How to save 5 hrs/week

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Hi Candidate,

Earlier this week, I told you my assistant saves me 20 hours a week — every week.

That's not a ballpark, rounded-up figure. My assistant actually tracks how much time she saves me.

Some of that time saved comes from her handling all of the mundane, day-to-day tasks that normally eat up hours a week:

The back-and-forth of scheduling calls and appointments
Handling paperwork
Processing email
Looking up answers to this and that (no more internet rabbit holes)

Which is all amazing. I can't tell you what a relief it was to get all of this off my plate.

But even better, my assistant saves me time doing things I always wanted to do but didn't have time for.

Things like:

Sending thank you cards and gifts
Tracking birthdays, anniversaries, and other important dates
Returning purchases I don't want

Let me show you how to figure out how much time an assistant could save you.

Step 1: Prep your One-Day Audit

For the next 24 hours, write down EVERY task you do (or put on your "to-do" list for later). Yep, everything.

You could do it on a pad of paper, pull up a note on your phone, whatever method works for you.

(In my course, Delegate and Done, I walk you through the One-Day Audit, step by step. I've also included 5 real-life One-Day Audits from real-life students.)

This includes business tasks, like scheduling a call with a potential client or processing invoices … AND personal tasks, like ordering more paper towels or buying a card for your sister's birthday or even grocery shopping. It also includes anything that's already sitting on your to-do list that you've been putting off.

Don't worry about whether you could actually hand it off to an assistant. Just get it down on paper first.

Here's a sample list from one student, Pete:

What our student Pete's One-Day Audit looked like

OK, he's got checking traffic, asking for a late check-out, checking email, making a couple of calls, scheduling dinners and drinks. These are pretty typical tasks.

Now we're ready for the next step ...

Step 2: Star the tasks you don't HAVE to touch

Once you have your list, I want you to go back through it and star anything that you don't HAVE to touch. In other words, what does not require your specific expertise and unique skills?

For example, if you're a coach, holding a client call requires your specific expertise and unique skills. Scheduling and confirming that call does NOT. So you would star that.

Writing a blog post probably requires your expertise and skills. Uploading that post to WordPress and adding an image to it does NOT. Neither does picking up your dry cleaning or making reservations for a restaurant. So those get a star too.

Remember our student Pete from earlier? Here's what he starred on his list:

Examples of tasks you don't HAVE to do yourself

Damn! Look at ALL the things he realized he doesn't have to do himself. Figuring out his route to the office, picking up lunch, looking for a restaurant, etc.

That's a lot of stuff!

I even challenged him on a few, like asking for a "late check-out" at his hotel. Do you really have to do that yourself? He realized, "No, I guess I COULD have someone call ahead and find out for me." So he starred that one too.

Important: Don't worry about HOW someone could do this for you. The right assistant should be able to look at your list and come back to you with ideas on how THEY can help YOU offload tasks. (Lots more about that here.)

Step 3: Estimate how much time those tasks take you

Next thing I want you to do is look at those tasks you starred and estimate how much time it takes you to do each one. I know, it might not be long at all. Maybe even just 5-10 minutes. That's fine. Just note it down.

Here's what Pete's looked like:

Whoa! 2.5 hours each day doing these minor, non-revenue producing tasks.

It's easy to look at each of these and think, "ah, that only takes me 5-10 minutes, I can just do it myself." But the truth is, we end up wasting a LOT more time than that.

For example, let's say my #1 goal today is to finish writing a blog post that's going live later this week ...

Then I decide I want to include some quotes in this blog post.
I stop what I'm doing, start searching around for quotes on this topic until I find the best ones.
It may only take 10 minutes to search for these quotes, but by the time I switch gears, find where I left off on my blog post, and get back in the mental space to start writing again? It can easily take 30 minutes or more to get back to a task. Ugh!

That's a lot of time to funnel away from my most important task. Do that 5-6 times a day, and I'm easily wasting several HOURS.

So if Pete could get even a fraction of these things off his plate, he could save at least 2 hours a day, probably more.

As you can see, the time saved adds up quickly.

The typical reaction from students who complete this exercise is shock:

"Seriously, the sheer volume of things I have on my to-do list that I DON'T want to do and as a result I keep procrastinating on them? I am shocked by how much I've piled on there! I'm excited to hand it all off ASAP." – Nicole Jardim

"I'm not done with this exercise for a few more hours, but one thing I've noticed is that it makes me SOOO excited to get someone to start doing these things for me. I have someone now and I'm pumped to imagine expanding his range. It also makes me realize, if I did NOT have a VA, going through this exercise would make me desperate to get one … I'm practically drooling over here." – Tiffany

"It's become clear from this exercise that a significant amount of time each day could be shifted to a competent VA, and that time could be spent on billable time and continued development of my online course ... As an architect my time is the only thing I can sell, so every minute and hour that can be billed to a client should be to continue growing my business." – Jordan Wyatt

These days, I delegate more than 30 different types of tasks to my assistant — saving me 20 hours every week.

That's not a typo. See the full list of tasks I outsource here.

Look, you don't have to delegate as many things as I do. You can start with an assistant part-time, just to get the most time-consuming and mentally draining tasks off your plate.

If you had an assistant who would save you 5 hours a week, what would they do for you?

I asked this question to my Instagram followers. Here's what some of my followers said:

Yes, an assistant could do this for you.

Also this.

Yes, yes, yes. All of this, too.

How good would it feel to wake up every day knowing you didn't have to do those repetitive, mundane chores anymore?

How good would it feel to know you've got an extra hour for friends, family — or yourself — every day?

The answer: Pretty damn good.

My Delegate and Done course gives you the systems, tactics, and tricks you need to find and work with a trustworthy assistant.

This course is a behind-the-scenes look at how the busiest people — and their experienced assistants — get more done than anyone else, save hours every day, and still have more time to relax, hang with friends, and have more fun than anyone else.

The course closes tomorrow night. So don't delay. Get in while you still have time.

Start saving time now

P.S. Less than 48 hours left to join Delegate and Done. Doors close TOMORROW night at 11:59 p.m. PT. Full details are here.

And if you're worried about purchasing a product like this during a recession/global pandemic, I don't blame you. That's why if you don't have a 12-month emergency fund, I do not recommend you buy this course.

Remember: A key tenet of a Rich Life is safety and security — something you should prioritize above all else in times like these.

However, if you are prepared for the downtimes, click here to find out more about Delegate and Done.