The following is a worked example of one of the time management approaches outlined in Caleb Jones' Unchained Man.

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For context: I'm a disciplined guy with strong habits and I'm good at sifting out the priorities in a project and attacking them. My former time management approach was typical of "7 Habits..." and the other usual suspects, mixed in with some basic project management and an indifference to anything else that doesn't "move the needle" as it were. I applied this both personally and professionally and it worked pretty well.

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That being said, my life is getting more complex, likely yours is too. And I have been conscious that successes in one area were increasingly coming at the cost of others. I would also rather drop something than stress over it. So this has meant a great deal of Sophie's-Choice-type triage while I struggle to implement a more comprehensive approach that is not too cumbersome.

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In other words, "Make a better MAP" has been at the top of my MAP for a while.

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So when /u/SBIII mentioned using The Unchained Man for the same purpose: I was like a rat up a drain pipe.

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The Unchained Man

The book itself is kind of like if TRP did 4 Hour Work Week. It’s not bad per se but after skimming it quickly, I relegated it to the bottom of my reading list and have still not completed it.

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Running Your Life - Unchained Man Style

What I did do is skip to part 3, which contains a complete, nuts-to-soup, idiot’s guide to “running your life”. I am that idiot, so I've read this section several times since then and implemented a great deal with success.

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In it there are 5 chapters which cover:

  • Areas of your life;
  • Formulating a personal code of conduct;
  • Defining a personal mission;
  • Setting societally independent goals;
  • Managing your time.

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None of the concepts are new or original however Jones unpacks them well and most importantly, outlines the execution in great detail.

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In particular he describes two methods for time management:

  1. The “Check” method and
  2. The "E3D" (Every Three Day) method - a more complex, multi-document approach.

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There are other helpful nuggets in there, such as goal setting tips and examples of mission statements with "do's" and "don'ts" but the time management systems made the most impact on me and I'll run through a sample.

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Check Method

Jones explains the Check method as a way to build habits and more suited to visual, fly-by-the-seat of your pants types. I agree, I fit the description and a similar system has helped maintain strong habits. It's nothing more than focusing on a few daily tasks and checking off compliance.

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E3D (Every Three Days) Method

The output of E3D is a prioritized “to do” list (That you check Every Three Days). The input is basically your entire life. Mine is a multi-tabbed worksheet in Google Sheets. I had something similar before however refining it and adding Jones' rules for executing it have been very effective.

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A worked example is as follows:

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Step 1 - Establish some goals:

  • Complete relocation;
  • Reduce office hours to <30 per week;
  • Clear unsecured debts;
  • Cut to 8% bodyfat for beach vacation;
  • Find and settle in new home;
  • Buy vacation home;
  • Hold 100k USD in free cash/equivalents;
  • Vacations x 3;
  • Increase total from 1300lbs to 1350lbs;
  • Mother’s Day, family birthdays, anniversaries;
  • Read a book a week in 2019;
  • Improve two languages;
  • Learn fourth language;
  • See the Terracotta Army.

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Jones recommends phrasing everything in the past tense, as in “I spend less than 30 hours in the office per week”. I won’t re-write it, you get the idea.

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Step 2 - Assign everything an A, B, C priority\NOTE 1]):

  • A Complete relocation;
  • C Reduce work hours to <30 per week;
  • A Clear unsecured debts;
  • A Cut to 8% bodyfat for beach vacation;
  • B Find and settle in new home;
  • C Buy vacation home;
  • A Hold 100k USD in free cash/equivalents;
  • C Rebuild asset portfolio;
  • A Vacations x 3;
  • B Increase total from 1300lbs to 1350lbs;
  • A Mother’s Day, family birthdays, anniversaries;
  • A Read a book a week in 2019;
  • C Improve two languages;
  • B Learn fourth language;
  • A See the Terracotta Army.

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Step 3 - Add a timeline to your A’s, using 1/3/5/10 year brackets:

  • A Complete relocation (1 year);
  • A Clear unsecured debts (1 year);
  • A Hold 100k USD in free cash/equivalents (1 year);
  • A Cut to 8% bodyfat for beach vacation (1 year);
  • A Vacations x 3 (1 year);
  • A Mother’s Day, family birthdays, anniversaries (1 year);
  • A Read a book a week in 2019 (1 year);
  • A See the Terracotta Army (1 year).

