“Busy” is a common disease of our time. But the truth is, we don’t lack time, we lack an operating system to overcome chaos.
Recently, I saw an extremely valuable sharing from Dan Martell, a famous entrepreneur and startup coach on YouTube with more than 1.08 million channel subscribers. He used his own story from penniless to millionaire to summarize into 3 ironclad principles of time management.
I have tried it and found that its effectiveness lies not only in productivity, but also in peace of mind. That’s why I want to share these most interesting things with everyone.
Lesson No. 1: 4D Frame – Savior of an overloaded brain
Dan Martell shares that “Getting Things Done” by David Allen is a classic book that completely changed the way he operates his business.
And here are the 4D principles from the book that helped him escape the “working 16 hours/day and still being poor” situation:
1. Do it: If something takes less than 2 minutes – do it immediately. Don’t take notes, don’t schedule. Memorizing and managing it takes more effort than completing it.
2. Delegate: What others can do, leave it to them! Don’t take on things that don’t need you to do directly.
3. Defer: Things that are important but not urgent, put on the list to do later. This frees your mind from the pressure of having to remember random little things in a haphazard manner.
4. Delete: This is the most powerful principle. Learn to say NO. Dan said it best: “An innocent YES is a NO to your own dreams.” Wealth is created in the gaps in time when you have the courage to say “no” to the wrong things.
Lesson 2: You need to manage energy, not just time
When he first started his career, Dan was afraid of missing out so he said “YES” to everything. Schedules become a mess, meetings constantly interrupting the most creative time of the day.
And the result is just exhaustion and ineffectiveness.
Valuable lesson: Don’t make yourself a victim of your own busyness. Results only INCREASE EXPONENTIALLY when you never lose momentum. “Compound interest only works if you don’t reset your capital.”
He shares 3 strategies that he has applied with great success:
1. Schedule according to energy: Divide the day into 3 time frames: morning, afternoon, and evening. Mornings are for the most creative and important work. Afternoons are for meetings and collaboration. Evenings are spent researching and planning.
2. Batch work: Do the same type of work continuously in the same time frame to avoid wasting energy when switching. Don’t jump back and forth between unrelated tasks, for example, when you’re examining a doctor, then switch to doing paperwork, switching back and forth like that. Continuous context switching will horribly “steal” your energy.
3. Take advantage of NET time (No Extra Time): Combine work and take advantage of every moment. Listen to audiobooks while driving, handle emails while waiting for meetings… This is also how he turns all downtime into profitable time.
Lesson 3: You have the RIGHT to make adjustments – Don’t get stuck in your own schedule!
We often lock ourselves into commitments we made long ago, even though current circumstances and priorities have changed. For example, what you agreed to 6 months ago may no longer be appropriate today – dare to say “no”.
Life is constantly moving, so we are completely allowed to review, refuse or renegotiate previous commitments.
1. Review: Every Sunday, Dan often checks his calendar for the coming week and asks himself, “Will this help me reach my goal?” Otherwise, he will quickly eliminate it without mercy.
2. Adjust: Renegotiate the commitment. He often uses the trick: “If I don’t want to do it tonight, it’s a NO even if it was scheduled 3 months ago.” However, when applying this principle, you need to carefully consider the effects that this adjustment will bring so that you can still achieve your goals without affecting your reputation and brand.
3. Expand: As soon as you have free time, add new goals, learn skills, build relationships. Choosing the thing that makes you “scared” the most is also the path that helps you develop the most!
“If you don’t value your time, no one will value it!” Use the 4D framework, energy management, and flexible adjustments to focus on what gets you to financial freedom. Don’t let time control you – master it to build the life of your dreams!
This is the message from Dan Martell that I liked the most throughout the video.
Hopefully these shares will help you regain control of your time and peace of mind every day.
Which of the three lessons above do you find most useful to you? Please comment the number below and share the reason with me!
Dr. Christina Nguyen
Phoenix Medical Academy
