Millionaire CEO Explains: 8 Steps to Get Your Sh*t Together

About this video

Dan Martell lays out eight time rules he says he uses as a multi-million dollar CEO despite having ADHD. Rule one is spend money to save time: put a dollar value on your hour — he suggests calling it $100 or $500 — and politely say no to anything that does not return that value. Rule two is big rocks first, illustrated by the jar analogy (boulders, rocks, pebbles, sand, then water) and his one-page ‘pre-loaded year’ where vacations, birthdays and money-moving activities go on the calendar first. Rule three is no white space: batch and block everything, including breaks, meals and workouts, to prevent ‘bleed time.’ Rule four is optimize for energy, not time, matching creative work, meetings and planning to the parts of the day where they fit best. Rule five is batch work using dump, chunk and sequence to avoid context switching. Rule six is NET time — ’no extra time’ — merging calls into commutes, one-on-ones onto electric scooters, and internal meetings into long bike rides during Iron Man training he says ran 15 to 25 hours a week. Rule seven is negotiate the needs: before big commitments, talk to your spouse, partners and others affected and reset expectations, as he did before starting Martell Media. Rule eight is look for leverage through the four C’s he attributes to a framework learned in San Francisco: content, code, capital and collaboration, summarized as output equals time multiplied by leverage.

Key takeaways

• Value your time with a specific dollar amount — he suggests $100 or $500 an hour — and say no to work that does not return that value, spending money on delivery, lawn care and similar services instead.
• Put big rocks first using a pre-loaded year: schedule vacations, birthdays, big events and money-moving activities before pebbles and sand fill the calendar.
• Eliminate white space by batching and blocking time, including scheduled breaks, meals and workouts, so a 60-minute lunch does not bleed into a 2-hour catch-up.
• Use NET time (’no extra time’) by merging tasks: phone calls while driving, 30-minute scooter one-on-ones, and team meetings during 3 to 4 hour indoor bike rides.
• Increase output through the four C’s of leverage — content, code, capital and collaboration — because output equals time multiplied by leverage.

Episode details: published September 3, 2024 · 21:16 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dan Martell’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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