Dan Martell - February 26, 2025


Multi-Millionaire Explains： 3 Rules to Manage Your Time

Hosted by
Dan Martell
Mentioned
Charlie Munger David Allen Ben Newman McLaren
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Episode Stats


Length

11 minutes

Words per minute

208.59

Word count

2,314

Sentence count

140

Harmful content

Toxicity

6

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, I talk about how to go from being broke to becoming a multi-millionaire. I break down the 3 D's: Do it now, get it done now, delegate it, let someone else do it, and stop wasting time.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
00:00:00.640 Stop wasting time.
00:00:02.340 I'm gonna share with you the three time rules
00:00:04.360 I followed to go from broke to multi-millionaire.
00:00:06.960 See, when kids come up to me
00:00:07.980 and I'm driving one of my supercars,
00:00:09.260 they always ask, what do you do?
00:00:11.360 And I always say to them, it's not what I do,
00:00:13.580 it's what I did.
00:00:14.800 Starting with rule number one, the 4D framework.
00:00:18.320 Getting Things Done by David Allen
00:00:19.940 is one of the best books ever written on doing more.
00:00:23.800 I fell in love with it, I loved it so much
00:00:25.860 that I actually went to one of his seminars.
00:00:27.280 And because of that experience,
00:00:29.340 he taught me a completely different way to work
00:00:32.180 that I wanna share with you now.
00:00:33.580 This is the 4D framework.
00:00:35.160 The first D is do it.
00:00:36.860 The rule is, if it takes less than two minutes,
00:00:39.420 you do it now.
00:00:40.240 You don't even write it down.
00:00:41.420 It'll take you more time to write it down
00:00:43.680 and to just get it done.
00:00:45.040 So if that means sending a text message, calling someone,
00:00:47.460 I literally was just talking to somebody
00:00:48.980 and they were like,
00:00:49.700 I wonder if we can make this work on YouTube.
00:00:51.500 I said, one sec.
00:00:52.280 I called the person, asked the question.
00:00:54.420 We got it done right away.
00:00:55.620 We don't even write it down.
00:00:57.240 The second D is delegate it.
00:00:58.680 If someone else can do it, let them.
00:01:01.800 Stop working on stuff you don't need to do.
00:01:04.020 The third D is defer it.
00:01:05.660 This is really important for things that are not now.
00:01:08.440 They need to get done.
00:01:09.420 They're just not a this week, even this month.
00:01:11.700 So I always try to put it in a place
00:01:13.620 where I know I'm gonna review it
00:01:14.820 so I don't get bogged down by the pressure
00:01:16.720 of having all these open loops for things
00:01:18.860 that don't need my attention today.
00:01:20.800 The fourth D is delete it.
00:01:22.760 If it doesn't serve your goals,
00:01:24.680 even if you want to do it, you'd like to do it,
00:01:27.100 you gotta learn to say no.
00:01:28.680 Here's the deal. A yes is a no to your goals. A no is a yes to your potential dreams. You have
00:01:35.240 to learn to say no so you create the space so it's available to you when you have the
00:01:39.200 opportunity to execute to make the thing happen. Ben Newman!
00:01:47.360 eight nine years ago i was still like i'd be on coaching calls 10 coaching calls in the day
00:02:02.160 just i mean just hammering a mutual friend like dude you're gonna burn out and he's like you need
00:02:09.160 to learn to honor the brand and get paid to say no and i never forgot it get paid to say no
00:02:16.980 I said, tell me more. He's like, dude, you need to develop other coaches. You need to develop
00:02:20.980 other speakers. So that day I got on the plane. I said, okay, BNC Speakers is born. BNC Coaching
00:02:26.680 is born. There's no other coaches. There's no other speakers. So my biggest focus is only doing
00:02:32.720 the things I love. Yeah, dude, I love that. It changed my life. You get paid to say no. It changed my life.
00:02:38.160 Here's what I like to tell people. If you don't have a framework for managing time,
00:02:41.940 time will manage you. But time isn't the only thing you need to manage, which brings us a rule
00:02:46.900 number two, you don't manage time, you manage energy. When I first started getting going,
00:02:51.820 I was so worried of missing opportunities that I said yes to everything that my calendar was like
00:02:56.440 a tapestry of meetings that made no sense. I mean, I used to say yes to meetings at 9am in the
00:03:01.960 morning, breaking up my most creative time for some meeting that I could have done in the afternoon.
00:03:07.540 Understanding how you naturally want to flow through your day so that you're available for
00:03:12.980 the work that you need to get done is a game changer in business that's what the best leaders
00:03:17.140 do they don't create a scenario where they burn out and then have to reset a lot of ceos do that
00:03:22.180 man it's actually a self-sabotaging behavior because then it's not their fault that their
