Unintended New Skill Learned from the RKC Workshop: Extreme Time Management

You’ve heard “timing is everything” before, it’s a cliche, but sometimes holds true in certain situations – especially crazy ones.  I’m going to share a few of my time management strategies for dealing with things like quick move outs, root canals, busted transmissions, selling and buying a car, learning to drive stick then relying on it immediately, and then singing in front of over 2,000 people. RKC style kettlebell training can help you with all these things, especially when all of the events listed in the previous sentence happen to you almost simultaneously.

At the Orlando RKC workshop everything was run on a very strict schedule, in some cases, scheduled down to 5 minute intervals – breaks and lessons alike.  You did NOT want to run late on those by even a second or there were consequences (farmers walks*, swings, etc).  Learning to make the most out of every minute was absolutely critical to getting all the info from the workshop – we had SO much material to cover, so many demonstrations to watch and participate in, and all the practice to get our exercise form down as close to perfect as possible.  So strict scheduling was totally necessary.   And of course, I started doing this in my own life as well.  Not every day though, as it’s also important to allow for creative spontaneity.  On critical days though, scheduling in this way can help you make quick make/break timing decisions with greater precision.  If you are wondering which task to do first, or if you have to put a task on hold and swap it with another one, it is easy to do if you have it all written out – with how long each task will take.  On a recent Monday, I led 5 boot camp classes instead of the usual 3 or 4 – most of which require driving during high traffic times – and getting there on time requires hitting the right traffic “window” but you don’t want to sit around wasting time by getting there too early either… on those days I will schedule out most of the day in 30 minute intervals, making sure to also schedule in errands which are en route, breaks, meals, exercise, dog time, computer time, etc.  For example:

I won’t bore you with more examples but you get the idea – the above one is actually pretty mild – but you can see how stuff can be flipped around if necessary. Another thing I regularly do is to create “routes.” If I have to go to a particular out-of-the-way area of town I will line up errand destinations all the way there and back to make the most out of the time/space.  Online you can quickly find store/post office/etc locations ahead of time (I do a lot of stuff the night before, and if I am starting at 5AM, when I have a hard time thinking I make sure this is written out so I don’t HAVE to think, more on that later).   So yes, if you have heard me say “run it like a heist” this is what I’m talking about – remember in Ocean’s 11 when George Clooney’s character is reading out the time table of their big job?  At this time this happens, then this happens then this happens.  Run your critical days JUST like that, and if you like George Clooney, you can even imagine him reading the time table back to you as you review it!  Who said time management had to be boring!?   This is also helpful for those of us who are action heros in our own heads, so yeah, run your crazy days like a heist – everyone else can have their boring blah blah gossip time, meanwhile you’re out saving the world.  (Extra tip – choose a great audio book for your car time, or a totally awesome sound track, or if you’re me throw some karaoke tracks of songs you need to learn on a cd too!)

So this brings me to another subject: think when you can so you don’t have to when you can’t.   I am NOT a morning person, at all – if I function at 4:30AM-5:00AM, etc its a combination of pure will, caffiene, and a secret vitamin blend I should probably stick my name on one day.  I’m a night person, seriously – even BORN late at night, I think better then – so the thinking gets done then.   The day’s script is created, clothes for the next day get laid out that night – the vitamins are loaded into their box , the plastic tub I take with me to lead boot camps is refreshed with new workout(s), new sign in pages, release forms, etc.   Everything is planned ahead if I am starting early – because I know I can’t think straight that early in the morning.  It’s all laid out, “schedule script” double checked against the planner and placed on top ready to be grabbed and thrown into the car.  Similarly, all electronics have been on their chargers in a single location on the way out – my car keys on top so that there is NO CHANCE that I will forget the phone, camera, MP3 player, netbook, etc.  Right now since I haven’t moved into my new apartment yet, and am staying with friends who are a fairly long drive from the boot camp sites, I make sure to take along a backpack with extra deoderant, toothbrush, clothes, etc in case I need to wait out traffic somewhere and get other work done on my netbook at a wifi hotspot for a few hours.  At 5:00AM can I think straight enough to think of taking work with me for 2:00PM when I’m waiting between classes? Heck no – can I think of that at 9:00PM the night before?  You bet.   Figure out when you do your best thinking/planning/scheming and do it then.  Think when you can, so you don’t have to when you can’t.

I applied this same strategy when I attended the Orlando RKC – I knew I would be mentally and physically tired.  The next early morning would not be the time to try and remember to put this or that into my bag for the next WHOLE DAY.  Before setting 3 alarm clocks for the next day (redundant systems for when you CAN NOT FAIL are another article) I would pack the backpack, leaving all the next day’s snacks together in the minifridge in a quick grab and go bag.   There was no way I was going to take a risk of forgetting something or being late- so planning it all out the night before – totally the way to go, then you can focus on getting the most out of every moment at the RKC workshop.

Something else mega critical, especially for the RKC Workshop, pay special attention to your nutrition – a lot of times people will fall down on their usual good dietary habits when faced with extreme stress and or high activity – that’s when pizzas get ordered and diets are broken.  Make sure to have plenty of “go to” snacks on hand so you are not tempted to eat drive through or other bad things.  As an example I usually have several Greens+ protein bars stashed in my backpack along with almonds, brazil nuts, dark chocolate (gotta have SOME treats) etc.  Plan meals ahead, use your crock pot, be creative when ordering in restaurants (before singing I had a bun-less burger with a side of sauteed veggies at the Hard Rock Cafe). Do NOT cave to poor nutrition, because it will only slow you down.  Are YOU high performance? Then your food should be too.

Similarly, take time to relax, to freak out a little (hopefully in private), to recharge, to vent.  Learn to do these things when you have an available block of time.   The “borrowed backyard workout” video in the post previous to this one is an example- what isn’t shown in the video is my Qigong practice and generally laying on the ground watching clouds for a while.    Find something that works for you – what helps you relax and get yourself back together?  Figure it out and schedule it in.

As a side note I want to emphasize that you should be really careful where you get your advice- many people will not know your individual strengths and weaknesses and will give advice based on their own.  In the past, I’ve taken advice from others that has ended up hurting more than helping.  Make sure you know where you stand with your abilities and adapt.  Also, know your limitations – know when you need to rest/sleep/eat etc.  Likewise, know your emotional capacity and work around it – find someone you can trust (at least with some things, doesn’t have to be with everything) and have a good talk if necessary.

Some of these strategies are my own, and others are from examples I had growing up in a family with entrepreneur tendencies (I joke that it runs in the genetics like a disease), and some of them come from a great book by Dan Kennedy called The No BS Guide to Time Management for Entrepreneurs which is written for crazy non-9to5 “one speed = go” people.

Remember…

• Run it like a heist
• Think when you can, so you don’t have to when you can’t
• Pay very strict attention to what you eat, and continue your exercise program along with any mind/body exercise regimens you know (Tai Chi, Qigong, Yoga).  Your continued health is absolutely crucial.
• Be scared/freak out later or very briefly, you don’t really have time for that right now…
• Learn to relax when you have time to relax, get the most out of this time as possible.
• Never NEVER NEVER lose sight of your dreams/goals

Then you too can manage a catastrophic car failure, learning to drive stick, driving stick to your root canal and back the next day, then singing in front of 2,000+ people a couple days later, all the while leading boot camp fitness classes on the regular schedule…

Just found that someone posted a video of the performance on youtube – I have an HD version that I am editing down, but in the mean time please check this one out!