Knowledge Center: Free To Focus … A Total Productivity System To Achieve More By Doing Less By Michael Hyatt (Summary)

Free To Focus … A Total Productivity System To Achieve More By Doing Less By Michael Hyatt
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The Main Idea

The key to productivity today is not to try and squeeze in more stuff. Instead, you should be focused on getting the right things done in the face of 24/7 distractions and sidetracks. If you can start each day with clarity about your highest value priorities and then end each day with a feeling of accomplishment, you will be doing well.

Achieving more by doing, less of the stuff that doesn't matter sounds great but how do you do that in the real world? A good 3-step system for this is:

Free To Focus	1	Stop
	2	Cut
	3	Act

STOP — and figure out why you're working first. It's only once you clarify why you're working that you can then set about upgrading how you work.
CUT — clarify what you won't do so you have more time for what you do need to do.
ACT — fill your day with high-leverage tasks, and look for ways to get these tasks done in less time and with less stress than before.

Your attention is being spammed all day long. What will your life have been, in the end, but the sum total of everything you spent it focusing on?

Oliver Burkeman, journalist

It's time to hit the reset button on your life and finally put a system in place that ensures the time and energy to accomplish your most important goals, both in and out of the office. The most productive business leaders I coach recognize productivity is not about getting more things done; it's about getting the right things done. Can you imagine it? Can you picture when you feel fully in control of where your time is going, when you get to decide how to spend your precious energy, and when you hit the pillow at night still energized from a productive, satisfying day? I hope you can, because that time is coming. You really can accomplish more by doing less.

Michael Hyatt

The Free To Focus Formula

1. Stop. It may sound counterintuitive to begin a productivity system by telling people to stop but the reality is that if you don't stop doing marginal value activities; you won't have enough time to do what matters most. The three actions in this step are:

Formulate — clarify exactly what you want to achieve by being more productive.
Evaluate — separate your high-leverage activities from your low-leverage busy work.
Rejuvenate — clarify how to use rest to boost your results when working.

2. Cut. What you choose not to do is just as important to your productivity as what you actually do with your time. To work to eliminate low-leverage tasks in order to claw back more time for better high-leverage tasks, the three steps are:

Eliminate — banish all the time bandits, which steal your time.
Automate — all the low-leverage tasks you feasibly can.
Delegate — get work off your schedule in a practical and sustainable way.

3. Act. Once you have cut out nonessentials, it is then time to start executing more high-leverage tasks, which add value. As you do this, look for ways to get these tasks done in less time and with less stress than before. The three steps here are:

Consolidate — find ways to bunch high-leverage tasks together for efficiency.
Designate — stage tasks so they fit your schedule rather than becoming urgent.
Activate — eliminate distractions and make maximal use of your skills & abilities.

About The Author

Michael Hyatt is the founder and CEO of his own leadership development firm, Michael Hyatt & Company. He was formerly the chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers. He is the author or coauthor of several bestsellers including Living Forward, Your Best Year Ever and Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World. Michael Hyatt's blog Lead to Win gets more than a million page views each month and he has been featured by The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Inc. and Entrepreneur. He is a graduate of Baylor University and McLennan Community College.

Summaries.Com Editor's Thoughts

I enjoyed Michael Hyatt's latest book, which followed on from his other recent book Your Best Year Ever.

His basic philosophy that the key to success is to get more of the right things done at the expense of busywork and marginal-value activities makes sense. I thought the steps he suggested — STOP, CUT, ACT — are workable for the real world. Just about everyone today obsesses over trying to cram more and more into each day.

I also liked his suggestion to have a set morning ritual, workday startup ritual, end-of-workday ritual and evening ritual as the four basic building blocks of your day. So too were his ideas about using more templates and automation.

Overall, distraction is the enemy of productivity today and this is a great system for freeing up more time to focus.

Amazon.Com Review …

Everyone gets 168 hours a week, but it never feels like enough, does it? Work gobbles up the lion's share--many professionals are working as much as 70 hours a week--leaving less and less for rest, exercise, family, and friends. You know all those things that make life great.

Most people think productivity is about finding or saving time. However, it is not. It is about making our timework for us. Just imagine having free time again. It is not a pipe dream.

In Free to Focus, New York Times bestselling author Michael Hyatt reveals to readers nine proven ways to win at work so they are finally free to succeed at the rest of life--their health, relationships, hobbies, and more. He helps readers redefine their goals, evaluate what is working, cut out the nonessentials, focus on the most important tasks, manage their time and energy, and build momentum for a lifetime of success.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Slay Distractions, Reduce Your Task List, And Free Yourself From Interruptions

Everyone gets 168 hours a week, but it never feels like enough, does it? Work gobbles up the lion's share--many professionals work as much as 70 hours a week--leaving less and less margin for rest, exercise, family, and friends. If we're not careful, we can trade what matters most for a task list that grows longer by the day. What's the solution?

In Free to Focus, New York Times bestselling author Michael Hyatt reveals nine proven ways to win at work so you are finally free to succeed at the rest of life: your health, relationships, and more. He helps you

· redefine your work so it works for you
· filter your tasks and commitments
· cut out the nonessentials
· eliminate interruptions and distractions
· set boundaries that protect your focus and drive results
· leverage your time and energy for maximum productivity
· build momentum for a lifetime of success

Most people think productivity is about finding or saving time. However, it's not. It's about making your time work for you. Just imagine having margin and free time again. It's not a pipe dream. You can be free to focus, starting today. Michael Hyatt is the founder and CEO of Michael Hyatt & Company, a leadership development firm specializing in transformative live events and workshops, plus digital and analog planning and productivity tools. Formerly chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, Michael is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of several books, including Living Forward, Your Best Year Ever, and Platform. His work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Businessweek, Entrepreneur, and other publications. Michael has been married to his wife, Gail, for forty years. They have five daughters, three sons-in-law, and eight grandchildren. They live just outside Nashville, Tennessee. Learn more at MichaelHyatt.com.

From the Back Cover

"One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. No one understands this better than Michael Hyatt, and he's engineered a new, easy-to-follow approach to harness this power in his new book Free to Focus."--Tony Robbins, #1 New York Times bestselling author, Unshakeable

"Free to Focus will push you to use your time well and to become a better version of the person you were created to be."--Dave Ramsey, New York Times bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio show host

"Great stories are thought through before they're written. Great lives are the same. Mike gives us a framework to plan our lives in such a way that we won't have to experience regret. This is a great book."--Donald Miller, New York Times bestselling author; founder and CEO, StoryBrand

"Busyness is meaningless. What matters is consistently executing the work that actually matters. This book shows you how."--Cal Newport, New York Times bestselling author, Deep Work and Digital Minimalism

"Michael Hyatt is one of the best leaders I know. Leaders rely on smart systems to help them lead in the office as well as at home, and Free to Focus provides the kind of system that every smart leader craves."--John C. Maxwell, author, speaker, and leadership expert

"I've been where you may be now--buried under a mountain of daily tasks, watching my biggest goals and most important projects slip further and further out of reach. Here's the solution. Michael Hyatt has created a productivity system that really works. Free to Focus does not disappoint."--Lewis Howes, New York Times bestselling author, The School of Greatness and The Mask of Masculinity