Contract Your Time to Expand Your Income
After 12 long years of working seven days a week, I’ve made a decision. I’m taking tomorrow off.
Sounds strange? Well, I’ve had vacations. Many of them. And I’ve taken half-days off, here and there. Sometimes, I’ve even taken whole days off. But I would still check my email in the morning, or return to my computer at night.
Aside from my vacations, I’ve not taken an entire day off in over a decade. I mean, a full 24 hours without doing any work, including using the computer even if it’s to surf the web.
My wife and I are finally heeding to some very powerful advice from James Brausch about taking an extra day off to earn more money. In fact, James was pointing out a blog post by Terry Dean, a person I admire and follow closely.
Like Terry Dean says, by taking some time off, it helps you to focus more on the work at hand on those working days. It clears your thinking, and also applies the Law of Contraction.
That means, work tends to expand or contract depending on the time it is allotted. As if to fill a void or meet a deadline. If you were given five weeks to write a salesletter, for example, you would take five weeks, often unconsciously — even though you might have completed it in four or even three.
Similarly, if you had four weeks, you would cram your work into whatever time you’d have. (Take students who cram at exam time.)
The Law of Contraction (once enunciated by Brian Tracy, and it actually has a name but it’s escaping me right now), is powerful. And the reason why I don’t set long-term goals.
Why? Because a long-term goal is self-limiting. What if you could have reached that goal in half the time? Unconciously, you would take all the time you have given yourself to fill the void, thus limiting your own potential. (I talk alot about this in my book, “Drop Your Goals.”)
The Law of Contraction also forces you into right action. It forces you to do what needs to be done to get things done. Other, small distractions are less important when more important work is calling for your attention — and even more so as time contracts. That way, you learn to be effective. Not efficient.
There is a difference. A big one.
We have personal assistants taking care of things until we return, which Terry Dean also preaches — and which I highly recommend you have, too. So using “what about emergencies” as an excuse is just that… an excuse.
(Evelyn, my assistant, as well as LaDawn, Allison, Shiela and Arlene, and other key staff, are holding up the fort for us. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to do this. If you haven’t hired a personal or at least virtual assistant yet, you should seriously think about it. We’ve made more money with the help of our assistants than we ever did by ourselves. Trust me on this one.)
Anyway, this time around, we’re taking the entire day off, from one dawn until the next, completely. No computers, no surfing the web, no checking emails, no writing copy, not even a phone call.
And we’re doing it on every Friday from this point on.
I must also add that, I don’t “work” seven days a week. I play and make money while doing it. To me, I love what I do. I adore it. But I think that it’s time for me to start thinking about… me! (My lovely wife, Sylvie, is not only backing me up on this. She’s the one who suggested it.)
She, too, loves her work. (Her company is called “Workaholics For Hire” for a reason!) But with events of late, it’s a reality check that we needed.
In fact, she recently posted an update to her blog, where she talks about her end of chemotherapy and the beginning of a round of five weeks of radiation treatments. (Ostensibly, to kill off any leftover cancer cells the chemo might have missed.)
But Sylvie is convinced, and has done enough research, to know that the direct cause of her cancer is caused by what I believe is the number one killer of all.
Cancer is not in her family, so it’s not genetic. It’s not due to enviromental factors, like asbestos, pesticides, hormones and so forth. (We’re vegetarians, after all. And we eat organically as much as possible.)
The culprit is, without question, stress.
Stress is the number one biggest killer, in my estimation — if not at least contributor to other killers. Sure, you can suffer from a heart attack, stroke, cancer or whatever. And you can blame it on carcinogens, toxins, lack of exercise, diet, smoking, or even genetic predisposition.
But what causes it and, in many cases, accelerates it, is stress, pure and simple.
For my coaching students, I told you I will not answer emails on weekends, and that won’t change. But questions emailed on Friday will be answered Saturday, as normal. (And then, I won’t answer any questions until Monday.)
There’s a massive snowstorm heading our way, so my beautiful wife just went to the video store and rented several movies. We were originally planning on going to the movie theater, but from the looks of it, we’re going to be stuck indoors, I’m afraid.
Nevertheless, just making such a decision is like a huge weight has been lifted from our shoulders. We already feel good, and Friday is not even here, yet! I highly recommend you do the same. Go “unplugged” for one, full day.
All I can say is, “It’s about time!”
About the Author
Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, author, speaker, consultant, and CEO of The Success Doctor, Inc. Visit his blog and signup free to get tested conversion strategies and response-boosting tips by email, along with blog updates, news, and more! Go now to http://www.michelfortin.com.
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Posted by Michel Fortin on March 1st, 2007. Filed in Ideas, News, Opinions, Personal. Tagged as focus, fun, law, parkinson, productivity, stress, time management, vacation, work. Follow responses through the RSS feed.
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From Maria Palma
Well, Michel, once again your post has come at a perfect time. I was just thinking today that I haven’t had one full day off in about seven years. However, like you, I don’t view my work as “work” because I truly love what I do.
I think I will take the whole day off tomorrow! Thank you for inspiring and motivating….
Author's Website March 2nd, 2007
From Terry Dean
Michel,
Put it to the test. One full day off, 24 hours, with no business allowed. This includes no business calls, no email, and no computer. All that is allowed is a litte notebook that you can mark ideas on if they come to you. Don’t sit there and write a long time…just ideas.
You may feel it’s a little tough at first. You love what you do. It will pay dividends…big dividends.
