In this chapter I’ll give you your biggest challenge yet – and guarantee it will also have the biggest rewards. You’ll find out why you don’t actually have any days for yourself, you’ll be surprised at what stops you from dramatically increasing your reading speed and realise just how important seconds really are.

Me, Key and Stuff

Although I have never attended any of his sessions or workshops, I’d like to thank Dan Sullivan who, via others, inspired the thinking behind this clever initiative.

Every so often you find an idea which is so powerful that if you really apply the principle (and live by it every day), you know you will achieve great things. This concept is the one.

So why not write a whole book on just this idea? The easy answer is because this is a really challenging one to apply. You may or may not be ready for it. You may be unable to apply the ideas because of external forces.

But if you are ready, if you can apply the ideas and you’re prepared to go for it, ‘Me, Key and Stuff’ will change your life.

Here’s what to do in a nutshell

At the start of each month, divide the coming 30-ish days into one of three types: Me Days, Key Days and Stuff Days. Then for the whole month, only focus on the activities which fit the description for that day. Easy!

Here’s how you make it work

First of all you must get into your head that you WILL only carry out the tasks under each of the categories on their designated days. To help you get your head round them, here’s my description of each of the days.

Me Days

These days are the best because you focus on the most important person in the world – you! Brilliant Me Days involve you replenishing your energy, your mind and well-being. If you’re single, it’s all the things you want to do and that are good for you. If you have children, I know it’s a cliché but it’s ‘quality family time’. Me Days are the most important days and you will plan them well.

Key Days

These are the days when you will work on your top five mission critical activities. If you are an entrepreneur it’s your top five income-producing activities; if you work as a designer it’s doing your best work to satisfy your top five clients; etc. I’m sure you get the idea. If you’re unsure what your top five are then ask your boss. If you are the boss, ask your staff. If you have no staff then ask your clients!

Stuff Days

These are the days when you just do all the stuff. You know the type of thing: clearing up a mess, setting up appointments, opening post, weeding the garden, shopping, ironing, reading emails, accepting interruptions, etc. You can have Work Stuff Days and Home Stuff Days or, like most people, you’ll probably merge them.

You know what Stuff Days are better than anyone because right now you participate fully seven days a week!

Step one is to decide how many of each type of day you are going to have.

I’ve carried out this exercise many, many times and here’s what people usually say: ‘I’ll have two Me Days, four Key Days and a Stuff Day.’ Was that your choice too?

The thinking is obvious. A weekend, that’s the two Me Days, a Stuff Day to sort things out and the rest of the time I will be focused on Key Days!

Now a reality check. When you are on a Key Day you do NOTHING other than work on your top five key issues. You don’t look at an email, you don’t answer the phone and you don’t take other meetings. Now could you do that four days a week?

Also, while you’re on a Me Day you don’t do anything which isn’t a brilliant rejuvenating experience. That’s no ironing or doing the dishes then!

My advice would be to start with a week that looks a little like this:

Monday – Stuff

Tuesday – Key

Wednesday – Stuff

Thursday – Key

Friday – Stuff

Saturday – Stuff

Sunday – Me

Later it could look like this:

Monday – Stuff

Tuesday – Key

Wednesday – Key

Thursday – Key

Friday – Me

Saturday – Me

Sunday – Me

But for now stick with 1 × Me Day (and make it a really good one) 4 × Stuff Days (remember you have been working 7) and 2 × Key Days.

How to make it work

This is one of those techniques which is easy to write, simple to read and massively challenging to put in place without some coaching. So here’s the important part. The ‘How to’.

First of all it’s very important to plan at least a month at a time. Conventional time planning suggests a week at a time is enough but this powerful technique demands you push the boundaries. I know several people who plan their year in four quarters taking in at least 90 days of Me, Key and Stuff at a time.

Dealing with changes

Even if you do need to change the odd day it’s important that you start with good intentions by planning your three types of day. Go on! Flex your risk muscle and plan the coming month.

Start by putting in your Me Days. They are the most important and should be included first as they will give you energy to complete brilliant Key Days and get through the Stuff.

Next add your Key Days. You may need to work these around existing appointments, travel, delivery deadlines, etc. Just taking a few minutes to plan these days can save you hours.

The remaining will be your Stuff Days.

