When people figure out what I do and how I run what I do, the first question that typically comes up is: "How the fuck do you actually do all this? How do you manage all this without going insane?"
I've been asked this question privately and publicly... on podcasts, in interviews, in conversations. So I thought I'd take the time to answer it properly, because the answer is simpler than most people think.
Planning is massively underrated.
I've seen it have a massive impact on your intellectual capacity, your IQ in the achievement of goals. You show up better when you've put time into planning. The power behind your punch goes up exponentially, and the ease with which you operate increases.
Planning hits so many strategic points simultaneously. It gives you an advantage, allows you to create a pre-mortem on things that could go wrong, and helps you pre-empt them. You end up with a net stronger position.
So what do I mean by planning?
It's literally writing down the outcome you want and getting clear on it. Don't worry about how yet, get clear on what the outcome is.
Ask yourself: What is my outcome?
If that's not immediately clear, zoom out. Look at the big picture. Keep zooming out until you get clarity. Ultimately, you'll get to "stay alive", as an answer, then zoom back in until you get precise on your outcome for that specific area.
The second thing is to slow down and get out of urgency mode.
Urgency, while it has its place, is a fear-based mode. And fear is good as a tool, not as a behavior.
Slowing down doesn't mean being lethargic. In fact, it means quite the opposite. Slowing down is the ability to be strategic, the ability to improve your position.
I've been playing chess for 34 years. Chess is a strategy-based game. If I want to throw my opponent off, all I have to do is push them and make them rush.
When someone creates a threat in chess, what you do is ignore the threat and act on your own initiative.
The same goes in life. When you feel the urge to be extremely rushed, extremely stressed out, even if you're under-slept, even if you haven't eaten in two days, slow down.
Slowing down is largely mental, not physical. When you slow down, you'll feel like you're going at a snail's pace. But if you were to film yourself in that slowed-down mode, you're not actually going that much slower.
The impact of slowing down is that you become objective. And objectivity is the key to being strategic.
You can only be strategic when you are objective.
Otherwise, you're purely tactical. You're reacting. You're not setting the initiative, setting the pace, or improving your position.
Another part of planning is looking at your outcome and asking: What is the logical next step?
While it's important to have a fully fleshed-out plan at times, sometimes it's just as important to work from a list where the first thing is the logical next step.
I coined this phrase, the LNS, about 15 years ago when I was going through this exact process myself. I asked: "How do I build a methodology, a framework that will help me stay on track and achieve multiple things at one time?"
You begin with an outcome, then you immediately look at your LNS. Then you take those steps.
Now let's talk about how this applies to multiple objectives.
If you're smart, you're able to hit multiple targets with one move. In fact, that is the definition of being strategic.
So don't just try to organize your life this way, actually organize your life so that when you do one thing, you hit multiple targets.
That is one way to immediately improve your ability to manage multiple things at one time.
Another way is to look at priority, because there are some things you actually should not be doing.
If your goal is to be making, let's say, a thousand USD an hour, and there's a task that can be done for 25 USD, why would you spend 45 minutes doing it?
Delegate it. Hire someone. Get it done. Focus on what only you can do.
You have to become very good at delegating. Delegation requires three things:
Be clear on the outcome
Be clear on who is supposed to do it
Be clear when delegating to them so they understand what the definition of "done" is
This is how I manage multiple things simultaneously without losing my head. It's not magic. It's not superhuman capacity. It's planning, slowing down to speed up, identifying the logical next step, hitting multiple targets with one move, and ruthlessly delegating everything that isn't uniquely mine to do.