The Franklin Principle: A New Definition of Time Management

In Managing Extreme Personal & Professional Complexity, we discussed how managing complexity requires you to answer three questions:

• How? — How will you organize your goals?

• When? — When will you address your goals?

• What? — What tools will you use to record/represent your goals and the time you’ve committed to addressing them?

We addressed How? in that piece, and now we're going to explore When? by learning about The Franklin Principle.

Let's start at the very beginning: How would you define Time Management?

Traditionally, Time Management refers to performing tasks in a certain way, in a certain order, and at certain times or within certain time frames in order to get more done in a shorter amount of time, or something of that nature. I’ve always loved a quote by author Charles Richards: “Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week.”

However, this is only a small part of something larger. Something deeper. Something more human. To understand what I mean, first consider the following: Our time on this planet can be broken down into two parts—things we have to do and things we want to do.

Without getting bogged down in details about the fundamental concept of free will, we effectively have to do certain things under normal circumstances in order to live our lives the way we’ve crafted them. For most of us, this means we have to maintain some source of income. We have to remove garbage from our homes. We have to go to the dentist to make sure our teeth don’t rot.

On the other hand, there are things we want to do. Under most normal circumstances, we want to spend time with our loved ones, we want to eat delicious food, and we want to feel emotionally fulfilled. We want to stay healthy and spend time doing things we enjoy.

Additionally, there are a few things that fall into both categories. For most people, sleep falls into this category. We need to sleep — we have a biological requirement for it — but aren't there times when you can't wait to go to sleep? After you’re exhausted from a long day?

What things do you have to do? What things do you want to do? It’s from this distinction that I propose The Franklin Principle.

The Franklin Principle

The Franklin Principle is the idea that meticulously organizing the things you have to do lets you maximize uninterrupted time with which you can guiltlessly do what you want to do. That’s a superior approach to Time Management, as it presents a broad solution to the largest and most ubiquitous challenges you face when pursuing ambitious undertakings: you want to work toward your goals, but life is full of things you have to do.

I named The Franklin Principle after Ben Franklin, who was — to say the least — an interesting guy. In his roughly eighty-four years on this earth, Franklin became an accomplished inventor, founder, and the author of everything from almanacs to autobiographies. He retired comfortably at forty-two with wealth he accumulated from a printing company, furthered our understanding of electricity, participated in the creation of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, and served as US ambassador to France. And this is just the tip of the iceberg; in short, the man knew how to execute.

How did he get this all done?

Take a look at an example from Franklin’s own account of his daily schedule from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin:

• 5 to 7 a.m. Rise, wash, and address “Powerful Goodness!” Contrive day’s business and take the resolution of the day; prosecute the present study; and breakfast

• 8 to 11 a.m. Work

• 12 to 1 p.m. Read or overlook my accounts, and dine

• 2 to 5 p.m. Work

• 6 to 9 p.m. Put things in their places, supper, music, or diversion, or conversation; examination of the day

• 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Sleep

With very few exceptions, Franklin knew what he would be doing during every hour of every day. He organized his time into specific sessions of Blocked Time, each dedicated to the furthering of a specific project or work track. He respected these sessions, and even though they were self-prescribed, he treated them as though they were defined by a ruthless supervisor. Franklin also took fun seriously (no, really — look it up), and actually blocked off time for it (6 to 9 p.m.: music, or diversion, or conversation). He didn't let any Have-to-Dos interrupt his fun, and despite being a notorious partier, he never let his Want-to-Dos get in the way of getting work done. His prodigious track record of execution was seemingly possible partly due to his having learned to say, There’s a time for that, but now is not that time.

The above is admittedly a broad example (for instance, what exactly does “work” entail?), but if you dig deeply into his writings, you’ll see he broke his sessions of Blocked Time down into much more detail. He socialized his behaviors and traditions to those around him, both professionally and personally. He started on time and ended on time.

