the bottom of the crater was dotted with tourists who, for lack of a better term, were “swimming”.  Actually they were flailing.  For a short moment, I thought the captain had told them all to kick their legs and wave their arms in a fashion that would ensure they would not move but would use up all their energy.  Perhaps he wanted to tire them out so they would all get on the boat and eat the delicious lunch that had been prepared.  Maybe he wanted them sleeping on the way back to Maui. Like a road trip with the kids, it’s much easier when they are asleep!

In reality, the tourists did not stop to think that all that kicking and movement was doing nothing more than churning up the water around them.  As they struggled frantically to get five or six feet closer to the wonderful array of sites at the bottom, I slowly and calmly swam the 30 feet, laid on the bottom, took a few great pictures, posed for a lot more, and slowly and calmly swam back to the top. Not because I am special or have an extra lung, but because I know not to waste any effort.

Millionaires, great Dads, elite runners, you and me all have one thing in common.  We all have 24 hours in a day. The difference is what we do with those hours.  Your time is so valuable.  It can yield results that you cannot imagine.  Whether you are parenting, making a million dollars, becoming fit or free-diving the trick is not just to do more.  The trick is to do more of what works.  Once we learn how to eliminate wasted effort we can reach places that most people never can.  Trust me, when you get out of the fray the experience is breathtaking!

Photo: Flickr/Christian Jensen

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