Communicating your intent

Once you have established how your first month will look, communicate your plan to all the key people around you. Share with them how you will be planning your time, what you will be working on and how they can help you. Stress the importance of the Key Days and the Me Days and why you will be doing all you can to stay 100 per cent focused on these.

This is a vital part of making this idea work. You’ll still get people interrupting you and saying things like, ‘I know you’re on a Key Day, but . . .’, and you’ll need a suitable response when this happens.

Once you’ve created your plan for the month and communicated it, use each day well. Let me give you some examples of the mistakes people make during each type of day and how they can be avoided.

Me Days

‘I was going to have a full day with the kids and a meal with my husband but there was some ironing to do so I just thought I’d do that first,’ reports Alison, a mother of three who’s always on the go. The challenge with Alison’s predicament is she feels as though she has to do a task to deserve a day where she can have fun. She doesn’t enjoy ironing and as the task takes a couple of hours she finds herself begrudging the people who create ‘so much bloody washing!’ By the time she gets around to spending time with her kids a big chunk of the day has gone. She’s rushed getting ready for dinner and spends the first hour of the meal downloading to her husband that she’s been ‘on the go’ since the moment she got up!

Me Days are the ones which are supposed to give you energy not take it away. So plan them well and stick to the plan.

Key Days

‘Hi Tom, I know you’re on one of your Key thingy days but I was wondering if you would take a quick look at this?’ Tom doesn’t want to appear unhelpful so he stops what he’s doing (the final stages of a £6 million contract) and allows Dave to take the next 30 minutes of his valuable time.

Tom needs to know how to say, ‘Dave, I appreciate you asking me, but unless it’s directly related to the contract I’m working on right now I’ll have to ask if it can wait until tomorrow please.’

In some jobs a whole Key Day is a little too much, so you can have half Key Days and half Me or Stuff Days.

Stuff Days

‘I’ll just have five minutes working on that contract while I’m on the phone, checking my Facebook page and meeting with Jill. After all, it’s a Stuff Day!’

Stuff days are primarily about planning. Planning for great Key Days and brilliant Me Days. Don’t get confused by attempting to do everything on those days. They are still about managing and finding time.

If you’ve read this far on this technique I’m guessing you’ll be up for having a go at Me, Key and Stuff Days. It can be the most frustrating idea to introduce but also the most liberating and effective when you make it work.

Go for it! Test it for 90 days and you’ll be wonderfully surprised by what you have achieved.

Speed-reading

If you have a lot of material to read it’s worthwhile learning how to speed read. There are many courses you can attend, programmes you can listen to and books to read on the subject. And if you want to master speed-reading then you may want to invest a little more time looking into these.

However, there are some brilliantly simple tools you can learn now which will increase your reading speed by 50–100 per cent.

I’ll break them down into things to do and things to avoid.

Do mentally rehearse

Especially before reading a large text. Simply close your eyes, see yourself reading quickly and all the information being taken in and stored. Then when you open your eyes your brain is focused for the task ahead and ready for action. This shouldn’t take more than 60 seconds and can massively boost your reading speed.

Don’t verbalise what you read

This can be a tough one if you’ve verbalised for years. Basically, verbalising by saying the words as you read them (internally and externally) takes huge amounts of time.

Your brilliant brain can take in words much faster than you can say them, so verbalising text as you read slows you down. It’s also very difficult to break this habit so make sure you practice. It could take a few months before you master it but once there you have it for life.

Do use markers

A marker could be your hand, a piece of card or a ruler. There are several ways you can use markers to speed up your reading.

Simply run your right hand down the side of the page and read to the speed of your hand. Notice I didn’t say ‘allow your hand to follow your reading pace’. This way you create a pace that your eyes follow. If you’re left handed use your dominant hand.

You can also use your hand by skimming along the lines. If you use this method skim lightly as if you were ‘feeling’ the words under your fingertips.

You can use a piece of card or a ruler to cover the upcoming text. Smoothly move the card downwards and encourage your eyes to keep up. Again notice you move the card and your eyes follow while reading. It’s not to underline where you are up to. Make sure the movement is free-flowing.

Don’t back read

You’d be amazed how often you go back over sentences or paragraphs while you read when you don’t really need to. Did you just do it then? Do you know why? It’s because you can. If the words disappeared after you’d read them you’d focus more on ensuring the right information went in first time.

When you catch yourself back reading, quickly ask yourself if it’s necessary? Then move on.

Do skim

I’ve mentioned this several times in this book already so working on the fact you may have skimmed straight to here I’ll cover the benefits.

