You look at the calendar, packed full of meetings, and wonder how in the world you’re going to get everything done today. And tomorrow looks just as busy.
Or maybe you glance at your phone to see it’s 4:30, and you feel a sense of dread knowing you have deadlines to hit and not enough time. So, you’re looking at another night of work when you’d rather be doing anything else.
If these scenarios sound familiar, get in line. All of us struggle with protecting our time. It’s easy to get caught up in meetings, emails, and the million other things that pull at our time and attention every day. Things that ultimately rob us of the opportunity to do focused work.
And while we all want to do better work, at the end of the day, most of us desire to work less.
We want to spend less time in meetings and more time with our families, or doing things we enjoy.
And for those who are self-employed, commanding your time means earning more income.
If you’re saying to yourself, “there’s gotta be another way,” you’re right. It takes a lot of practice and even more discipline, but here are a few ways (and there are many more) to protect your time and calendar.
Don’t Go to Meetings Without an Agenda
If you think about unstructured meetings you’ve attended, you can picture the 10-15 minutes of idle conversation, the flurry of late arrivers, and technology issues that can derail things before the meeting even starts.
If that happens three to four times per day, you’ve now lost 300 minutes per week. Throw in unnecessary discussion points that cause a meeting to run long, or worse, create another meeting, and you’re losing hours each week.
When organizing a meeting, always bring an agenda with discussion points to facilitate the conversation. And if you’re attending a meeting where no agenda has been created, reach out to the organizer and ask for one. By following a structure, meetings will be more productive, and you’ll walk away feeling like it was time well spent instead of looking for something to clear your headache.
Side note on those catchup conversations that often happen in the first 10-15 minutes. They’re not a bad thing unless they disrupt the reason you’re meeting in the first place. It’s a good idea to build in time for those conversations on your agenda. You’ll connect with colleagues and clients and still have time for an effective meeting.
Protect Your Productive Hours
Disruptions are a leading cause of feeling like you’re not getting enough done.
It’s also just how life is sometimes. Errands need to be taken care of, kids dropped off (you get the idea).
So with all of these things in mind, it’s essential to protect your most productive hours; whatever time of day that may be, put it on your calendar. Block it off. And when someone asks you to meet during that time frame, suggest meeting later in the day, or catching up via email. It’s okay to set boundaries and say “no.” In fact, if you’re going to protect your time, it’s a must-do.
Use Technology as a Force for Good
We’re not going to talk about your phones being a distraction. Instead, we’ll make the argument that between your phone, and a few other resources, technology can be a powerful tool in the fight to protect your time.
Most smartphones have a downtime or focus mode. Think of it as a gatekeeper of your time. Set up a focus period to dive deep and avoid emails or notifications.
It’s almost too easy to send a video meeting link and have a conversation.
Instead of having a check-in to ask a question that could spiral into a longer meeting, consider using recording apps like Loom or BombBomb.
You can share your screen, ask questions, and offer your thoughts without the need to schedule a meeting on already busy calendars.
Another benefit to these recording tools: they give you and the person you’re speaking to time to think.
They can also rewatch the video, providing everyone with more time to solve a problem or think through options without giving immediate feedback.
The Community Has Good Advice
Protecting your time is an ongoing practice. Sometimes you’ll crush it, and other days, time may crush you. The most important thing is to evaluate if how you’re spending your days is keeping you on a path to achieving your goals.
These few tips only scratch the surface of how to protect your time. And we’re not the experts in the room. Our members have some good ideas too, which you can read right here.
If you’re like me you’ve tediously waited for each Wednesday morning for the latest episode of The Book of Boba Fett to drop. I’ve been a long time Star Wars fan since the early 80’s. I’ve survived the long draught between the original trilogy (Ep. 4, 5 & 6) and the prequels (Ep. 1, 2 & 3) when we got the Expanded Universe books, stories and characters, later re-branded and retconned into what is now called Legends. The Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett series is truly some of the best Star Wars we’ve gotten in a very long time, we won’t talk about the sequel trilogy here though…
Ooooh… Look at that helmet!!!
Something I have noticed across these episodes is how they’ve handled the growth of Boba Fett. It is a story about a single freelancer (bounty hunter) who is learning how to be a strong leader (crime syndicate boss). It is a compelling arc for anyone who is charged with a leadership role in their job or is an owner operator at their own small business. There is a lot to unpack so stick with me for a few minutes please.
SPOILERS: Don’t read on until you’ve either watched it or decided you don’t care…
Let’s get nerdy shall we?
Boba Fett has been arguably the best and most notorious bounty hunter in the galaxy, regularly working for a huge employer, The Galactic Empire as well as at other times Jabba The Hutt. We catch up with him just after he has assumed the throne of the criminal empire of his former employer Jabba. The story uses flashbacks to backfill the story of how we’ve gotten to where we are, and so in the first flashback we find Fett stuck in the belly of the Sarlacc fighting to free himself. After-which he is captured by a group of Tusken Raiders. He is bound and enslaved only to earn his place in the group by deeds of heroism and courage.
He learns one of the most powerful lessons in leadership which is that the only thing you can control is your choices. This reminds me of Stoic Philosophical writings of Marcus Aurelius where he focuses primarily on knowing the difference between what you can change and what you can not. What you have influence over in life and what you do not. There is a lot of application and utility there as it relates to business and leading others.
Being a leader is a lonely place to live and the only thing you can do as a leader is focus on the things you can change for the positive whether that’s related to other people or internally for yourself.
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.
Marcus Aurelius
Everything you see and hear from others is more often than not an opinion, albeit typically laced with their own agendas, perspectives and emotions.
Just like the fellow prisoner, Fett found himself next to in the desert, their responses to being in the same situation are quite different. If you can get out of responding to things happening in your business or on your team emotionally then you can begin to truly make choices and steer things in the right direction instead of simply reacting to things emotionally.
There are opposing forces in the form of a pair of Hutts known as “The Twins”, who want to claim Fett’s new position for themselves. While he is taking tribute from those that he manages in his criminal territory we learn that he has chosen to lead with respect instead of fear. In order to do that effectively, he has to embody the qualities needed to gain respect by living them for real.
At this point we are two episodes in and everyone on the internet is already saying that this isn’t the Boba Fett they remember from earlier movies and shows. This is because he is making a transition from being a loner/freelancer to a leader of others, the person in charge of an expansive business made up of teams of talented individuals. He must lead by making choices and not by blasting those that he doesn’t agree with anymore. He must use patience and make disciplined decisions in which fights to pick. Very much like Michael Corleone’s rise to power in The Godfather movies.
In various flashbacks we see Fett making emotionally derived decisions like attacking an opposing outpost and then leading his tribe of Tuskens to attack a train and even training them to drive speeder bikes. While he has learned the value of his team, his tribe, over operating alone he has not yet learned that being too aggressive, while successful in the short term, can have consequences you must take ownership for in the long run. For good or bad…
We see this sort of play out for the positive in his decision to not wage a direct war with The Twins, he instead practices patience and in the end, they are driven out of business by a much larger player in the Pykes. We even have this echoed when we see Fett witnesses Krrsantan fighting with the Trandoshans in the Sanctuary, after which he hires him for his own team.
Any time Fett has chosen the high road, to help other competing bounty hunters when it’s in his best interests he comes out on top. Stronger and better supported by others in their loyalty for his cause. Like in helping Shand, whom he found dying from a gut wound. He took her to a mod-parlor, where she was saved or when he let Krrsantan go free only to later hire him.
In “Chapter 4: The Gathering Storm” while at a banquet he is hosing for Mos Espa’s other crime bosses to unite against the Pyke Syndicate, Fett learns another valuable lesson in business which is that your competitors may not directly go to war with you, you can and should be friendly with each other, but that good will likely only goes so far as to support your own agendas.
“Keep Your Friends Close, But Your Enemies Closer”
Michael Corleone
The series is getting a lot of criticism for the flashbacks and broken storyline as well as the surprise episode(s) focusing more on Din Djarin the Mandalorian than Fett. I personally love it, but to each his own, I guess all the critics need something to focus on.
