DeepSummary
In this episode, Sam and Shaan discuss the concept of living an 'unscheduled life', which means doing the most important or interesting thing in the current moment rather than following a pre-set schedule. Shaan explains that he deletes all calendar events and appointments, giving himself the freedom to prioritize tasks based on his present inspiration and motivation.
Instead of having a fragmented day filled with short meetings and calls, Shaan works in focused 'sprints' of 90-120 minutes on his highest priority task. He also advocates for the 'barbell strategy' of quick casual text conversations with people mixed with full day hangouts to build deeper connections.
While acknowledging the trade-offs like appearing unresponsive at times, Shaan believes this lifestyle allows him to be more effective by aligning his time with his core priorities. He encourages identifying the few truly important goals each quarter and structuring life around accomplishing those rather than reacting to others' requests.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Live an 'unscheduled life' by deleting calendar events and focusing on what's most important in the present moment rather than past commitments.
- Work in intensive 90-120 minute 'sprints' on your highest priority tasks instead of short, fragmented meetings.
- Identify your 2-3 most important goals each quarter and structure your life around accomplishing those.
- Do the 'big thing' - your most important task - first each day before getting pulled into smaller tasks.
- Use a 'barbell strategy' of short casual texts with some people and full day hangouts with others to build deeper connections.
- Be effective (do the right things) rather than just efficient (do things quickly).
- Your calendar reflects your true priorities, regardless of what you say is important.
- Accept the trade-offs of living unscheduled, like occasionally appearing unresponsive to others' requests.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “The unscheduled life. All it means is this today or right now, even next hour, you are going to do the most important or interesting thing to you right now, not what you thought might be the most important thing two weeks ago when somebody put something on your calendar.“ by Shaan Puri
- “Show me your Google calendar, and I'll show you your priorities.“ by Shaan Puri
- “The big thing is the first thing. Most of us, when we make a to do list, we sort of procrastinate the big thing and we'll use like small things to kind of get some momentum going before we actually like, do the important thing.“ by Shaan Puri
- “I don't know any losers that work out first thing in the morning.“ by Sahil Bloom
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Episode Information
My First Million
Sam Parr, Shaan Puri & The Hustle
4/3/24
Episode 569: Shaan Puri (https://twitter.com/ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (https://twitter.com/theSamParr) get into being productive without being a slave to your calendar. How to disable distractions, being effective vs being efficient, and living the unscheduled life.
Want to see Sam and Shaan’s smiling faces? Head to the MFM YouTube Channel and subscribe - http://tinyurl.com/5n7ftsy5
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Show Notes:
(0:00) The joy of an unscheduled life
(01:56) Maker vs manager schedule
(02:32) Working in intentional spaces
(04:59) Living without a to-do list
(05:27) Reverse engineer your ideal day
(8:26) "Show me your calendar and I'll show you your priorities"
(09:19) Name your top 3 (quarterly)
(12:56) Disable distractions
(13:33) Be effective, not efficient
(14:55) Do the big thing first
(16:30) No loser works out at 7:00 am
(17:47) The barbell strategy for building relationships
(20:17) No as a default mode
(21:04) Accepting the trade-offs
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Check Out Shaan's Stuff:
Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd
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Check Out Sam's Stuff:
• Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/
• Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/
• Copy That - https://copythat.com
• Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth
My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano