The 5 Task Rule for Entrepreneurs + Entrepreneurs (2023)

"No money can buy a second of time" - Tony Stark.

This is an incredibly true statement for entrepreneurs. decideWASwhat you do in a day is the most important thing to figure out.

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Heroischer Ross:OK. So what I have to tell you is that after hearing that, I started doing it. And I'm an ample... well. I wanted to say, "I'm a foreman." I mean, I have... Every week I use a tool called Asana. I organize all my tasks. Usually on a Sunday evening or Monday morning, I plan my week around what I will be doing each day. Of course, things come throughout the week. But I love the idea of ​​five tasks a day. Well Chris, did you hear that, what did you read? Because you're coming out from a different perspective, I think, and I want to talk about that a little bit. Because while we work together, you work full-time. You work in a company full-time and part-time. I own a business. I am the head of a company. What was your first thought about this five task rule?

Kris:My first thought was that this guy has five tasks and eats one of them. And then I thought, "Okay, so you have a four-to-do list." Because what are you going to do? Don't you eat if you don't put it on your list?

Heroischer Ross:I would have to think that your example was a bit flawed there. But I also told you, and I wish you hadn't brought it up, this guy is huge. One of their businesses I believe is sports medicine. This guy could destroy us. And now you've made it. Now you have a... You disregarded it and I just want to point out that it was Chris Slezak, not Ross Herosian, who has a problem with how one of the... Well, I agree with your example of eating like one of the things. He was like-

Kris:The list says eat, exercise, do three other things. And then do nothing. And I say, "This isn't work." What I mean by that-

Heroischer Ross:Not a bad list to be fair.

Kris:That's a sweet list if that's all you do all day. Where exactly does work come into play?

Heroischer Ross:Number one, wake up. Number two, make the coffee. Oh man I'm almost done with my day.

Kris:To the right. You rock it so far.

Heroischer Ross:I say I think that... The whole clip he says if you do something I think it's been 21 days in a row and now it's become a habit and crossed off the list. So for example, if I didn't want to eat carbs, maybe, maybe that could be one of the things on my list. I would, no matter how hard I tried, I would never reach 21 days, but then it becomes a habit and can be crossed off the list.

Heroischer Ross:But I do and I've found out in the past because I've been doing this for about two or three weeks, we'll be back in a month, two months, three months, whatever. But I was pretty ragged for a while because my lists tend to be constantly being added to, and I think that's true for a lot of people who are business owners. Your list is endless.And I think what you need to do is realize that the most important thing you have is your energy and your time. And I think while your five-do rule may be imperfect by putting waking up, eating, or making coffee on this list, I think it's starting to lay a positive foundation for protecting your time. That's where I think I've had the most success with it, because I've really tried to make a living from not adding things to the list, the five things to do, risking things that don't matter. I'd also say when it comes to the to-do list, if you triple-press something it should probably disappear from your list. Because it obviously doesn't matter.

Kris:So you're stuck with where you're doing your five things and then you're like, "Great, I've done five things, I'm done"?

Heroischer Ross:Well, let me put it this way. I do my five things. Usually these five things are customer-centric, right? So I do my five things. I won't go as far as... I know he said it's over and it's going around. I think there's a lot of value in walking around as the CEO of a company. Obviously I haven't and most of my team is working remotely. Instead, I just make sure I'm doing these five things, and then my time is free for me, I would say, to choose which things.

Kris:Clear. But then, if you don't get it, no big deal.

Heroischer Ross:Exactly. Because the challenge is when you start your own business there are things you need to do for your customers. There are things you must do for yourself. And then there are things you have to do for the company. So I think it's helpful to at least do some setup... Okay, let's say you do one or two of those columns, but then, okay, there's the customer emergency. OK yes. you can reach it. But very rarely does it really exist, at least in my experience and in my field, and perhaps fortunately, knock on wood, I have emergencies with my clients.

Heroischer Ross:I think a good example of this would be today when I probably got my five things done around noon. And I'm long overdue to do a video for Tricycle Creative. So I went out, shot a video, came back, edited the video, had to learn a little bit about some of the edits I was doing, so I watched some videos. It was enrichment time. That sounds like a superhero call. It's enrichment time. It is very boring. It's like the man in the library.