“Don’t Cling to a Mistake Just Because You Spent a lot of Time Making it.”
Aubrey De Graf
Even in these episodes that feature the Mandalorian we are presented with the notion that you should always be growing, learning and upgrading yourself when you can. After Djarin beats Vizsla in their duel over the Darksaber, he reveals to The Armorer that he previously broke the tribe’s code by removing his helmet in front of others.
He learns after being rejected out of the tribe that their ways may not always be the right way to do things.
Just because you’ve always done something a certain way, you should always be looking at it and studying it to make sure it is still the right way. Being open to criticism and checking your ego at the door we can find ourselves within the right team and doing things we truly believe in.
As Din Djarin is learning we should strive to be self-aware to a certain level so as to recognize when we make mistakes and to not let the same old ways of doing things lead you to less successful conclusions. Momentum and doing something for the sake of doing it will be a powerful pull in your daily business. It’s not easy to know when to course correct or flat out stop doing something you first thought would lead you to success.
One of the most important attributes in an employee, team member or even a friend is commitment. As leaders we seek it out and try to develop it in others. But along with commitment, we should also reward thought that gets us positive feedback and critique. We should strive to create an environment where this can happen safely for others under our charge.
Commitment
In the final two episodes, we are presented with the idea that you have to go all-in, Burn the boats, however you should always retain your values. The commitment Fett shows to his mission of ruling by respect and working for the betterment of his organization instead of taking care of his own personal needs pays off in a big way. He makes personal sacrifices in the face of everything going against him to get there.
When he is negotiating with Cad Bane in the finale episode we see him listening to council from his management team, in Fennec Shand and Din Djarin, about not taking the bait and blasting away with an emotional response. This obvious choice over personal revenge for long term goals and to better position his organization is after all the heart of this series.
He still gets to blast away at his enemies from a stronger position in the end… 🙂
Retaining a growth mindset is very difficult because we rarely see the bigger picture when we are responding from a position of anger or fear.
Being a leader of anything typically comes with a strong daily dose of both of these emotions. It does not matter how, but you MUST have people in your corner if you are to survive. It doesn’t matter where it comes from. It can be trusted team members, friends, peers, or even a coach.
One thing is for sure, if you try to stand alone for too long, you’ll fall alone.
When she was 10 years old, Malai Roper wrote down that she wanted to be a fourth-grade teacher.
Malai tutored her cousins in French, so she already had a knack for teaching.
Unlike most kids, Malai did pursue her childhood dream. It took a few years and a roundabout way of landing in education, but she did it.
And now, she’s creating her own path in the teaching world by empowering kids (and other teachers) through an online tutoring service. Looking back, Malai may have known her teaching destiny for a long time. But her family, and the way she was raised, reveal why it’s no surprise that she’s now an entrepreneur.
Pursuing a Different Dream
Malai’s journey didn’t start in the classroom. Instead, she pursued a college degree that followed another long-time passion: writing. So she enrolled in journalism at the University of South Carolina. Once she finished, she started working at newspapers around the state.
After a few years in the business and a couple of kids, she realized the unpredictable schedule of covering news stories didn’t mesh well with her childrens’ sleep schedule (or her own, for that matter).
Malai went back to school and completed a master’s degree in education, bringing her childhood dream of being an educator to fruition, just a little differently than she expected.
Although her path didn’t start as she planned at 10 years old, Malai’s career change led to entrepreneurship.
Developing a Passion for Teaching
Malai didn’t realize it as a child, but her upbringing prepared her for life as a teacher and an entrepreneur.
“I went through a lot as a kid. My mom was a single mom. And you know, we were low income and just had a lot of challenges,” Roper said.
During the tough moments, Malai found relief with a pen and paper.
“Writing was very therapeutic for me.”
It was the creative outlet she needed.
“I felt like in school, writing had to be very structured in a certain way. And it was very critical. But on my own, I could just write how I wanted to write,” Roper said.
Malai brought her love of writing and creativity to her own classroom settings.