Congratulations on your decision. You’ll enjoy it…
Author's Website March 2nd, 2007
From Ken Calhoun
Super point re taking time off; I know I like to take my family for mini “in town” vacations, eg spend a night in a top hotel, then go shopping and having fun the next day. Highly recommended, a co-worker suggested that to me 15 years ago and it’s great - just go stay in a fancy local hotel for a day, get some room service, feel like your on vacation even if you just live down the street.
I’ve done that once every 6-8 weeks for years now, and it’s a great decompression routine/stress buster, and allows great time for family bonding. And of course I leave the laptop at home, no calls/biz allowed.
You make some great points re avoiding long term goals because of the expansion factor… I like having daily goals (”what am I going to get done today for sure?”) and immediate project goals (”get this new product launch done by March 22nd).
Have a good one,
Ken
Author's Website March 2nd, 2007
From John Matenkosky
Your Law of Contraction was originally postulated by one Professor C. Northcote Parkinson as Parkinson’s Law in his book of the same name. As I recall, it was published in 1937, which was a verrrry good year because I was born then…
The original statement of the Law was something like _Work expands so as to fill the time allotted for its completion_. Several corollaries were included as proof of the Law - and there may have been some minor laws as well.
Ol’ Northcote gave us some good stuff back then, just as you give us good stuff today. Thanks, Michel!
Author's Website March 2nd, 2007
From Michel Fortin
That’s it!!! “Parkinson’s Law.” I knew it had a name I just couldn’t remember it. Thanks.
Thanks, everyone. It is now Saturday morning. This is my VERY first post after 24 hours of no computer. No websites have exploded.
Author's Website March 3rd, 2007
From Eric Louviere
Michel, great advice. I like what Ken does by taking a vacation in-town. I am going to do that one.
It’s funny for me really. I just got a house by the lake and have not even walked down to the lake in a couple months (and the weather is good here in Austin). I know what you mean real well. Even being out and about, I have this incredible urge to get back to my computer because of all the things I have to do online.
If I go to the movies, my mind is wrapped up in the movie… and that is wonderful for me. But: The minute I walk out of the theater, I get a rush of thoughts about my business. In fact: Most of the time, I’m talking about bizz on the drive home with my wife. lol
Stress can be an accelerator to get things done, get in over-drive, etc. but managing that stress emotionally and physically is probably a very smart thing to master….
Nice post Michel.
~Eric Louviere
Author's Website March 4th, 2007
From Christian Goodman
Great post Michel.
I too am beginning to take Jame’s advise. But till I read your post, I didn’t think I really had a ‘problem’ with taking time off. I often do not use the Internet for couple of days when I travel for example. But I think obsess about it the whole time and that’s not a time off
Regarding stress. I asked my blog readers the other day what health topic they wanted me to talk about next. The most poular problem was high blood pressure… of course directly related to stress. So this is probably the biggest health problem we have these days. And I agree, it is causing most of the conditions including cancer. I’ll be writing a long article on the subject soon.
So thanks again for one more great post.
Warm regards,
Christian
Author's Website March 4th, 2007
From Ryan Healy
Congrats, Michel, on taking more time off. I love it when I get away from everything, including Internet, for a day or two or three. Like you, I need to consider slashing a day from my work week.
Also, regarding Ken’s suggestions to take vacations in town… I can vouch for that. My wife and I have done that a few times and love it. Of course, with two little ones (and a third one on the way), we don’t get to do them as often as we’d like.
Author's Website March 5th, 2007
From Mark Vladir
This reminds me a lot of a post on this blog about automating business processes as much as possible.
Really, what is all the hard work for if you never have a chance to enjoy it (or die from stress while you’re at it)…
Author's Website March 5th, 2007
From Jonix
Your are absolutly right michel. I’m an workaholic, too many hours in front of my computer, and because of my work i never stayed 24h out of my computer, at least i need to see my email, is this way in the last 4 years. I need to take a full one week vacations, i just don’t know how. I’ll begin with 1 full 24h day, and then we’ll see
Thank you for your advices and alerts.
Author's Website March 6th, 2007
From Benedict Manovill
What a great idea! Taking Fridays off. I could not agree with you more. I also notice that work expands like a giant balloon if you give it half a chance. I have not taken a day off in … eons. i do not think about work when I am away from it but as soon as I get home (from my day job) it is there glaring at me.
Thank you for reminding me that I have a life. I can always count on you for good ideas, Michel.
Kindest regards,
Benedict Manovill
Author's Website March 7th, 2007
From Pete Wailes
Interesting, and a very good point. I can (and do) work quite happily on projects for 14 hours a day. But my weekends I have off, completely. Sunday’s I’m completely incommunicado via email, and Saturdays, whilst I check email, I don’t do any work related things.
You wouldn’t believe the difference it makes to your quality of life.
Author's Website March 9th, 2007
From Franck Silvestre
I don’t know why, but since I am online, I am working minimum 8 hours a day, almost everyday.
Whith my offline business (main:pizzas), I had many employees, and they was taking care of almost everything for me.
When I first came online, I really thought that I was going to work alone… Now I am considering outsourcing.
I already hired my wife, and ultimately I want her to be independant online.
Enjoy your friday.
By the way, why did you choose friday?
Author's Website March 13th, 2007
From Louis
Reminds me of that saying “life is what’s happening while your making other plans” I’m also a workaholic, somedays I put in 14-16 hours. I just don’t want to wake up one day and realize I’ve missed out on life.
Author's Website January 11th, 2008