The Balancing Act

I have 1 startup company launched already, 2 coming very soon and plans for others in the near future. Not only that, but I am working on my second book while attending college full time and still somehow manage to have time for somewhat of a social life. A question I get asked very often is, “How do you manage to do all these things? Do you sleep?” I’m going to share some of the strategies I use to balance my many activities while staying sane.

Business

I’m going to start off by letting everyone know that I do sleep every night and get at least 5 hours a night (usually more). I do have a lot of businesses in the pipeline which do require a lot of time and attention. However, I still manage to take care of my startups while doing everything else I need to. Here are some of my balancing strategies that I apply to the business world.

Strategy #1: I work smarter, not harder. Let me explain what I mean by this strategy. When you run many different companies and work on various projects, a lot of tasks need your attention. Instead of trying to tackle every task at hand, I divide them up based on the things that need me or don’t need me. Then, I work on the tasks that need my special attention in order of urgency. With the tasks that don’t need all or any of my attention, I let someone else take care of it (with close guidance).

Value your skills and time. Focus on the big deals and tasks that really need your attention.

Strategy #2: Staying organized is a necessity. I organize everything business-related so that they are easily accessible and easy to use. If you can stay organized on a consistent basis, you can save years of time in the future. Documents or files from the past almost always need to be reopened months later for some reason. Thankfully, organizing all my companies files and documents make it extremely easy for me to go back and track down old information.

Organize yourself, your tasks and your business to save time later.

Strategy #3: An early start really helps. Believe it or not, I try to wake up as early as possible every morning to get my day started. For some reason, I perform a lot better in the early morning than I do later on in the day. In the morning, your mind is fresh and you are eager to get started on things. This allows you to be the most productive and efficient, which is why I try to handle all my business as early as possible.

The early bird gets the worm. Try to start working as early as possible to be as efficient as possible.

College

College does use up a lot of my time. Not only do I have to go to classes and listen to lectures, but I also have to do work for these classes. I’m going to be completely honest and tell you right now that I’m not the best student. I get by and pass my classes, but I am far from an A student. It isn’t because I have so much else going on, but for some reason I have been horrible at school ever since Kindergarten. However, I do have some strategies I use that help me pass my classes while balancing everything else.

Strategy #1: I used to be the biggest procrastinator in high school. While my friends would do their big projects the night before, I would do it the morning it was due. As you can imagine, that did not work out very well. However, when I started having larger responsibilities and more things to do, I simply could not procrastinate anymore. Instead of prolonging work that is due, I try to get them done as soon as possible.

Do not procrastinate, you never know what may come up later.

Strategy #2: From using Rate My Professor to asking all my friends, I look for the easiest professors before enrolling. My goal is to pass my classes and get a degree, not challenge myself by taking the hardest classes. Unfortunately, college does not teach you much about entrepreneurship as I explained extensively a while back. I look for the classes where I can spend the least amount of time while garnering the same outcome (which is credit for that class). Essentially, this strategy helps me get the most out of my time.

There’s nothing wrong with taking shortcuts as long as you get the same results.

Strategy #3: I work the system better than anyone else. I am not necessarily proud about saying this, but I know how to work the college system pretty well. If a class doesn’t take attendance, you probably won’t find me there ever aside from test days. I get a good grasp about each class and try to find the best ways to get around them as much as I can. While this isn’t a great habit, it has definitely helped me manage my time very well.

Sometimes you have to work the system to make the most out of your time.

Social Life

Ever since the founding of my companies, the amount of time I spend with friends has definitely gone down. However, I still do have friends and a beautiful girlfriend who I am able to have fun with. I believe that you can only work a certain amount of hours a day/week before your productivity tanks. Thus, you have to work hard and play hard.

Strategy #1: People might find this extremely strange, but every Saturday is dedicated to my girlfriend. I make sure to plan nothing on that day and she does the same. Saturday is the one day of the week that we can guarantee to see each other. This is great because I have something to look forward to throughout the week and I get a day to relax. Don’t get me wrong, I do see her more than just once a week but Saturday is completely dedicated to her no matter how busy our lives may be.

Set aside a day where you plan to do nothing but relax.

Strategy #2: I’m not scared to have a good time. Sometimes even when I have work that needs to be done, I’ll just stop and go have a good time with my friends. Life is all about doing what you like and making memories that last a lifetime. My friends play a big role in the memories I make and sometimes I’ll get off the computer and go enjoy myself! The day after I have a good time, I work 2x as hard just because I’m in a great mood!

Life shouldn’t be all about work, introduce some fun in to your life. You will be surprised by the results you can achieve when you are in a good mood.

All in all, balancing a lot of things can be difficult and hectic. However, using some of the strategies explained above, you can make the most out of your time and pursue a lot of things. This is my personal story on how I balance my life with all the things that are going on.

Do you have a specific strategy to balance your many activities? Feel free to comment on my strategies or to share some of your own below.

photo credit: shehan365 via photopin cc