Heroischer Ross:But I think it will... And I think it makes you feel like you made it too. There are finite things. And you can end the day by saying, "I've done everything on my list." Because if you don't set those limits, it will consume you. And I can say that this has been on my mind for a while. This list never ends. And do you know what happens if you don't do that? If you don't specify, "I do this number every day". you get over it And then you look to tomorrow and start trying to work until tomorrow to get ahead. You know what? you never get ahead you never get ahead You have to set those limits.

Heroischer Ross:So I like it a lot. It's not perfect. I'm not going to sit here and necessarily say that if a customer emergency comes up and I've done my five things, I would say, “Fine. sorry friend I've done my five things for the day. But I think that's starting to set a healthy boundary. Well, the other side of that is, and that's why I said I'm interested in your perspective, Chris, because I work... I'm the top of the mountain, the top of the stack, if you will. And I think that's where, when you're running a business, and especially as a business owner or CEO, you need that time again, that enriching time that you can spend with your people, with your products and services. . . That free time when you have the ability and intelligence to think properly. Now I think this would be next to impossible for anyone in the office to perform on an office desk.

Kris:Yes, I wanted to say, I mean, when I read or heard that, I don't even think about applying it to my work. I thought about it for my own life and enriched my own personal life. But yeah, at no point did I think, "Oh yeah, I'll put five things on my list and I'll apologize to my boss."

Heroischer Ross:Hey boss, fuck you buddy.

Kris:"No, I made five. I finished."

Heroischer Ross:NO. And I think... I totally agree with you. These are things I would read when working on a system. And none of this says that this is good or bad. These are just different. They are inherently different. You work in a more stable environment. People come up to you, a boss, a colleague, a customer, you come from all possible directions.

Kris:To the right. I mean I don't need to make a list. I don't need a list. The list is made for me.

Heroischer Ross:Correct. Correct.

Kris:It has its advantages. I don't necessarily mean that as a complaint. For example, "Oh, it must be nice that you can make a list." As if I hadn't thought of that. Is there. I know what to do.

Heroischer Ross:I think so too, I'll say the warning sign here. I would say that people who romanticize starting a business would see a video like this and be like, "Oh cool, I'm going to start my business and do five things a day and then go to the gym." I'm not going to sit here and pretend everything is daisies and rainbows because I only have five things. There are many other things that happen throughout the day. But it's just a matter of defining and saying that today I'm going to achieve five concrete things. And then for the rest of the day there is flexibility in what projects I will tackle.

Heroischer Ross:Because as the CEO of a company, especially a small business owner, you are responsible for everything. All. So all the content that we create for Tricycle Creative, I have to do it. If we revise our prices, I will. If I have to work on contracts with contractors or customer complaints or submit bids or make sales, these are all things I have yet to do.

Kris:Clear. And even the things you don't have to do, you have to make sure the person who's supposed to do them does them.

Heroischer Ross:And I think that also helps to at least get all these things together and at least say, "Okay, at least once a week I'm going to focus on sales to get this job done." That's how it's going to be... That's that too Reason... and that's one, I mentioned that before on the podcast, but that almost goes back to the productivity bible, one of them, the book Getting Things Done. And it all boils down to having everything in one system. Because when you have it in a system, you release and eliminate some of the stress of not knowing what to do next. A big part of the stress at work is not knowing what to do next. So do I have to do this, this, this? If you have a list, if you have a system, it disappears. You still have the stress of completing the tasks, but at least you know where to direct it.

Heroischer Ross:So yeah, I just found that really interesting, wanted to share it with you guys. Again, I want David Meltzers... yeah, wait a second here, let me see his name, The Playbook. And again, it's part of Entrepreneur.com, another great site. And Andy Frisella and he do MFCEO I'll let you fill in the blank what MF is also a podcast. Interesting. He's a pretty intense guy which I am as I mentioned, I'm sure it will come to Chris later. I so-

Kris:Yes. I'll lie down and show him my belly.

Heroischer Ross:He can react well to that. He's huge. He's like a bear. He will attack you. And I'm just going to say... I'm going to stand there and what I'm going to do is, when he's done, I'm going to say, 'Did I attack my co-host on my show, one of the five things you needed to do today? Because if so, you've made it. You did a great job. Fantastic job."

Kris:I do the double flip. Getting attacked was on my list.

Heroischer Ross:Oh. So it's a double win.