👀 My super-simple productivity system

Hey,

Let’s get straight to the point. I have 4 companies now:

• Ecommerce & email newsletter co

• Car washes and commercial real estate

• Event company for entrepreneurs

• New learning company I’m excited to tell you about soon

I had more last year, actually sold off two side projects.

Despite this I work about 40-50 hours a week. More importantly I have time to exercise every day, attend 9 out of 10 events at my kids’ school, take off most Friday afternoons, and take 4-5 weeks off per year for fun trips.

It really comes down to a few habits I think anyone can do:

• I get up early. I’m usually awake and in my office by 5:30am. I don’t meditate, I don’t read the bible, I don’t do yoga. I dive straight into some easy “plate-spinning” tasks. That means answering emails, responding to texts, checking slack, keep projects moving etc. Once that is done I do some of my easy, quick tasks, like checking stats and financials.
  
  By 7am I am hanging out with the kids and getting them ready for school and I feel like I already have a huge leg up on the day. My task list is about ¾ done.
  

• I delegate like a mofo. I am big proponent of hiring people for redundant or specialized tasks and over the years I have done a lot of it. Anything that crosses my desk that is anything like data entry, web development, highly technical or frankly anything that takes longer than 5 minutes gets delegated. I am also ruthless in asking whether it truly needs to be done.
  
  For the most part I just don’t handle menial tasks. BUT, that means I have to take the time to train folks on these tasks. This is where most people fail. They don’t want to invest the time in finding and training someone. Believe me: if that’s your philosophy you and your business will be doing the same sh*t decades from now.
  
  Find the people, train them, and move onto the important stuff. Get it?
  

• I do deep work. By 9am most of the communication and project management is over, so I go straight into deep work. Deep work is focused work ON your business where you can produce the stuff that really moves the needle. For me it’s researching products and writing marketing materials, but for you it may be very different.
  
  But the key is lock out distractions. Your office door should be closed, your team should leave you alone, and you should slap on the headphones and crank. Just 90 minutes of this a day for a few weeks will transform your business, I promise you.
  

• I exercise - a lot. This one is probably a head scratcher. But exercise is both therapy and thinking time. I get my best ideas on a ski lift or a mountain bike trail. I am 10x more productive with a clear head and intense exercise does that better than anything else I have ever experienced. Want a big business? You need big ideas. Those don’t come sitting in your office.
  

• I have relentless focus on high-leverage tasks. There are very few high-leverage tasks: high finance (NOT bookkeeping), marketing, sales, operations improvement & automation, major cost savings, hiring key people, customer and partner relationships. That’s about it.
  
  I know that’s still a lot, but everything else should be delegated or eliminated altogether. That means day to day customer service, bookkeeping, HR, operations, and team management should be off your plate.
  
  Here are some examples of stuff you should be focusing on:

  • Marketing strategy

  • New product creation

  • Key supplier, partner and customer relationship building

  • Finding amazing people to work for you

  • Finding major bottlenecks in your business

In other words, solving the BIG problems for you and your customers. I promise you if you can focus on that stuff, you’ll have more freedom and make more money that you ever thought possible.

Easy? No. Simple? Damn right.

Now schedule yourself from deep work time to figure this stuff out, and go do it.

Kriss Berg

PS: tell me about your routine by replying to this email…