00:03:26.180 whole business went back 30 40 50 percent yeah it is well no it's not i was hustling and no you did
00:03:31.780 it in a way that was not sustainable first form is an example of 22 years of non-stop
00:03:37.140 trouble with carry water most people don't understand that the results are exponential
00:03:41.620 but they're not exponential if you don't stay in the game.
00:03:44.100 Charlie Munger used to stay it often.
00:03:45.320 He's like, compound growth only works if you don't reset.
00:03:48.520 At the moment you lose the capital, you reset.
00:03:51.580 Rule number one, don't get out of momentum.
00:03:53.060 That's why momentum is so powerful.
00:03:54.800 Once you're in momentum, just stay in it.
00:03:56.640 Here's the mental model to consider.
00:03:58.600 You can't do more if you don't have energy for more.
00:04:01.580 If you're loving this,
00:04:02.680 these are my energy management principles.
00:04:04.720 Number one is schedule for energy.
00:04:07.260 When I look at my day
00:04:08.220 and I think about the three blocks
00:04:09.440 of morning, afternoon, and night,
00:04:11.300 There are certain things that I wanna do in the morning
00:04:13.180 that is completely different than my afternoons
00:04:15.300 where I'm scheduling most of my calls
00:04:17.060 because I like to collaborate in the afternoon.
00:04:19.480 And at night I do things like research,
00:04:22.040 review my calendar for the next day.
00:04:23.860 It's a completely different energy.
00:04:25.480 If I tried to do that in the morning
00:04:26.940 and then the creative stuff at night
00:04:28.720 when my brain is wasted,
00:04:29.900 I would have lost my whole day of productivity.
00:04:32.080 The second thing is batch work.
00:04:33.780 And the whole idea is to ask yourself,
00:04:35.460 what kind of flow do you need to be in
00:04:37.440 to do certain types of work and put it together?
00:04:40.140 If it's a lot of writing, you write.
00:04:42.140 If it's a lot of meetings, you talk.
00:04:44.020 And you put them together
00:04:45.040 so that you don't have to pay
00:04:46.660 the cost of context switching.
00:04:48.440 I see people do this all the time.
00:04:50.120 They go from finance meeting to a sales call.
00:04:52.700 When I think of like doing media tours, for example,
00:04:55.300 I'm gonna do all the podcast interviews first,
00:04:58.240 then I'm gonna do any speaking or book meetups.
00:05:01.080 And only at the end of the day
00:05:02.520 do I do like a founder's dinner
00:05:04.040 because I wanna be in that energy of that work.
00:05:06.920 The third is net time,
00:05:08.460 which stands for no extra time.
00:05:10.860 This is like when I'm flying down to Nashville on the jet,
00:05:13.840 I'm doing a mastermind with other business people.
00:05:15.900 When I'm doing my one-on-ones, I do them on scooters
00:05:18.660 because I really enjoy being out on a scooter.
00:05:20.960 It is a game changer to be more productive
00:05:22.920 and also manage my energy.
00:05:24.780 But you can't keep the same schedule every day
00:05:27.300 and expect exponential results.
00:05:29.400 Which brings us to rule number three,
00:05:31.260 you're allowed to adjust.
00:05:33.080 I remember the other day,
00:05:34.020 one of my friends came to me
00:05:35.100 and he was like overwhelmed and stressed out.
00:05:37.500 and I was like, dude, calm down, what's going on?
00:05:40.920 And what happened was is that he had said yes
00:05:43.120 to a bunch of things months ago
00:05:44.760 and his calendar was just slammed.
00:05:47.300 He had all these commitments, he didn't know what to do
00:05:49.220 and what I suggested that he do that I want you to consider
00:05:51.580 is to make a list of things that you wouldn't have said yes to
00:05:55.100 if they were today and renegotiate those commitments.
00:05:58.560 So for example, at the book meetup,
00:06:00.160 somebody asked a question about like being overwhelmed
00:06:02.420 and they said their calendar was slammed
00:06:04.180 and they have all these commitments
00:06:05.680 and they don't know what to do.
00:06:06.680 and I just gave him the feedback.
00:06:08.220 The truth is, is that you're allowed to adjust.
00:06:10.940 You're allowed to renegotiate.
00:06:12.420 You're allowed to sit down, reprioritize
00:06:14.440 and say to somebody, I'm sorry,
00:06:17.160 but I'm not gonna be able to do that.
00:06:19.120 You're allowed to hold that truth.
00:06:21.900 Do you think you'd miss out on getting these big opportunities
00:06:25.600 if you didn't protect your time?
00:06:27.680 Yes, it's called death by a thousand paper cuts.
00:06:30.700 There's this great quote that says,
00:06:31.720 don't trust a man that never says no.
00:06:33.800 Because a man that never says no
00:06:35.080 will eventually say yes to too many people and let people down. Some lady says no, tells you they
00:06:40.860 know what they're after. And when they say yes, it's a yes. I've never not shown up. I'll be there
00:06:46.940 for a keynote. I'll be there for a webinar. I'll be there for your team. I'll be there for dinner.
