Interview With Nick Tart (Part 1): How I Spend My Other 8 Hours
This is an excerpt from an audio interview with Nick Tart, founder of www.juniorbiz.com
Nick:
Obviously you’re a huge proponent of maximizing your time in your life. Walk me through your other 8 hours on an average day.
Robert:
Because I’m an entrepreneur and have my own business, my 8 hours are a little bit different than maybe some others who go to work and come home and have this sort of block of time. My schedule is a little bit more flexible, so in the morning I have about an hour and a half or two hours that are part of my other 8 hours. As a heads up, you sleep 8, you work 8 and the other 8 hours are what we’re talking about. The time you’re not sleeping and working.
So I’m a huge proponent of starting the day in a really sort of unique and special light. Rather than waking up, slamming the alarm clock, jumping in the shower and running off to work, I get up a little earlier. For most mornings I do sort of this power journal (it’s what I call it) for 20 minutes everyday. For part of that time I just write about what I’m grateful for. I find that that is a really cool way to start the day because it really sets the tone, when you focus on what you’re grateful for. For most entrepreneurs including myself I’m always looking at what’s next. I’ve achieved this but, what am I going to do next and what’s around the corner? What will I want to launch tomorrow? For me, I found that, I sort of lost site of what’s important. That’s why I’ve focused on what it is I’ve already accomplished and what I’m grateful for.
So I do that in the morning for 20-30 minutes plus I do some brainstorming and just some sort of free association writing. And so that’s a great way to start the morning early on. I always have a power shake (that’s what I call it) which is basically a concoction of about 12 different ingredients. It’s totally insane. I have a 4-year-old daughter and I gave her a sip and she spit it out all over the place. It doesn’t taste good but it’s really, really just full of just great things for you body.
So I do that and then I spend a lot of time with my daughter. I get her ready, I drive her to school. And then after I drop her off I’m going to the office on that 20 minute commute… I’m all about maximizing my time and being efficient so I’m a huge audio book listener. So I always have the earphones on (well you’re only supposed to have them in one ear). So I listen to a ton of audio books on the way in and then I work and then I work out after work and again spend a lot of time with the family. But then there’s a huge block after I put my daughter to bed.
Anywhere between 7:30pm and midnight is where I do a tremendous amount of creating. It seems like during the day I read a lot. As a financial adviser I’m on the internet just looking and reading and analyzing a lot so the nighttime is really where I create. That’s when I write, that’s when I brainstorm about new businesses and new ideas and sort of how to take things to the next level.
So it’s a block of time that is so, so important. If I didn’t have that time then I just wouldn’t have been able to do the things that I’ve done. If I watched a lot of TV at night or wasted my other 8 hours, there’s no way you’d be holding my book in your hand. It just would not have happened.
