About My Time Guide
Hi ~ I'm Michael.
And I’ve been fascinated with productivity and optimization since college.
From the moment I joined the Efficiency Committee, my mind started working in very different ways that allowed me to see things that others did not: smarter, better, faster ways to get things done.
I continued learning about productivity and time management, and eventually developed some of my own techniques, systems, and mental models to help me juggle everything that was going on in my life.
As a student, I tested many time management strategies and figured out a way to balance my health, academics, social life, and professional development without having to sacrifice anything.
I was actively involved in my fraternity, chaired several committees, logged dozens of volunteer hours, organized and hosted events, worked jobs in perfectly legal businesses and engaged in plenty of illegal business (after all, it is college).
My health was the best it had ever been.
My social life was shining like the sun.
My grades were (almost) flawless.
If you want to dive deeper into the specifics, I'd recommend joining the next TMS course when it opens.
While I learned many lessons and had a lot of invaluable experiences, one of the most important takeaways from my time in college—in terms of time management—was this:
Your mindset and environment will make or break you.
These two factors play a crucial role in college. If you're a student, balance and chaos, success and failure, winning and losing will all fall into place according to the mindset you have and the environment you're in.
When I graduated…
I had a few job opportunities but ultimately decided to join Corporate America as a revenue analyst.
After countless hours of cubicle life, a deep-fried brain, and eyeballs that cried blood instead of tears, my productivity game actually downgraded.
Office politics. Email. Water cooler conversations. Meetings. Longgggg lunches. More email. Gossip.
But it wasn’t all bad… because I learned a lot about what not to do if you want to make the most of your time.
After many failed attempts at inventing the lightbulb, Thomas Edison said that he hadn't failed but instead discovered thousands of ways how not to make a lightbulb.
Thomas Edison never wasted time...Similarly, engaging in time-wasting activities, procrastination, disorganization, and inefficiency served as an important stepping stone in my productivity journey.
In college, I earned a degree in the science of hospitality.
At work, I earned a degree in the science of being busy.
I got paid the same amount regardless of how much I got done. And so began my education in portraying productivity... where I learned how to look busy without actually producing any meaningful results.
Of course, I'm quite aware that not all workplaces operate with such high levels of inefficiency but this was the totality of my brief experience in the typical office environment.
And although I may have wasted a lot of time, I certainly didn’t waste the experience. That’s why I put together some time management tips for managers and employees.
As you might’ve guessed, I didn’t last long.
I soon began to explore all the ways to be my own boss, make my own schedule, and spend time exactly how I wanted to.
My First Taste of Freedom
My first taste of freedom came after I left the office job.
I left the US on a month-long backpacking trip through South America, visiting several countries, making new friends, and—most importantly—never having to abide by a set schedule, answer to anyone, engage in meaningless gossip or attend painfully inefficient meetings.
I was free to do what I wanted, when I wanted.
When I returned to the States, I realized this freedom was something that had to continue if I wanted to be happy (and stay sane).
That's when I jumped into freelancing...
It didn't take long for me to become deeply interested in business, and I quickly pivoted from freelancer to entrepreneur (to learn more about the difference between the two, check out Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki).
When you start working for yourself, the time management game changes entirely.
There’s no one else to blame. No write-ups or warnings to keep you accountable. No bi-weekly paychecks to fall back on. Everything’s on you.
This entrepreneurial journey of mine forced me to develop specific time management skills I didn’t have. To be honest, I didn’t even know I needed them until I started feeling overwhelmed by all the stuff I had to do.
When you’re starting (or growing) a business, there’s a lot that needs to be done. And I never felt like I was doing enough. In fact, I saw myself doing everything EXCEPT what actually needed to be done.
“Too many things to do an not enough time to do them” perfectly describes the mindset I had at the time.
I was struggling to keep up with the day-to-day. I lacked the discipline required to focus on what matters most. I didn’t know how to effectively plan my day or prioritize my to-do list.
The same strategies I used in college didn’t really apply to my new role as an entrepreneur. I couldn’t find the work-life balance that I had so easily maintained as a student.
So I started developing new time management tools that helped me get ahead and stay ahead.
As I honed my skills and created unique systems that applied specifically to entrepreneurship, I started feeling organized, mentally sharper, and more confident in my ability to complete anything and everything that came at me.
My life and work had become increasingly frictionless.
Now, I’m free… and I want the same for you.
I want you to experience the same transformation because I know that once you get a taste, you'll never go back.
As the saying goes, "Once you see, you cannot unsee."
Sure, I still get stressed, show up late, and feel like buckling under the pressure from time to time... but that doesn't stop me from getting to enjoy a level of balance and freedom in my life unmatched by the majority of the population.
I’ll admit, some of the techniques and strategies offered here may sound a little unorthodox at first but let’s be honest… You’re on this site because what you’ve tried in the past hasn’t gotten you the results you want. So you’re looking elsewhere for answers.
"We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them" -- Albert Einstein
Then came MTG...
I created MTG to address the deeper problems that aren’t otherwise acknowledged in the endless listicles of “top 10” time management tips...
To talk about systemic changes--not the symptoms--that will transform how you operate... as an individual, as a student, as a teacher, as a husband, as a friend, as a leader.
Many of the productivity books just regurgitate the same strategies in different ways, cushioned with a lot of fluff. You'll find some golden nuggets if you search long enough but you've got to do some digging.
Stress… overwhelm… burnout… lack of discipline, focus, and willpower… these are the symptoms that communicate “something is not right.” Just as the body triggers a fever when there’s something wrong happening under the surface.
So then what is the real cause?
Put simply, poor time management is the result of insufficient knowledge or insufficient execution, respectively known as the Knowledge Gap or the Action Gap.
The remedy is both tangible and intangible, internal and external, endlessly simple yet infinitely complex…
To be free from the daily struggle is a matter of developing two assets: mindset and skillset.
And that’s what this site is all about: providing the mental frameworks that make you think differently about productivity, while also helping you build effective time management skills that make you act differently. Practice what you learn here and you'll undoubtedly see a measurable return on your investment.
Most people don't even know which skills they need until their stress levels are bubbling like a volcano ready to blow.
That's when they go looking for a solution and end up finding quick-fix "hacks" that promise to solve all their troubles. They settle on a bandaid when they really need a surgery.
Keep an open mind, ask questions, try new things, and find out what works for you. Take what you like, leave what you don’t. There’s no harm in trying, right?
At the end of the day, this is an investment in yourself and it’s one of the best investments you could possibly make.
If you're new at all this, click here to get started with the basics.
To your freedom,
~ Michael
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