Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business

Remaining at the center of everything, with all the most important knowledge only in your mind, puts your business at risk.

the time and opportunity costs of chasing initiatives that would not pay well, projects that distracted and detracted from work the company could perform better, faster, and with healthier margins.

Start by creating a two-hour Founder Time block on your calendar that recurs weekly, during a time of day when you are most energetic. As they say in personal finance, “pay yourself first.” Do not look for small segments sandwiched between others’ requests; reserve windows that suit you best. During that window, you can tackle strategies from this

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of the seminal book Flow, describes this state as effortless

“If you would like to entertain certain opportunities, put your attention on that idea or reality in your imagination first,” Penney said. “That’s a higher frequency. Focus your attention into the imaginal idea and enjoy it, really experience it in a tactile way, and have fun with it. Soon you may have synchronicities or sudden changes, but it’s no

do what I do best: using my voice in a one-to-many way. Specifically, to simplify complexity through what I call ongoing public original thinking, activities such as delivering keynotes, podcasting, sending

my weekly(ish) newsletter, and writing this book.

Only 40 percent of small businesses are profitable. Of the remaining 60 percent, half break even, and half are losing money.

what Good to Great author Jim Collins calls “return on luck.”