This is an impromptu post after reading a few more emails come in. The big theme is this.. “Are you really using your time?”
Today was a day that counted.
To explain here’s the breakdown of the day:
1:00am: Flight lands late due to flight delays. This day is going to be full of hell no doubt, snow… not that kind of snow, but real snow is always a disaster.
2:00am: Arrive at the hotel and immediately go take a cat nap and send the suit to the cleaners. No time to shower because I haven’t hit the gym yet.
5:00am: Alarm clock goes off. Let the games begin. B-line it for the gym, do some lunges and jump rope to warm up and begin squats. 35 minutes elapse. My brain is waking up. 45 minutes have now elapsed, after doing fifteen reps of one legged squats, my legs are beginning to shake and I feel like I just drank 7 bottles of Ciroc and redbull. Wired. Start walking down the stairs and I collapse, this is going to be good.
6:00-6:30am: Within 30 minutes the quick scramble begins. Suit is delivered, shower, shave, change, check emails, breakfast is already delivered to my room which is consumed in 5 minutes, brush teeth and grab my tablet because I have to meet with 120 clients today.
6:37am: Always Google maps your hotel to the first meeting so you don’t have to bother with cabs, walk to the meeting and start popping halls and drinking yerba mate, its going to be one of those days. Meeting, meeting, cab, meeting, cab (phone call in cab), meeting.
10:30am: In a word, shit-show. Acquisition while in a meeting. During the meeting I pull down a few models and populate a back of the envelope calculation to explain numbers because it should be coming up during the next few meetings. Yep. Multiple questions on a deal where I’m unable to listen to the CC.
12:00pm: Head to airport, need to make it for a dinner meeting in another city 1 hour away, the cab ride is awful as I attempt to download the partial CC on the way and answer phone calls and emails as well.
1:00pm: Things are cooling down, as people know the flight leaves in 30 minutes. Time to day game. I shut off my black berry and start opening up girls in the only sushi spot in the airport since all of the other food is undoubtedly disgusting. No sex is going to occur but this city is on the “to visit list” after the warm responses.
1:40pm: Flight takes off and I’m working on some items now that i’ve got wifi and an hour to burn. I notice an overweight woman next to me in biz class and decide that her three different comments on how she doesn’t have enough “me time” to get healthier is enough to send a message. I take the “warm almonds” and return them, take a frozen juice from the airport and set it on the recliner. I then rep out 50 pushups and sit down to read again. She doesn’t talk for the rest of the flight.
3:00pm: Slight delays, my brain is tired, I could pop some mod-alert but instead opt to begin writing one of our upcoming articles.
3:30-4:00pm: Time to get back into work mode, start rehearsing for another meeting where there will be a lot of questions to be answered. This should be fun, more importantly I spot another cute girl. “I like your shirt, you’re looking pretty cute today what’s your name?”, “Umm I have a boyfriend, head turn”. Funny thing is as we walk down to corral she sees I’m getting picked up and quickly figures out what I do for a liviing… Her face says it all, girls can be caddy 99.9% of the time. These of course are girls that are not worth the investment anyway. Too costly.
4:30pm: Arrive for the meeting, of course the jetlag is messing all of these time zones up but no matter. Meeting goes fine, everyone begins drinking and I fake alcohol consumption by drinking sparkling water. Two hours of hanging out with some rich guys, yeah most of them are fat, but you can’t win them all.
6:30pm: Cab to catch a flight home.
7:00-9:00pm: Usual transit, reading books instead of work the day looks like its pretty much done. Read some emails from readers of this blog as well and respond accordingly.
9:30pm: It’s finally time to head home. Ah you know what, who cares I’m going to the gym to finish up my workout that got cut short.
10:30pm: 20 hours of work, sweating like I just got out of a pool work out. This day has been busier than a mosquito in a nudist colony.
11:00pm: Time to head off to bed on the 21st hour. You know what I’m still feeling good maybe I should write an impromptu blog post on how to keep going? Yeah. That sounds like a great idea.
Conclusion: As a final statement this is not supposed to be some sort of bragging or “humble brag” about work ethic, it is simply a mindset that is unbreakable. Don’t bother with trying to save a few bucks on ebay at work where your 9-5 jive is really a 3 hour a day work shift. Instead start forcing yourself to constantly switch and optimize. If you’re not doing something that’s making you more money, getting you more motivated, getting you out of your comfort zone or getting you healthier, wealthier or more free time for 90%+ of your day, you don’t deserve to succeed.
It’s tough out there. Make your days count.