00:06:51.680 I can't remember a time I didn't show up, but if I'm not feeling it, it's also a no. You got to
00:06:57.640 be with me and people are like, you did, you know, I got this idea and I really like to have you
00:07:01.660 involved and I go appreciate the interest, but probably not going to fit. Sorry, heads down,
00:07:06.880 locked in. What I like to tell people is if you don't take your time seriously, nobody else will.
00:07:12.000 So here are three strategies that I use to get the most out of my calendar. The first point is
00:07:17.080 to review. I look through my calendar on Sunday for the week and I ask myself, is this something
00:07:22.340 I should still be doing? I know maybe I said yes six months ago, but I'm allowed to review and
00:07:27.520 decide, does this align with my goals? Things that used to give me energy, you know, might have
00:07:32.180 turned into things that are mediocre or worse. They take my energy. You're allowed to change
00:07:37.060 your mind. The second part is to adjust, actually renegotiate those commitments, have those tough
00:07:42.540 conversations. One quick strategy that changed the game for my wife and I is that if the thing
00:07:47.240 somebody's asking me was tonight and I would say no, then it's a no, even if it's three months into
00:07:52.280 the future. So just say no today if you wouldn't go tonight. Number three is expand. Once you've
00:07:56.920 got that new time think about the goals you want the relationships you want to build the skills
00:08:02.040 you got to acquire and add the new and my favorite thing is to figure out what would make me the most
00:08:07.000 uncomfortable starting or creating whatever gives me anxiety is usually the right path most people
00:08:12.360 stay away from that i use it as feedback to say go forward the question i ask myself is what will
00:08:17.720 grow me even more i choose goals to grow me which is what i put in my account wear that one
00:08:26.920 do you know what that is i would guess it's a 30 000 watch this is a teso it's nice
00:08:36.440 guess what it is though for real 30k now i'm thinking for 60 70 100 120 150
00:08:48.120 i'm very self-aware that that looks like a swatch and it could be a 25 watch i don't take it off
00:08:53.320 I worked out with it. I wear it all the time. That's like a GQTRS on my wrist.
00:08:58.360 That's the McLaren mindset. Don't let your possessions hold you crazy. Wear it because 0.52
00:09:04.120 you want to wear it. I want you to wear it. I still had that mindset where it was like
00:09:10.280 what if one of my truck team drivers that I paid, I can't pay them $90 an hour, but if they see it 0.99
00:09:17.640 and it's like, I guess the answer is who gives a shit. 0.99
00:09:20.080 Again, a clear mindset. 0.99
00:09:21.660 It's not who gives a shit, 0.98
00:09:22.780 it's I want you to make $90 an hour. 0.96
00:09:25.320 Go create it.
00:09:26.160 Go get there.
00:09:27.000 If you have the mindset that anything is possible
00:09:29.400 for any person and they actually think,
00:09:31.640 oh, you got a half million dollar watch,
00:09:33.480 like give me a raise, like I'd love to give you a raise.
00:09:35.820 Talk to me.
00:09:36.660 Tell me what you're gonna do to create more value.
00:09:38.280 How are you gonna be more efficient?
00:09:39.860 The reason why I got it was because
00:09:41.420 my next big goal is billion.
00:09:42.840 If you divide a billion by 2,000,
00:09:44.760 that's 2,000 amount of hours in a year most people work.
00:09:47.500 Okay, you know what the number is?
00:09:49.460 Billion divided by 2,000, 500,000.
00:09:52.580 500,000.
00:09:53.800 Every time I look down, I ask myself,
00:09:55.460 is this hour producing that level of value
00:09:59.500 or trending towards it?
00:10:00.920 If it's not, I cannot continue to entertain this.
00:10:04.940 And you did it, you guys just went and saw it.
00:10:06.780 Isn't that cool?
00:10:07.620 You literally just saw that personified in person.
00:10:11.640 You saw the organization, you saw the people,
00:10:13.420 you saw the culture, you saw what I'm talking about.
00:10:16.260 real life that that is going to represent yeah that was worth the trip oh yeah when i think about
00:10:24.100 people taking their time more seriously i always go back to if you don't value your own time nobody
00:10:30.580 else will value yours and most people don't realize decisions around partnerships that cause issues
00:10:37.220 or even saying yes to commitments that you know really should be a no the people you love the
00:10:41.780 the most are on the receiving end. So I always go back to reminding myself, if I say yes to this,
00:10:47.800 I'm saying no to time with my kids. I'm saying no to time with my wife. I'm saying no to calling
00:10:52.100 my brother. I'm saying no to hanging out with my dad. And when I put that into context, it allows
00:10:57.320 me to feel okay in deciding to do something different. If you want to learn how CEOs manage
00:11:03.080 their inbox, click the video and I'll see you on the other side.