80% Busy:
Use this terrible acronym to maximize your productivity, avoid burn out and do the things that bring you joy.
I’m going to share with you a secret to my success. It’s a philosophy I adopted ten years ago and have followed ever since.
When it comes to managing my time, my goal is to always be 80% busy.
Just so we’re clear, this isn’t a slacker manifesto.
For many years I worked all the time. When I first started my business this was necessary. But once things settled down, I continued to do it anyway. Who works hardest, wins. Right?
Maybe.
After three years of going at – let’s call it 110% – I burnt out.
Initially, I refused to accept it. I kept pushing.
Until I couldn’t.
There’s a cost to being stupid busy. Relationships suffer. And so does your health. For some crazy reason this didn’t bother me.
But then I noticed my work began to suffer too. I was making more mistakes and also missing opportunities.
After one especially bad week – A long time customer told me to screw off, a star employee quit and my girlfriend dumped me – I knew I had to make a change.
The good news about burn out is that recovery is easy. Two weeks on a beach somewhere can make you feel almost new again. The hard part is breaking the cycle that got you there in the first place.
This took me a while to figure out.
The answer was to structure my life so I always had spare capacity. In other words, extra time and energy to be with people I loved. To take on new opportunities. To put out fires. To think!
“80% busy” became my new mantra.
Some people will hear this and think “20% lazy”.
This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Since 80% busy became my goal, I’ve invested in multiple new businesses, made half a dozen real estate investments and continued to grow both of my core businesses. I’ve also gotten married, had two kids and traveled around the world.
I’m getting shit done. And I’m still sane.
Of course, no week is exactly the same. Sometimes I’m operating at 100% busy. Sometimes I’m at 60%. But my goal is to always bring it back to 80%. It’s what works for me. It’s my Optimal Functioning Capability (OFC). Less and I start to get bored. A lot more and I can feel burn out creeping in.
How did I go from miserable burnt out fuck to happily functioning at 80%?
First I had to learn how to let go. During the early years of running my business I felt like I needed to control everything.
But control is an illusion.
It breeds mistrust and it’s exhausting.
A better place to put your energy is helping others succeed. When I hire someone today, I want them to do their job better than I could. This is not about ego. If they are successful, the business succeeds and I have more time. The old, burnt out Ian would try to do everything himself. The 80% busy Ian now focuses on teaching and empowering. This was a major shift for me. And it was extremely liberating.
I used to directly manage 50 people. Today it’s 0.
Letting go also means being aware of what you choose to spend your time on and getting rid of stuff that doesn’t make sense.
Here’s a good example. I love food and I love to cook. As I’m writing these words it’s summer which really means its cherry season.
I fucking love cherries.
In the past it would not be unusual for me to go to the grocery store several times per week to make sure I had cherries at home.
So this summer, I decided to do something new. I’ve cut down the number of visits to the grocery store and plan my cherry purchases more strategically.
If all of this sounds crazy to you, it totally is.
And that’s my point. To achieve 80% busy, I’ve had to become more aware of how I’m spending time and reduce (or eliminate) the shit that’s silly.
Second, I decided to value time more than money. I like making money. Always have. But what’s the point of making a bunch of money if you’re stressed out and don’t have time to spend it?
The structure of both of my businesses today is designed to maximize my freedom while still allowing me to earn a nice living.
It’s not complicated. In short, I have a lot of working partners throughout my two businesses.
In every single case these partners started as entry-level employees who worked their way up the ranks.
Business partnership can be tricky but despite the pitfalls I still believe in them. The dozen or so employee owners in Ian’s Pizza bust their ass to make the business successful. And here’s the key: they’re not doing it for me.
They do it to maximize their own financial self interest. As they succeed, I benefit too. Win/win.
So next time you’re looking at your calendar or going over your to-do lists and you start to feel overwhelmed, take a break and start figuring out your OFC.
Everyone’s 80% busy is different. Knowing what that looks like for you will help increase your productivity and reduce your stress.
You’re welcome.