He wasn’t the only prodigious historical figure to adhere to a detailed, block-based schedule; other noteworthy individuals cited behaviors and traditions like these as vital to their success. Theodore Roosevelt was arguably just as prodigious a character as Franklin. Browsing his impressive résumé, you'd find that he was president of the United States and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient. He authored dozens of books on a wide range of subjects. His interests were broad, and he could famously talk into the wee hours on virtually any topic. How did such a unique character organize his time?

Take a look at a breakdown of a day on the campaign trail, excerpted from The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris:

• 7 a.m. Breakfast

• 7:30 a.m. A speech

• 8 a.m. Reading a historical work

• 9 a.m. A speech

• 10 a.m. Dictating letters

• 11 a.m. Discussing Montana mines

• 11:30 a.m. A speech

• 12 p.m. Reading an ornithological work

• 12:30 p.m. A speech

• 1 p.m. Lunch

• 1:30 p.m. A speech

• 2:30 p.m. Reading Sir Walter Scott

• 3 p.m. Answering telegrams

• 3:45 p.m. A speech

• 4 p.m. Meeting the press

• 4:30 p.m. Reading

• 5 p.m. A speech

• 6 p.m. Reading

• 7 p.m. Supper

• 8 p.m. Speaking

• 11 p.m. Reading alone in car

• 12 p.m. To bed

As you can see, Roosevelt’s time was broken into small blocks. This isn’t surprising, given the fact that time spent on the campaign trail implies time-sensitive obligations; however, consider that at noon, Roosevelt was reading about birds. This obviously had nothing to do with his campaign or his political career, but was rather something he wanted to do. How could Roosevelt justify this without feeling pressured or rushed? How did one of the most powerful men in the world—arguably one of the busiest men in the world—have time to read about birds while campaigning to retain the presidency of the United States?

Or history (8 a.m.)? Or the works of Sir Walter Scott (2:30 p.m.)?

If Roosevelt had just tried to fit leisure reading in when he had time, do you think he’d have been able to do it? What you’re seeing Roosevelt do in the above schedule is true Time Management: using meticulous organization to take and protect time for the things that mattered to him.

To quote author Kerry Johnson, “Do we need more time? Or do we need to be more disciplined with the time we have?”

The Franklin Principle in Your Own Life

Remember our new definition of Time Management: to meticulously organize the things you have to do in order to maximize uninterrupted time with which you can guiltlessly do what you want to do.

Uninterrupted. Guiltlessly.

These are important words.Imagine the following example: You wake up on Saturday morning and want to relax. You had a rough week, and before beginning any chores, you want to kick back for an hour or so and watch some mindless television. However, you know the lawn needs to be mowed (or a window frame needs to be caulked, or the bathroom needs to be cleaned, or cupcakes need to be baked for a school event), and it’s your responsibility. While trying to relax, you're invariably going to suffer from some degree of pressure about the impending chore. It may be subtle—a mere shadow in the deepest recesses of your mind — or it may be blatant, haunting your every thought. Either way, the whole time, you know deep down that you really should be getting to that chore.

Feel familiar?

On top of this, internal sources of pressure are met with external sources, as spouses, family members, roommates, and parents all contribute to this weight. Of course, you can say, “I’ll mow the lawn after I watch these cartoons,” and everyone around you can acknowledge your promise and seem to accept it, but is it really that simple? Is the guilt and pressure really gone? Can you truly enjoy your Want-to-Do, or has the Have-to-Do infiltrated the experience? At any given time, you most likely have dozens of responsibilities you need to get around to; while they wait in line, will you truly enjoy what you’re doing or be able to fully engage?

Let’s further explore the psychology behind this. Assume your job functions on a typical office schedule (Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.). If that’s the case, barring any extraordinary circumstances, it's unlikely that you'd suddenly find yourself on the couch on Saturday morning saying, “I really feel like I should be at work.”

Why not?