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Step 4 - Prioritize your 1-5 year goals\)2\) and sideline everything else:

  • A1 Complete relocation (1 year);
  • A2 Clear unsecured debts (1 year);
  • A3 Hold 100k USD in free cash/equivalents (1 year);
  • A4 Cut to 8% bodyfat for beach vacation (1 year);
  • A5 Learn fourth language (1 year);
  • A6 Vacations x 3 (1 year);
  • A7 See the Terracotta Army (1 year).
  • A8 Read a book a week in 2019 (1 year);
  • A9 Mother’s Day, family birthdays, anniversaries (1 year).

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Step 5 - Pick the top two goals to focus on, make em big and assign a date:

A1 Complete relocation

(by end-May 2019)

A2 Clear unsecured debts

(by 15th May 2019)

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And that’s all you’re allowed. At this point you break them down into individual steps.

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My goals are fairly simple but for the avoidance of doubt, relocating breaks down something like: healthcare, find house, furnish house, kids in local school, sort utilities, sort tax liabilities etc.

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Step 6 - Projects

Now we move onto the projects list. This is where I started to get some real value out of the approach: I had dozens of projects over all kinds of timelines\)3\) with little direct link to my mission or priority goals. Again, you pick 2 projects, break them down into prioritized steps and execute.

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I did some mopping up first: I broke out furnishing a new home as a project and attacked it with the same intensity I would anything else. Same for my wife’s birthday (because I wanted to: calm the fuck down): small gift, babysitter, transport, nice restaurant, called ahead to ask them to bake her a cake. Same for some forthcoming trips.

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Then, since my immediate goals were mainly financial, I prioritized a new business venture to get some more cash in. However since my mission is also (words to the effect of) “travel and have fun”, my second project was to really nail the planning on a forthcoming trip and execute it well and I’ve continued with that split so far.

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It seems to work for me and any doubt on what comes next is normally resolved by referring back to the mission and goals tab.

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Step 7 - Inboxes

Jones recommends processing all your inboxes down to zero here and replacing them with "to do" tasks. Personally I am 99% paperless and 90% of my emails just need a one line response, so I just do some cleanup here to ensure I've <10 or so items and any big items are being addressed.

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Step 8 - Once A's

Then you take your “Once A’s” (as in “once a day/week/month) and schedule them.

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I am pretty good with calendaring (auto-correct confirms this is a real word) but I did make a checklist here and double check everything in the next three days is scheduled and any forthcoming event has been considered as a possible mini-project. I also block out meeting/call prep (immediately before the event if possible) to cut down on tasks.

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NB: I also reviewed my daily habits here e.g. I read an hour, train an hour, MRP an hour, sleep well, weigh myself and track my macros everyday and I checked those off to see if there was any improvements to be made. I got a surprising amount out of this exercise and I suggest you throw it into the mix yourself.

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Step 9 - To Do List

Finally, from your project priorities, inboxes, upcoming "Once A's", process improvements and other “stuff”, you produce an “active” To-Do list\4]) for the next three days\5]).

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I'll also email/text my wife, business partners and employees about their priorities at the same time which adds a bit of leverage.

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Conclusion

This simple approach has allowed me to:

A) Manage my life in a far more granular level of detail;

B) Deliver more goals and extrapolate new ones from my overarching mission;

C) Increase the leverage I get from my team toward my own personal goals.

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Jones covers it and more in detail, with a step-by-step guide and flowchart.

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If curious, read Section 3 of The Unchained Man for more. Worth the price of entry.

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Notes:

1 I started off without a “mission” tab - as that seemed redundant - however adding it in, completely changed my A, B, C’s so I suggest you don’t skip it;

2 I have no long term priorities, so something for me to revisit;

3 I added a title of “6 Month Projects” in this tab to keep me honest;

4 I produce two, To-Do, lists now:

  • one in a Google Sheets tab that I do in the office, 9-5,
  • a smaller one on a post-it note that I take home with me.

There’s no split between personal/professional tasks, it’s just what is practical to get done at each location and a nice side-effect was significantly reducing my screen time out of office hours, which feeds back into my goals.

5 I do this twice a week: Monday which is mainly professional and Thursday, where I’ll make sure I’ve covered the weekend. And I’ve scheduled a monthly review of my goals.