Back to School: How I'm Managing a 100+ Hour Work Week

This might make some of you get your pitchfork & torch out…

You ready for it?

Time Management is THE most important skill to becoming successful.

Not sales…not marketing…not networking…BUT TIME MANAGEMENT.

Let me share with you a story about where I’m at currently...(and trust me you’ll get value from it)

I’m Starting School Again…

Sigh, very reluctantly…

For those of you that do not know, I am currently a Senior in Highschool.

Even for a normal high schooler, time management isn’t exactly a walk in the park.

It’s the time period when you’re supposed to learn what it’s like to work a job, so they make sure to pack on the pressure.

It probably looks something like this:

• You go to school for 8 hours. (40 hours per week)

• You do your homework after school. (5 hours per week)

• You might play a sport, do a club, or have an after-school job. (10 hours per week)

• Maybe you go to the gym as well. (4 hours per week)

Total: 60ish hours per week, roughly what a 9-5er who works overtime would do.

Let’s Take That to The Next Level

• Go to school & keep up with my assignments. (40+ hours per week)

• Stay consistent in going to the gym 4x per week. (5 hours per week)

That’s Just the Tip of the Iceberg…

I recently started a job working as a content specialist for a marketing agency. (25 hours per week)

^video I made for the agency

We haven’t even gotten into my personal brand.

• Put out 5 reels a week for my personal brand. (3 hours per week)

• Stay consistent with 1 newsletter per week. (5 hours per week)

• Keep up with 1 youtube video per week. (3 hours per week)

• Build up my recently launched podcast: The Elevated State (linked here) (3 hours per week)

• Working on my agency: CreateSystems (Countless hours per week)

• Building new notion products for my audience (5+ hours a week)

Total: 100ish Hours Per Week, a little less than Elon Musk works, and maybe on par with a Goldman Sachs Banker. (Jesus…)

Even Thinking About This Makes Me Anxious…

So why am I ranting to you about this? Why should you care?

BECAUSE the more you can do consistently WITHOUT burning out, the faster you will achieve success.

That begs the question, HOW WILL I BE ABLE TO HANDLE THIS without burning out AND how can you do the same?

How to Stay On Top of Sh*t EVEN When Your WAYYY Over Your Head.

Let’s face it…

There WILL be times in your life when sh*t hits the fan, and you feel like you’re drowning in work.

I’ve been studying time management intensely for the past 3 years and have been able to handle some serious workloads in the past.

I’ve tried almost every law, trick, hack, and rule in the book and out of it.

And you might have tried a lot of them too.

Out of the tens of these I’ve tried, only 4 have consistently worked well.

The 4 Principles I’m Going to Use to Manage a 100+ Hour Work Week

First and foremost, I want to get this off my chest: I’m a huge fan of the 4-Hour workday.

There’s no reason you should be working more than 4 hours a day UNLESS you have to.

If you go to school or a 9-5 and you also have your own business, you can’t throw in the towel on them until it makes perfect sense to do so.

And for me right now, it doesn’t make sense yet.

I might be making decent money for my age, but that doesn’t give me permission to drop out of high school and be a full-time entrepreneur.

You need to put in 12-16 hour days for a while, that’s just how it is.

and yes, …this will be the hardest thing you ever do, BY FAR.

Now that I got that off my chest, let’s get into the principles…

#1: Parkinson’s Law: Religiously Set Deadlines and Stick to Them

As an entrepreneur and even as a student, hours don’t equal results.

WE DON’T GET PAID HOURLY.

It’s about how much you can actually accomplish in the shortest amount of time possible.

If you’ve ever been in school or worked a regular job, you have had deadlines before.

And when you have a deadline, you hit it, or else…

If you want to be productive, you need to set and religiously stick to your deadlines.

This is called Parkinson’s Law: You get sh*t done in the time you have to complete it.

Action Steps:

1) Tell yourself you’re going to accomplish one task in an hour.

2) Set a timer, and get to work.

You’ll get wayy closer to accomplishing the task when you have pressure on your back to get it done.

and…you might even get it done.

Personal Application:

• I will use deadlines to be disgustingly efficient so I can get more done in less time.

#2: Stop Multitasking: Unlock the Flow State

You start a task, make progress, then switch to another.

Over…and over…and over…and over again.

By the end of the day, you haven’t gotten anything done.

This is a PRODUCTIVITY KILLER.

If you’re not familiar with the flow state, I’ve made a youtube video breakdown on everything you need to know about it.

Link here: Click me

But here’s the run down…

The flow state is a zone where you are completely focused on one task at hand.

In this state, you are able to get work done 10x faster…

Action Steps: How to Unlock It For Yourself:

1) Cut Out All Distractions: Go into a room where no one will distract you and grab some headphones

2) Get Focused: Use Brain.fm (Code Mattharriman for 20% OFF) or listen to lofi/instrumental beats to put you in the zone.

3) F*ck Multitasking: Work on one task until you complete it.

Personal Application:

• I will use the flow state to get work done faster. If I can work faster, I can work less hours. (and not burn out)

3) Delegate, Streamline, and Systemize.

If you can Delegate any task you can hand off to someone else, do it.

Ex: I hand off my video editing to an editor so I can focus on writing and generating revenue.

Streamline any task that can be done more efficiently.

Ex: Instead of checking your emails every day, check them 2x a week on Tuesday and Friday.

This frees up time to work on actual important tasks.

Systemize tasks to STOP PROCRASTINATING.

Every morning, do the same boring sh*t. That’s what moves the needle forward…

Ex: Every morning I write. Every idea, concept, draft, and thought goes into my Content System. (Which I will be dropping soon btw)

This keeps the gears turning on my personal brand so I never run out of ideas.

Action Steps:

• Delegate, streamline, and systemize as much as you possibly can.

  • The goal is to do the least amount of work with the highest output.

4) Prioritize.

We only have so much energy in the day.

As soon as you get up, eat the frog.

Start your day with the HARDEST task you have.

It could be…

• Writing content

• Sending those sales messages

• Studying for that exam

• Working on that project

We don’t have time to waste on BS tasks like adjusting our logos into oblivion. Instead, prioritize the most important task FIRST.

Action Step:

• Work on your most important task FIRST.

Personal Application:

• As I usually do, I will get up before school every morning and write.

I Hope you Enjoyed This Week's Letter!

Regards,

Matt “Doctor Strange” Harriman

PS:

Whenever you’re ready, here’s how I can help:

1. Grab my FREE self-reflection guide to break your burnout & make consistent progress in life & business easy.

2. Check out my Consistency System which I’ve used to build amazing habits that have helped me scale my brand & improve my health.

3. Book a 1-1 Strategy Session to gain clarity on your routine, habits, and systems.