The reason is simple: You’ve established set, defined times you're supposed to be at work, and because of this distinction, you allow yourself to step away from it — guilt-free — when it’s appropriate to do so. This is part of the culture surrounding your relationship with work (behaviors, traditions). Anyone affected by your being at work or not being at work understands why you aren’t there on Saturday morning. This makes perfect sense for your job, but with many of the Have-to-Dos in your personal life (such as the chores mentioned), you don't make these same distinctions; rather, you let them pile up in a shapeless, guilt-inducing backlog, from which you’re expected to pluck the next chore whenever the opportunity presents itself.

This is not conducive to properly separating life’s Have-to-Dos and Want-to-Dos, as your Have-to-Dos will constantly haunt you while engaging in your Want-to-Dos. We're completely used to this feeling, and as such, this anxiety and pressure is an accepted part of modern life—a grim, subtle weight bearing down on us from above, compounding and causing everything from vague irritation to measurable hypertension.

You’re being robbed of your right to the present by your Have-to-Dos. It doesn’t have to be this way.

The solution is simple: If you define a specific time and duration for a specific chore (or type of chore), you’ll be less prone to feel the task looming over you. This is because until the time arrives, it simply isn’t the appropriate time, just as it isn't time for work yet on Saturday morning. If you subscribe to this way of doing things, socialize it, and exhibit behaviors that demonstrate that you take it seriously, you’ll alter your personal culture, slowly build trust among those around you, and find that you’ll shed feelings of pressure about Have-to-Dos — feelings you may not even be aware you’re currently harboring. Commit to mowing the lawn at 11:30 a.m. sharp, and don’t let yourself begin even a minute late. Treat the Blocked Time with respect, and you’ll slowly train those around you to respect it, as well. That’s The Franklin Principle. That’s real Time Management.

Counterintuitively, this type of meticulous organization will simplify your life whether you have two or two thousand responsibilities. I think we can all relate to the experience of focusing on mental to-do lists when we should be engaging with loved ones or enjoying ourselves. If you find yourself struggling with anxiety you can trace back to an inability to mentally detach from your responsibilities, I encourage you to shoo away the thoughts with the mantra, There’s a time for that, but now is not that time.

By organizing the things he had to do — by blocking off specific time for both work and play — Roosevelt let himself have his bird-reading fun without needing to feel any guilt or anxiety about it. He created separation, and you don’t need presidential authority to do the same; you simply need patience as those around you adjust to your new approach and the trust it requires.

The Art of Taking

In order to block off time for Want-to-Dos (like your goals), you have to first understand and accept that you can’t just fit things in. That model rarely works for anyone, and if you’re honest with yourself, I think you’ll agree it’s failed you, as well. If you want to get something done — if it’s truly valuable or important to you — then you need to grant it the dedicated time it deserves. You can’t find time, and you can’t make time, but you can take time.

Say those three statements aloud and really think about each, as well as the distinctions between them: You can’t find time. You can’t make time. But you can take time.These three sentences demonstrate a shift in language — both internally and in communicating with others — that conveys that time is something you have considerable (albeit specific) control over. You can’t find or make time because time is, by definition, a finite resource. When you’re born, you’ve been granted an inheritance. Most of us have been handed a huge amount of wealth in the only truly global currency: time. This is why people talk about how they spend their time. Everything you do costs you a bit of this currency, and — while you can live healthfully and try to elongate the tail end of your life — you can’t truly make time. There are twenty-four hours in the days of the both the laziest and the most productive individuals on Earth. However, you can take time; you can tactically deprioritize or displace other responsibilities — responsibilities with inflated priority due to recency bias, short-term vision, perceived urgency, routine, or others’ wishes.

This shift in language should empower you. Decide that you’ll no longer tolerate passivity in your relationship with time. Resolve to stop speaking in lamentations and commiseration, despite how embedded they are in the language of Western culture. We all have excuses — we’re all tired, we’re all busy — but you can decide what matters to you. That TV show? Drinks with friends after work? An unnecessary extra half-hour of sleep? Playing dumb games on your phone while you’re on the bus to work? Or making progress toward your goals? Your side business? Your novel? Your art? Your relationship with your child? Your career growth or career change? Your studies?

