Are you a maker or a manager?
You should be both.
Every Sunday I share what I learn about health, money and business. Here is what I learnt last week:
Are you a maker or a manager?
Does drinking alcohol before bed screw up your sleep?
Why am I trying to get my barber to 50,000 rupees per month?
You can access previous editions of my weekly emails here. Let’s begin!
(1) Are you a maker or a manager?
I have learnt that everyone doesn't have to work at the same time on the same things to get things done. As long as everything gets done by a period of time, everyone wins.
It is important that you understand the difference between wearing the MAKER hat and the MANAGER hat because one requires you to have an empty calendar to think and create, while the other requires you to have a packed calendar to make the most money out of each unit of time.
These days I wake up early in the morning to put my maker hat on. For example on Wednesday it took me 5 hours from 6.30am to 11.30am to work on a presentation. I got into the flow because there were no interruptions. These are the times when I build assets and systems on top of which my businesses are built. For the latter half of the day I put my manager hat on to ensure that my team is making the most money for every minute that they spend at work. There are only 24 hours in a day. I need to get 2400 hours of work done. The only way to do so is by managing the managers through systems and processes. There are multiple variations to this. Some weeks I have 4 manager-days and 1 maker-day. Sometimes it is 4 maker-days and 1 manager-day. You can also club all meetings into 1 day or only have meetings in the afternoons. You can also club your other interests for evenings and weekends. Do whatever will not make you switch tasks often so that your mental bandwidth is being utilized to focus rather than adjust. Do whatever formula works to get the work done.
Good managers want to help you work so tell them how you work. Yes you will have to take meetings that eat your entire day sometimes. It's part of the job. You have to work with other people because your projects would never see the light of day without marketing marketing it, sales selling it, product delivering it, and everything else that happens in between. It's a team. Business is a team sport. That's what you signed up for.
People really get upset when you have unmet expectations so tell people when you will not be responsive and when you will be responsive. As long as you are doing the job and meeting the outputs, you can build the trust.
Here are two great sources on this distinction between Makers and Managers. Just Google:
(1) Maker's Schedule, Managers's Schedule by Paul Graham
(2) This Simple Productivity System Made Me $100 Million
(2) Does drinking alcohol before bed screw up your sleep?
Yes it does!
It is a common misconception that alcohol helps you sleep at night. What it does is increase the level of adenosine in your brain (the molecule that makes you feel sleepy), but the quality of your sleep suffers. This makes the following day feel worse. You are also cognitively impaired.
Sleep quality of 30 participants was measured using polysomnography to prove that alcohol decreased time spent in REM sleep. REM sleep is the stage of sleep when most dreams happen. A lot of brain activity occurs during this stage. This stage of sleep is critical for creating long-term memories, being able to concentrate better and be in a good mood throughout the day.
Consuming alcohol before bed is a bad idea! Expect to spend more time in bed the next few nights to allow your body to recover if you do drink at night.
Research Study: PubMed 38205895
(3) Why am I trying to get my barber to 50,000 rupees per month?
Sameer is my barber.
He has been cutting my hair for at least 5 years.
During COVID he lost his job so I asked him to come over with his kit and just cut my hair at my house. He has been doing so ever since.
He does have the entrepreneurial gene. At one point last year he almost opened his own salon but external forces threatened the landlord to reverse the agreement he had made. That caused him to go back to being a Solopreneur.
He has other clients like me. On a good month, he will make 35,000 rupees. On a bad month he will make only 15,000. On a given day he does 1-3 clients, driving from one house to the other around Delhi NCR to provide his service. He can do 3x what he is currently doing if he had more customers. I asked him at what monthly take would he be able to look after his family and save money as well? He said 50,000 per month.
He has two daughters that he is putting through school. I like supporting his journey. He is good at what he does. If you live in Delhi NCR and want to get your haircut at home, I would recommend Sameer. His WhatsApp number is 9555838298.
Harsh Batra (LinkedIn)
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