- How successful people unlock more time
- The Time Audit
- My Limiting beliefs around Delegation
I'm hosting a FREE webinar on Tuesday, May 21st at noon EST to share all I've learned through offloading 40 hours of personal and professional work a week to a virtual assistant after years of thinking I don't need one.
FREE WEBINAR:
The Art of Delegation ​
​How a perfectionist delegated 160 hours of work last month.
In this webinar I’m sharing the 20 things I’ve delegated so far that save me 40 hours a week and made me an additional $10k. I will share the costs, the onboarding process and how I chose my Athena VA - the most trusted and trained group of VAs in the world (used by Fortune 500 CEOs, Top VCs and now me). Transparency note, I pay for my VA but am partnering with them to bring you this content because I believe in the power of delegation.
WHEN: Tuesday, May 21st @ 12pm EST
​RSVP for the Webinar now & get the replay!​
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♟️ MY TURN:
I’ve always taken pride in doing things myself.
Maybe it’s a post divorce symptom.
Maybe it’s that Midwest work ethic.
Or maybe……it’s self sabotage.
As you know, the last 9 months I left my corporate marketing career to pursue a life of a solopreneur.
In 9 months I:
- Launched this newsletter to 30k subscribers
- Built a community of 112 solopreneurs and consultants
- The Life’s a Game Masterclass to share my productivity skills and frameworks
- Took on a Fractional CMO client
- Wrote the first draft of my book
And the truth is……I’ve been feeling scattered.
With more income streams and products comes:
- More emails
- More DMs
- More customer service
- More organization
- More manual updates
When administrative work > deep work...... this is the signal for me to do a time audit.
What’s a time audit?
A time audit is an intentional tracking of time - in real time.
As I go through my day, I update my google calendar with the tasks that I actually completed with the time allowed. See the audit below (real time tracking in gray).
After conducting this time audit for a week I noticed the following:
- A lot of context switching
- More than 50% of time admin work: email, slack, social, CX and DMs
- < 30% of time in deep work
What does this mean for my business overall?
When deep work is less than 60%, growth will slow.
Why?
Because I won’t be able to find time to work on the less urgent, most impactful things that will drive the business and my goals (and revenue) forward.
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​“We all have the same 24 hours.”
A common phrase about comparing yourself to the most successful people.
But that’s a lie.
They have more than 24 hours.
Because they have help.
Some of the most successful people on Twitter talk about their experience with VAs.
I’ve never had a full time assistant.
I’ve always viewed it as something reserved for rich white dudes (likely due to my binging of Mad Men during COVID).
So I’ve spent the last week questioning why I was struggling to add this to my business and here’s the truth:
- I’m a perfectionist.
- My audience means a lot to me and I’m scared to delegate communication with them.
- There is something that doesn’t sit well with me as a woman, delegating to another woman and adding to her plate.
- The amount of time to onboard them feels overwhelming.
- I’m not sure I would have enough for them to do.
But then it hit me….
These are limiting beliefs.
They are actually internal wiring that is actually holding me back from growing the business to the next level.
- I’m a perfectionist. The reality: the more I add to my plate, the less I am doing well.
- My audience means a lot to me and I’m scared to delegate communication with them. The reality: many DMs and emails go unanswered for days which is also not a good look.
- There is something that doesn’t sit well with me as a woman, delegating to another woman and adding to her plate. The reality: many people are out of work / looking for work. My growth allows me to help others grow in their lives.
- The amount of time to onboard them feels overwhelming. The reality: spend time to save time. Spending two months to create systems for a VA will save me 2-4 months a year in admin work. Over the span of 10 years that would lead to 40 months of saved work. Now the two months don’t feel too crazy.
- I’m not sure I would have enough for them to do. The reality: there are so many things I punt (both personally and professionally). Those things will finally get done.
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The most successful people I know are freeing themselves up to do the most important work.
They are turning 24 hours into 48.
They are creating time.
And then I asked the most powerful question you can ask yourself:
So I’m trying it.
I got a VA.
And I’m going to take you along on this journey and share the good, the bad and all the inbetween.
Now that I have the badge of “creator”, I get to partner with brands in exchange for me talking about them and I will always give you an honest review of my experience.
Life’s a Game is about playing the game….. saving you time in some areas so you can spend time in the most important ones.
If a VA can give me time back with my kids and more time building cool things, then let’s do it.
My last few weeks...
For the last few weeks I've been working with Athena - The company staffing assistants to some of the most powerful companies like Stripe, Sequoia Capital, AirBnb, Founders Fund and many creators you know.
I’ve been delegating both personal and professional work.
And it’s kind of insane what’s happening.
Next month I’m taking you BTS and answering all your questions with a webinar:
The Art of Delegation
How a perfectionist delegated 160 hours of work last month.
Tuesday, May 21st @ 12pm EST
​RSVP for the FREE webinar.
In this webinar I’m sharing the 20 things I’ve delegated so far that save me 40 hours a week and made me an additional $10k. I will share the costs, the onboarding process and how I chose my VA.
If you’ve ever been curious how successful people play the game of life: this webinar will be a great start.
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♟️ YOUR TURN:
Take the next week to conduct your own time audit.
The below is a 4 step exercise I use in coaching when someone says “I don’t have enough time.” This 20 minutes a day activity will help you highlight where you could outsource and stay focused on the deep work to move your business and life forward.
What you need:
- Paper + pen
- 20 minutes a day
Step 1: Record
Set a timer on your phone for 10am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm.
Document all your activities for the past few hours. Include meetings, email time, deep work, social media scrolling, leisure time, and any unexpected events or calls.
Use a simple calendar or a notebook to jot down each activity and its duration.
Should take 5 mins each.
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Step 2: Categorize
Organize your recorded activities into categories such as email, meetings, deep work, personal, social, and self-care.
Examples:
- Email: Blue
- Meetings: Yellow
- Scrolling: Red
- Deep Work: Green
- Relaxing: Purple
- Kid time: Orange
- Exercise: Pink
This step helps you identify the areas where you invest the most time and those that may need adjustment.
​Step 3: Identify Time Wasters
Look at the colors.
The more color switching, the less efficient your schedule.
Look at how many times you switch from deep work to scrolling and identify the following:
- Are there patterns in when you switch the most?
- What is happening during that time? More meetings?
- What's stopping you from doing deep work?
- What categories do you want to get more attention?
Step 4: Calculate
Add up the hours spent in each category and then ask yourself:
- “Are these in alignment with the goals I have for my life?”
- “Am I allowing enough time for the most important and impactful things?”
Two final reminders:
- Control your calendar or someone else will.
- Deep work > Admin Work
And if you’ve ever been curious about:
- Is now the right time for an assistant?
- Do I deserve one?
- Do I have enough to delegate?
Join me for a FREE webinar:
The Art of Delegation - How a perfectionist delegated 160 hours of work last month. Tuesday, May 21st @ 12pm EST
​RSVP to sign up and get the replay.​
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