Accept that you have considerable control over the finite time you have, and that — under normal circumstances — your decisions to engage in all but the most necessary acts are indeed decisions.

There isn’t a single person with whom I’ve shared this behavior who hasn’t been able to take a little time each week for something they value. That’s not an exaggeration. No matter how much responsibility they had, everyone I’ve worked with has been able to take useful chunks of time back from the rhythms of their lives — this includes executives, business owners, entertainers, attorneys, and even a mother of young twins. I know how difficult it can be to adopt these behaviors; we each think we’re an exception, and that our days and lives are somehow busier than everyone else’s. That our jobs are stricter. That we can’t build the appropriate trust and that we’re not in a position to influence the culture that surrounds us.

Remind yourself about this approach from time to time when working toward goals, and start using your new language in response to others’ requests for your time: “Yeah, I can take the time to do that.” Once you begin using this terminology, you’ll begin to think about Time Management in an intention-driven manner. It will force you to face and convey to others the fact that you’re either willing or unwilling to spend currency (time) on x instead of y — currency you’ll never get back.

I’m certainly no Franklin or Roosevelt, but I can personally attest to the power of The Franklin Principle. In many ways, it’s responsible for my remaining effective and low-stress while simultaneously writing thousands of pages of content for books and articles, serving as a senior technology leader in demanding corporate environments, tackling ambitious personal and creative projects, speaking at events, and pursuing new skills. It’s responsible for my book about this very topic, Foundations of Execution — not in some abstract way, but directly: I used these behaviors to bring the book to life while juggling a vast number of other responsibilities and still managing to be an attentive husband, father, son, and friend. It’s kept me perfectly sane when my life probably looked unsustainable to an outsider. Had I simply “fit writing in when I had the time,” I can tell you without question that the book never would have never come to be. Only by sectioning off non-negotiable sessions of Blocked Time was I able to dedicate enough time and energy to progress at a reasonable rate. I didn’t find the time. I didn’t make the time. I took the time. I’ve done the same thing for fitness goals, personal goals, creative goals — the list goes on and on. Every valuable Want-to-Do is given the proper time and organization, and every Have-to-Do is isolated, communicated, and executed on. Perhaps most importantly, I promise you I’m not up at night worrying about what I may have forgotten or missed.

And if I can’t take the time to address a desire or project, it forces me to ask the sometimes-difficult question of whether or not it’s truly valuable or important to me. Something may seem important in the moment, and this process forces you to truly assess its value. This is a healthy and natural filtration system for those who — like me — are easily enthused.

It’s deceivingly simple, but I promise you it works:

Take the Blocked Time. Arrive at the Blocked Time. Use your Script. Use your Hot List.

Take the Blocked Time. Arrive at the Blocked Time. Use your Script. Use your Hot List.

If you haven't read about Scripts and Hot Lists yet, take a few minutes to do so; you're going to need to understand these concepts well before continuing.

Most people would agree that there are multiple factors that contribute to success, whatever their definition of success may be. However, I argue that this behavior is the one most universally shared across some of the greatest success stories in history, as well as in the lives and careers of the greatest leaders I’ve worked for and the most interesting people I’ve ever met. I’ll take it a step further and say that I believe this behavior is the one most universally ignored by those who are constantly making excuses and trying to catch up.

Blocked Time

We’ve obviously touched on Blocked Time, but let’s look at it in more detail.

Living The Franklin Principle

Let’s go through an example that marries both professional and personal sessions of Blocked Time into one calendar. In this fictional scenario, this individual—let’s call her “Janet”—works for a print/digital magazine. We’ll explore how she uses Scripts and Hot Lists to make use of the time she dedicates to both her Have-to-Dos and Want-to-Dos.

• 9 a.m. BLOCKED TIME: Work

• 10 a.m. Meeting with Joan C.

• 10:30 a.m. Review committee proposal

• 12 p.m. BLOCKED TIME: Work

• 12:30 p.m. Lunch

• 1 p.m. Meeting with Sean S.