Unless you’re reading a novel you probably won’t need to take in every word. By skimming chapters of books like this one or headings in reports you can get the gist of an idea quickly and decide if you want to delve deeper. Then skim again to see if it really is necessary reading.

Don’t miss out

Some people mistake speed-reading for not really reading. The idea of speed-reading is to allow you to take in more information faster, not less just at speed. If you feel as though you are missing out on great content, then you probably are, so slow down a little and make sure you’re getting the best out of the book.

Do practise

Like any skill, it only gets better if you practise. I’ve outlined a few techniques, now it’s your turn to test it, use it and perfect it.

If you, like me, love reading then it’s important to take time out here to reflect on the pros and cons of speed-reading.

I believe speed-reading is perfect for the business end of reading. If I have a report to read, or a business book to digest, then speed-reading is a gift. It saves me hours. However, if I’m on holiday and I’m doing all I can to relax then I don’t think of reading as a race.

This section of How to Save An Hour Every Day is designed to enhance your reading speed, not to remove the enjoyment of getting stuck into a good book.

Speed-reading shouldn’t cause unnecessary pressure or leave you feeling word weary. It should enhance your reading experience and allow you to take in more of an author’s words and wisdom, not less.

So read this next paragraph slowly.

Speed-reading is simply another tool in your time-saving toolbox. Like all tools, finding the right time to use it, or not, is key to the skill of the craftsman.

Voice commands

More and more computer systems, mobile phones and even TVs are being supplied with voice command software. It’s exactly the type of thing you see in the movies where the captain of the spaceship says, ‘Computer, prepare a course for sector six’, and sure enough the computer does as it’s asked.

The funny thing is we still see this as future technology when it’s been around for years. It’s the consumer who needs to change.

As long ago as 2005 I visited a friend of mine, Darren, who runs a home automation business. I love to visit his house – it’s gadget heaven. Not long after I arrived he asked if I wanted to hear something amazing. Of course I did!

He stood up and in a loud voice said, ‘Computer on. Computer get me the share price for Microsoft.’ A second later a slightly synthesised lady’s voice said, ‘The share price for Microsoft at 14.15 GMT was 25 dollars and 17 cents.’

I freaked! Then he asked me if I wanted a go. He suggested that I ask for a cup of tea. After a little cajoling I stood up and in a big loud voice said, ‘Computer, can I have a cup of tea?’, and almost instantly the same slightly synthesised voice replied, ‘Make it yourself, I’m a computer not a waitress.’

Darren was doubled up laughing, apparently I was the fifth person he’d set up that week!

However, the first part of his demonstration was completely legitimate and that was in 2005.

You can use voice commands to dictate – you’ll be surprised at how accurate it is. Several parts of this book were created that way. You can control basic commands such as printing, saving and opening documents. And you can set up tasks such as calling people from your phone, sending emails and shutting down your system.

I’ve no doubt that voice-activated equipment will become a bigger part of your life in the very near future. Embrace it now; but if you find it’s taking a little too much time to set up then let the ‘early adopters’ work out the bugs for you in their time.

It’s all about the inches

Tony D’Amato, the character played by Al Pacino in the movie Any Given Sunday (dir. Oliver Stone) talks about the fact that the inches we need are everywhere around us. If you haven’t seen the movie it’s worth taking a few minutes to watch the now famous speech by Al Pacino’s character (you can see it on YouTube) where he demonstrates how important it is to fight for every inch during a game of American Football.

The same can be said if you want to really push yourself in the art of finding time.

If you think you’ve done all you can to save as much time as possible and there isn’t anything else you can do, then let me spend a day with you and I promise I could find vital minutes and seconds everywhere. They don’t seem like much in isolation but added together could mean an extra 10 minutes or so a day.

Not much to get excited about until you realise that equates to over 60 hours a year!

So here’s something for you to consider over the next few days. How can I do this faster, more effectively and cut out any waste? Even if it only saves you seconds then do it. They soon add up and . . . hey, wait a minute. You’ve got the idea; I need to take a leaf out of my own book on this one and stop right here.

Some of the ideas here are challenging but if you master the concepts in this chapter you’ll more than save an hour – you’ll save many hours.

Even now you may be thinking, I’m sure I have enough tools and techniques to help me. Or you may be thinking there’s never enough! So that’s why I’ve added . . .