“I think that’s what made me love teaching because I kind of felt overlooked in school. And I remember with my fourth-grade class, I would allot time for them [the students] to write however they wanted to write.”
Entrepreneurship Was a Way of Life
Malai was surrounded by entrepreneurs, side hustlers, and founders as a kid.
But that isn’t how they referred to themselves. Instead, Malai’s family ran their own businesses to put food on the table.
“In my family and especially not growing up with a lot, being an entrepreneur or [having] a side hustle is just something that we did, but you didn’t call it that,” Roper said.
Running a business is just part of the family tradition.
“My grandfather was a farmer, and I grew up in Charleston. So Charleston, that’s where the slave trade happened, and just a lot of those remnants of my family on James Island, a lot of farmers, a lot of midwives. And so that’s what I saw growing up; my mom dibbled and dabbled in entrepreneurship. My brother, he lives here, but I mean, he works full time, but he has his own side hustle.”
Malai learned these lessons by selling produce with her grandfather at the farmers’ market and going to the flea market with her mom.
She had a recent opportunity to reflect on these times with her cousin, who spoke at the GrowCo Growth Summit, and they both reached the same conclusion.
Being an entrepreneur and hustling, it’s just in their DNA.
How Malai Turned Her Passion for Teaching into a Business
After years as a classroom teacher, Malai began tutoring on the side five years ago. She had some clients on her own but also worked for tutoring companies. Through this experience, she realized that people were willing to pay a premium for excellent tutoring services. It also gave her a unique way to connect with kids.
“I was just trying to make ends meet as a teacher and [realized] I can do this tutoring thing and try it a little bit on my own,” Roper said.
Her reputation grew after one client from New York began referring Malai to families in their network. The business grew and pushed Malai to focus on a virtual-only tutoring service.
Two years ago, Malai took the next step by filing an LLC and officially opening the doors of The Art of Learning.
The pandemic accelerated the demands for Malai’s services as schools went remote and kids struggled to keep up in a rapidly changing learning environment.
“When COVID hit, I had families just reaching out left and right. And I was working full time, and it was just the demand that I couldn’t handle. I had to turn people away.”
She ran the numbers and saw that her teaching pay was about the same as what she was making by tutoring.
A decision needed to be made, and the timing was right.
Both of Malai’s kids finished high school. She knew this was her opportunity to go all-in on the business. So she left her full-time job in October 2021 to dedicate all of her time to The Art of Learning.
The Challenges (and rewards) of Building a Business
The shift from full-time teacher to eduprenuer hasn’t always been easy.
Malai is wholly self-funded, and even though she runs an online business, she still has expenses to manage.
“There are costs associated [with the business], keeping a website up if you want quality, you have to pay for it. I have an HR system, you know, working with educators and children, I have to have background checks on these people. All of that costs money.”
Learning how to market herself as a full-time business owner is another challenge.
“I think that’s been the hardest part. Really just defining my brand and getting myself out there and because I’ve never marketed. All of my clients have been based on referrals.”
She’s overcome these obstacles by finding the right people to help.
“I’m trying to work smarter, and just really connecting with the right people and knowing that I don’t know how to do everything,” Roper said.
Now, she is building a team of tutors to expand and reach more students.
And she’s not afraid to get her kids involved and teach them the same principles she learned as as a child.
Malai has also gotten support from the Columbia entrepreneur community.
“Being here at SOCO is helpful. Just connecting with people like going out to 1 Million Cups and the Growth Summit, and at this point, it’s a lot of learning how to just navigate the space”
Malai’s excited about the future of her company. When asked why she’d step away from the classroom to run her business, she had a simple but powerful answer,
“The freedom and doing education the way that I know it can be done.”
Malai is making an impact on many kids by working with them one-on-one. They receive tutoring and instruction in a way that isn’t possible in traditional classrooms.
She’s forming close relationships with families and growing with them as their life changes. And she’s still able to have connections with teachers and the school systems.
The path to founding The Art of Learning had many twists and turns, but looking back at Malai’s childhood, it all makes sense that she’s launched a business of her own. That’s just who she is.
You can learn more about Malai, her journey, and The Art of Learning right here.