• 2 p.m. Weekly marketing team meeting

• 3 p.m. Interview new journalist prospect

• 4 p.m. Daily wrap-up meeting

• 5:30 p.m. BLOCKED TIME: Study German

• 8:30 p.m. BLOCKED TIME: Irish dance

• 10 p.m. Bed

Janet sections off two sessions of Blocked Time during her workday. In the first, you could imagine that she comes into the office, gets settled, and goes through a Work Daily Script not unlike the one we used as an earlier example—she responds to emails, makes notes for the day’s meetings, etc.:

1. Check work email and voicemail and reply as needed

2. Assess any new items you need to keep track of and add them to your Hot List

3. Check your calendar; review the day's meetings and prepare notes for each

4. Perform daily repeated tasks

5. Address your Work Hot List

Then she spends the rest of the hour working on her Work Hot List once directed there from her Script. She ignores her emails and phone during the Blocked Time, and if someone pops into her workspace and makes a request, she either asks them to come back later or quickly jots a note about it on her Work Hot List. At 10 a.m. sharp, she stops because she has other responsibilities; even if she’s in the middle of a task, she doesn’t let herself go over by even a few seconds. At 12 p.m., she begins another session of Blocked Time and again focuses on Work Hot List tasks until she eats lunch and relaxes at 12:30 p.m.

From what you’ve learned so far, you should recognize the benefits of approaching the day in this structured way. Among them:

• Isolating sessions of Blocked Time and focusing on only the current Script/Hot List item (as well as enforcing a not-now culture for anyone trying to infiltrate) lets Janet focus and either defer incoming tasks or quickly place them in her Work Hot List to be properly prioritized.

• Using a Script and a Hot List to keep her on task reduces context switching and the efficiency lost in context switching (we’ll explore this further shortly).

• Using a Script and a Hot List helps her manage anxiety since nothing will get lost or require her to use her memory alone to track tasks or responsibilities.

• These organizational behaviors will build trust and the impression of responsibility over time as her ability to keep track of and address multiple ongoing bodies of work improves.

Please note: This example highlights how Blocked Time can help manage complexity for those who have jobs for whom schedules are fluid, but responsibilities tend to collect — such as is the case with managers, knowledge workers, administrative assistants, project managers, realtors, finance professionals, and salespeople. If Janet had a different type of job entirely — one with fundamental consistency (data entry or factory work) or one hinged on customer interaction (retail or food service), for instance — she may find it much more difficult to block off time during her workday, and doing so may not provide as much value.

The next section of the example is applicable to anyone, however. On the personal side of things, imagine that Janet is trying to learn German, since a close family friend moved to Berlin, and she promised to visit him one day. Learning a new language is notoriously difficult for adults, so this is a great example of an endeavor that requires regular practice and would get nowhere if she was simply “fitting it in when she can.” When she’s on the train home at the end of the day, instead of playing games on her phone, chatting with friends, or reading, she studies German. She’s well aware she could spend that time engaged in a leisure activity, but learning German is a Want-to-Do she values enough to ensure she’s giving it the structure it needs.

When she steps on the train and gets settled, her calendar beeps and reminds her it’s time for a German session. First, she takes a look at her German Script:

• Review verb list

• Review the list of phrases I’m having difficulty with

• Consult German Hot List

Once she goes through her Script’s first two steps, she finds herself directed to her German Hot List (which, since it lays out the end-to-end instructions for her goal, we can call a Goal Scaffold). She references it to determine where she left off (in this case, we could imagine that it points her to Chapter 6 of an audio course she’s working through) and continues from there.

Later that night, while her husband gives their kids a bath, she goes into the garage and works on learning Irish dance, another Want-to-Do she’s been interested in since childhood but never had the time to pursue. She now blocks off a little time every Thursday night and Sunday morning for it. Much like German- and job-centric sessions of Blocked Time, she starts promptly, ends promptly, and consults her Script and eventually her Hot List for Irish dance. She even uses a timer to let herself know when she only has five minutes left.

