Steal This Practical Exercise to Maximize Productivity For (Unparalleled) Side-Hustling Longevity
Everyone has their way to maximize side-hustling productivity and income. I have 4 quadrants for you to steal (and apply).
We have to think of our long-term as side-hustlers.
Every side-hustler has a way to keep themselves going. I do the same too. I would like my 6–9 work efforts to be more directed. That means focusing on what I do best AND with more income.
“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.”
I was scrolling through my LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube channel, and other writing platforms I was actively involved in for the past year. I was pleased with the work I have performed as a side-hustler during my 6–9. Of course, more observations came to me as I scrolled the feed representing the repository of my work.
And that triggered deep thoughts. Eventually, all random thought bubbles collided to form that ultimate big one, representing this core question.
“How can I manage my favorite side-hustling 6–9 with a clearer direction?”
Author’s Note: To lock our focus down to that few items that work is as important as exploring different platforms, distribution channels to get our work out there. My uninformed opinion is to get comfortable with both.First Things First: Take Time to Carve Out the Side-Hustler’s Future
Visualization and our expectations of the future drive our behavior today. We need a target board to align our eyes, minds, and hands. Otherwise, we are wasting our precious arrows shooting into the fog.
“When people have something to look forward to, they are more motivated, enthusiastic, positive at work, at home, and everything else they do. We have to give our people a future or help them paint that picture in their minds.”
Future is a concept that separates the current day from tomorrow. It represents a strong gravitational force sucking us towards it. It must be so attractive that we cannot resist the idea of working hard just to get there.
When this concept came to me, I did the following things.
- I took a sheet of paper.
- Drew an imaginary line at the center, from top to bottom.
- I wrote “Today” on top of the left column.
- I wrote “Tomorrow” on top of the right column.
Then I took a pause and started wandering. There are more details to be popped into the sheet. I am not rushing it because I want inspiration to hit me.
Next Thing — Think About Activities. What You Have Done, What Results You Have Achieved, What You Want to Explore
Just so suddenly, Dan Priestly’s Oversubscribed entered my wandering zone. One sentence kept circling above my head.
“Like it or not, we are our own media business. Like it or not, we are our own sales business. Like it or not, we are our own marketing business. Like it or not, we are our own technology business.”
I chewed on it for a long while. As a side-hustler, I must agree. Like it or not, I must engage in these 4 activities. There is no otherwise unless I decide to call it a day.
Then, I pulled that sheet of paper with “Today” and “Tomorrow” and turned it into 4 quadrants.
- I drew a horizontal line across the sheet of paper to create 4 quadrants.
- I kept the “Today” and “Tomorrow” headers.
- I thought something was amiss. It came to me that I missed out on the classification for the rows.
- I included “Attend to NOW” and “Priority NEXT” headers at the left.
- Then, I started popping my side-hustling activities.
The rest of the activities for this exercise becomes mechanical.
Author’s Note: You will have your way of getting, staying focused in your side-hustles. I have one piece of advice. Review your directions and objectives monthly and quarterly. It helps us come back when we are distracted (which is common).Popping Activities into the Boxes — What You Include and NOT Include Shapes Your Future
When I say future, I do mean time and energy. If you decide to perform this exercise to streamline your productivity and attention for better results, take note of the following.
What you include and NOT include matters.
I will use my 4 quadrants to explain why so.
- Top left quadrant (Today + Attend to NOW) activities — Lead generation activities. Deal closure. Servicing existing copywriting clients and getting new deals from existing customers (maps to Dan Priestly’s sales business).
- Bottom left quadrant (Today + Prioritize Next) activities — Explore new content distribution channels for content writing. Explore new copywriting genres. Accept or decline livestream and podcast interviews. Embark on a project to build a solid YouTube channel (maps to Dan Priestly’s marketing business).
- Top right quadrant (Tomorrow + Attend to NOW) activities — Finalize all working plans or personal side-hustling projects created this week. Scrap them if they no longer make sense.
- Bottom right quadrant (Tomorrow + Prioritize NEXT) activities — Delegate and automate work. Find ways to grow a team for my side-hustles beyond freelancers. Take 3–4 hours a week to explore software that takes mechanical work away from my attention (maps to Dan Priestly’s technology business).
There is no correct answer to this exercise. How you think about energy and time management will be different from mine. The goal is to align ourselves to our side-hustling North Star to be more directed, focused, and productive in our 6–9.
Next thing to note. Be ruthless when you are working on this exercise. Be a solid gatekeeper. Hold your ground. Defend your time and energy.
Scribble in activities you want to be deeply involved in for the month, quarter. For me, that would be copywriting projects, managing my startup venture, and writing better.
Do a strikethrough for all time-sucking activities. I have done a double strikethrough on running my own podcast channel and personal branding coaching sessions over Zoom.
You must make a choice to become more productive. It helps to earn more income per side-hustling hour.
Author’s Note: Notice that I did not include an allocation of time for each quadrant. Our focus is deeply individual. You will need to find the time weightage that works best for you.Summary
Everyone aims to be productive. We understand that energy and time are the 2 assets we have that we can never buy back.
As such, be (really) directed at what we do and what we want to do. To find success and get better results in our side-hustling ventures, planning for today and the future helps.
Think like an archer. Arrows do not hit the Bull’s Eye if there isn’t any.
All the best, people.
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure. Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.
