⏰ Apply 2 Proven Steps and Stop the Time Bandits from Kidnapping Your Precious Body, Mind and Business

Hi there, Solopreneur! 

Happy Wednesday, and welcome to issue #27 of Solopreneur Doorway, a weekly newsletter that helps you turn your skills into solutions people buy. I’m glad you’re here. Was this email forwarded to you? Get yours here.

This week’s issue is a 3.5-minute read.

⏰ Apply 2 Proven Steps and Stop the Time Bandits from Kidnapping Your Precious Body, Mind and Business

Keeping a healthy balance between your dynamic solo business and sensational personal life is a constant struggle. We all face it.

After launching and operating a successful finance business for 14+ years and now running my second venture, I have learned one truth about keeping this precious balance.

Want to achieve the nirvana of a sensational personal life and a thriving solo business?

Discover and implement time pockets.

A time pocket is that sweet period during the 24-hour cycle when you are most creative and productive.

😀 Mine are between 4:45 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. and from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.

I guarantee you have an ideal time zone that you can leverage to increase your productivity and make your personal life shine.

Here’s why they matter and how to find them…

⏰ Why Your Time Pockets Matter

Let’s agree on an obvious yet uncomfortable truth.

Your time on this extraordinary planet is finite.

When you’re 91, you want to know that you gave your time to special individuals and endeavors: a spouse, significant other, kids, friends, community, and, yes, your amazing business.

I want you to love your business, reap the benefits, and have more opportunities to create memories that you’ll adore when you turn 91.

Here’s how you 🔎 find your ideal time pockets and put them to work:

How to Find Your Ideal Time Pockets

The most efficient and productive way to ⏰ find your time pockets is to use these two simple steps:

• Research 🗂

• Recording 📝

🗂 The Research

Start with a two-week time frame.

Your goal is to work and test your mental acuity during different time periods.

Keep your schedule for work (if you have an employee gig), homeschooling, life admin, and other ‘can’t change’ duties.

Yet, you want to work during various time slots each day to test how you perform.

During a two-week period, vary your solo work schedule by 15- to 30-minute intervals.

Example:

Week 1:

• Day 1: Start at 5:30 a.m. and work until 9:30 a.m.

• Day 2: Start at 5:45 a.m. and work until 9:45 a.m.

• Day 3: Start at 6:00 a.m. and work until 10:00 a.m.

• Continue this and advance the pattern (as your schedule permits) for days 4–7.

Week 2:

• Day 8: Start at 7 p.m. and work until 11:00 p.m.

• Day 9: Start at 7:15 p.m. and work until 11:15 p.m.

• Day 10: Start at 7:30 p.m. and work until 11:30 p.m.

• Continue this and advance the pattern (as your schedule permits) for days 11–14.

Your goal in the two-week research period is to break your normal pattern so you can test all viable time pockets.

You don’t have to work 4-hour shifts; try 3 or 2. Work for 90-minutes. The goal is to stretch in different ways and work during unique blocks of time.

You’ll discover valuable insight about how your brain and body work together if you flex your model and test it at different times.

📝 The Recording

I’m an Excel nerd, so I used a spreadsheet to track my acuity and how I felt. You can use a personal journal, a piece of paper on the fridge, or a calendar.

You must record the times you worked and then input the answers to these simple questions.

• How did your brain feel when you started working and stopped working during the time slot?
  

• How did your body feel?
  

• Did you ‘feel’ that you accomplished the key tasks?
  

• Did you ‘feel’ that your output and productivity were ‘amazing,’ ‘ok,’ or ‘crap?’ (feel free to use your own fun adjectives.)

Your goal is to use one or two words to record what you felt and what you accomplished during the various work periods.

At the end of the two weeks, review your data. You’ll see clear signs that certain time pockets suit your workstyle, brainwaves, and body.

While it’s possible you’re already close to working in your ideal time slot, I bet you’ll find a BETTER one.

⏩ What’s Next?

With your data, you can leverage your ideal times.

Keep your current, mandatory commitments, and start working only during your ideal time pockets.

If you can only leverage the time pocket 2 or 3 days a week, that’s still a HUUUUUGE improvement. Weekends are a good place to start before you change the weekdays.

I promise that if you use these time slots, your balance between your solo biz and your personal life will improve.

You’ll come to love your time pockets and look forward to working during those hours.

❤️ And the people who count on you will benefit, too. You’ll have energy to share with them, and they’ll look forward to seeing and being with you when you’re available.

I’m anxious to hear how this works for you and what you discover about yourself.

Keep me posted at [email protected].

⚡️ Go Deeper

Since I started working during my time pockets, my productivity has increased substantially. I don’t waste time working during less productive periods.

I have more time to spend with my friends, family, and community.

On a side note, here’s what I’m using these days to make my time pockets more productive (and fun)!

• ChatGPT, Jasper, and Claude are each viable tools for creating rough content drafts for blog posts. When I write blog posts, I craft the outlines for 3–5 articles at a time.
  
  

• I use Canva to create all the images at once for 3–5 blog posts.
  
  

• I check email only twice per day.

Stay curious and keep opening doors.

-Erik

🧠 Do you feel like you’re taking all the right steps to expand your solo biz and you know there’s a missing piece?

When you’re ready, reward yourself with a dedicated strategy session.

Together, we’ll walk through every aspect of your solo biz.

I’ll deliver to you a strategy solution that can simplify your approach and streamline your offer.