She socializes it; she tells her husband and kids about the Blocked Time. Her parents and friends know not to call (and even if they do, her phone will be in a different room). Janet knows that this can be a big shift in mentality for those around her, so she lets people know why blocking off this time was important to her. With time and rigidity, she builds a culture of trust within her family; they know she’ll be available again at 9 p.m. sharp and can therefore work around the Blocked Time. In doing so, she can focus on these goals without guilt, pressure, or anxiety. She also lets her family know that, in return for their leaving her alone, she’ll be respectful of their Blocked Time if they choose to pursue their own Want-to-Dos.

Janet’s schedule may seem obnoxiously strict, but without building this structure and adhering to it, she’s probably going to fail at learning German and Irish dance. She faces the same choice you’ll have to face whenever you consider a goal’s value: you can live a completely flexible, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants life, or you can embrace serious organization, properly manage complexity, and accomplish the things you want to accomplish. You can’t have both.

Let’s discuss some best practices in detail.

You May Be Many Yous

Notice that in the above example, Janet didn’t create Blocked Time for Personal Interests, but rather specifically for German and Irish dance. While some goals may be simple and warrant generic Blocked Time, defining specific sessions may be vital in other cases.

I once spoke with an agent/manager who represented extreme athletes, and while he employed an assistant, he was stressed out to a degree I couldn’t exaggerate if I tried. He was already blocking off parts of his day for work, family, self-care, etc. — a rare-but-crucial practice for the self-employed — but when he faced work time, he found himself addressing tasks that fell into a wide range of themes. During the brief time I was speaking with him, he received questions about payments via email, took a call about work visas for a Canadian BMX athlete entering Singapore, and handled something else work-related via text (he didn’t share details, but he shook his head, rubbed his eyes, and sighed audibly).

As I explained to him, while he existed in a single body, he was functionally performing the jobs of over a dozen separate individuals: a business owner, a project manager, an artist relations professional, an accountant, an IT consultant, a sponsorship coordinator, a branding and marketing manager, a mentor (and occasional therapist), a career coach, an operations professional, and a travel agent, among others. Instead of dedicating sessions of Blocked Time to work (generically), I asked him to dedicate specific sessions and resources to each individual work track on which he needed to focus — to create Scripts, Hot Lists, and Blocked Time for the business owner version of himself, other Scripts, Hot Lists, and Blocked Time for the sponsorship coordinator, and so on. In doing so — and in being diligent about ensuring that each resource and session of Blocked Time remained untouched by the other work tracks or versions of himself — he could work efficiently, reduce stress, and improve his rate of progress. Perhaps most importantly, each work track’s priorities would remain independent and would never need to compete. For instance, instead of having to compare the urgency of securing a website domain name for a motocross athlete’s upcoming memoir against determining which hotels are closest to an arena in Arizona, the former could exist at the top of the IT consultant’s Hot List and the latter at the top of the travel agent’s Hot List—to be addressed during each work track’s respective Blocked Time. Never the two tasks shall meet.

Starting on Time and Ending on Time

When you dedicate a session of Blocked Time to a Want-to-Do or Have-to-Do, start on time, and just as importantly, end on time.

Starting on time makes perfect sense — doing so is a fundamental function of discipline ingrained in us since childhood—but many people overlook the importance of ending on time.

Even if you’re on a roll and everything is going really well, stop your sessions of Blocked Time when your allotted time is up — not a second later. Over time, this will train you to work efficiently. Parkinson’s Law states that the amount of time required to perform a task is directly related to the amount of time allotted to perform the task; that’s why it took you two weeks to write a report in school when it was due in two weeks but only took you two hours when it was due the next day. If you acknowledge that sessions of Blocked Time — like all time, in the larger sense — are finite, then when you realize time is running out for a specific session, you’ll focus on what’s important and work effectively.

Treating Blocked Time with Respect

Once you have sessions of Blocked Time allocated and have committed to starting and ending on time, you need to treat the time with respect.

Let’s illustrate this with an example to which most people can relate. Imagine that your boss blocked off a half-hour to meet with you, and then a peer tried to book you for that same time slot. You’d feel justified in saying, “I can’t meet then. I have something,” because you see your meeting with the boss as something you really shouldn’t move. You respect it.

This makes sense — your boss is your boss. However, this proves that you can defer or reasonably refuse others’ requests for your time without the world ending. If you block off your own personal or professional time, you likely treat it with much less respect. Your own time is always the first to be compromised when you encounter a conflict; it’s human nature. Unfortunately, your Want-to-Dos and Have-to-Dos need Blocked Time, so you have to shift your mentality.

While Blocked Time can be used in both your private and professional endeavors, it’s especially important to build a culture of respect around it during private time, as this is when you’re most likely to work on tasks that relate to personal goals. There’s an art to saying, “I can’t do that at that time,” when reasonable, without the conversation being uncomfortable. In many cases, the right delivery can ease any impressions of rudeness or disrespect, especially if you share context/justification and proactively work with the requester to find a different time that works for you both. Consider the long-term gain that could come with making progress toward your goal and weigh that against the perceived urgency of any task or time being asked of you by others. Weigh that gain against your anxieties about the impression you think you’re creating by saying no. We often default to saying “yes” instead of truly considering the value of what’s being requested and deciding whether it’s something worth spending Time Currency on. Ask yourself what Ben Franklin would do. If you’re still having trouble creating and defending Blocked Time after communicating your goals and justifications to those who may try to claim your time, you may have larger issues to address in the Cultures that surround you.

Blocking your own time at your job — as our fictional friend Janet did — can seem even more uncomfortable, but this is one of the first things I ask of emerging or developing leaders I work with. If one of my employees ever came to me and said, “Listen, I’ve been having a hard time getting things done and leaving at a reasonable time with all of these meetings—I want to block off my first hour of each day to catch up, prepare, and work on valuable projects,” I would absolutely encourage them to do so. In fact, I would challenge them to take even more time, and if their proposed “first hour” timing posed problems for any reason, I would collaborate with them to identify times that work better. That’s how important I believe Blocked Time is. If socialized properly and used to its fullest by responsible individuals, professional Blocked Time almost always adds value.

As mentioned at the beginning of this piece, managing complexity requires you to answer three questions:

• How? — How will you organize your goals?

• When? — When will you address your goals?

• What? — What tools will you use to record/represent your goals and the time you’ve committed to addressing them?

We addressed How? in Managing Extreme Personal & Professional Complexity, and When? here in The Franklin Principle. Lastly, we'll explore the What? by digging deep into some of the tactics through which you'll give these principles life.

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The Franklin Principle is just one of the fundamental concepts I explore in my book, Foundations of Execution.

• About the Book

  You’re ambitious. You’re driven. You’re creative, believe in your vision, and know what you’re capable of. But like most, you often find it difficult to make progress toward the things you value.

  When it comes to accomplishing personal, professional, entrepreneurial, and creative goals, the world is bombarding you with bullshit guidance — coddling mantras of positivity and motivation devoid of practical action. Bullshit sounds good. Bullshit feels good. But bullshit will fail you in the long run nearly 100% of the time.

  No more bullshit.

  Let’s change tactics. Foundations of Execution won’t motivate you; it will give you the tools you need to execute despite the lack of motivation that will inevitably befall you. It won’t train you to abstain from excuses; it will give you the tools to strip all power from the excuses that will inevitably bubble to the forefront of your consciousness. It won’t argue the same tired case for self-discipline and convince you to work against your nature; it will show you how to circumvent your nature when it undermines your interests.

  As shockingly simple as it may seem, three behaviors tend to separate those who struggle from those who consistently execute on their goals; and by the time you’ve finished reading this book, you’ll have mastered all three. You’ll come away with repeatable habits that address not just how you tackle complex undertakings, but also how you think, behave, and approach problems in all aspects of your life. It’s an irreverent, philosophy-first, whole-self approach to execution that will change you forever.

  Paperback & Kindle

  181 Pages

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