How to always be everywhere and on time
Or a minute of infinite resources
Time.
One of the most mysterious elements in our universe.
Time.
Never enough, yet sometimes dragging on forever.
Time.
The most precious and non-renewable resource.
Time.
For thousands of years, scientists, philosophers, theologians, and ordinary people have tried to figure out what it really is.
For most people, time just exists, and that’s that.
A break in half an hour.
A vacation in a year.
Daughter’s graduation.
Grandkids.
The End.
For an entrepreneur, time is definitely not just a part of the surrounding world.
It’s a resource.
An entrepreneur, in a sense, can manipulate time.
No, not reverse it, but certainly slow it down or speed it up.
But that requires special skills and experience.
And the ability to set priorities.
Because despite the limited ability to manage time (more on that below), this resource is finite.
Moreover.
There are never enough resources. All of them.
Time included.
It’s an axiom.
And that’s the very reason for the delay in my latest letter.
Lack of time and chosen priorities.
For the past two weeks, my top priority has been launching a major section on our website dedicated to free resources.
Over the last 10 years (if not more), we’ve accumulated countless resources. It would be a crime to just toss them aside. They aren’t presentable—most are documents from our knowledge base, so they need some polishing.
Several people were involved in creating them, plus there are client commitments. And clients always come first.
The deadline was pushed back multiple times.
And each time, I caught myself thinking that something needed to be done because it was starting to severely affect and delay other priority tasks.
This is the art of business management.
Achieving goals with limited resources.
No matter what you plan, no matter how detailed your work on needs and capacities—there’s always a way it could have been done better.
There’s no limit to perfection, but there is a limit to available resources.
So, I decided to leave a lot unfinished.
Yes, not in the volume envisioned.
Yes, not exactly as planned.
But now, the project can start living and gradually gain substance, without consuming so much time and resources every day.
I launched the project and shifted my focus to other, now urgent, tasks.
There’s another aspect, indirectly but strongly affecting the effective use of time.
And surprisingly, it’s our own brain.
I’ll write separately about it.
It’s a terribly troublesome thing that often creates problems out of nothing.
Even though it’s part of us.
When you’re learning something unfamiliar and trying to apply it in practice, one factor matters.
Does it drive you or not?
Think of any hobby or favorite activity.
It doesn’t matter which one.
And the thrill when something finally clicks.
How much did you read, watch, or discuss with people in the field?
And it wasn’t a burden.
Now, when you have to do something that doesn’t spark that same drive.
But it’s a must. You just have to.
You gather all your willpower not to get distracted.
And how demotivating failures are—it feels like everything’s just garbage.
That’s our neural connections.
Our personality.
Our habits.
Our brain.
It’s no accident that it takes 45 to 60 days to form a habit.
That’s the time needed to literally (literally!) reshape your brain—to rewire neural connections in a new way.
It’s truly painful.
Unpleasant.
And very energy-consuming.
And the brain, it’s such a lazy ass, wants to avoid expending any extra calories.
It’ll offer you anything just to avoid spending it.
No need to look far for an example—I’m the example.
Writing is very hard for me.
Sometimes, I get into a writing flow and can’t stop, but other times—it’s like pulling teeth to get the words out.
Even though there’s plenty to write about, with all the things I’ve seen over the past 20 years.
But no.
You sit there, thinking—how to write in a way that conveys the message in an age where people barely read past the headline.
At the slightest distraction, your focus is gone.
And the brain, damn it, is all too happy to slip back into its familiar rut.
An enormous amount of time is wasted.
And when will you ever develop that habit?
Let’s not forget the clients.
You’ve got to feed the family, pay the bills while you’re “spending” time on your inner turmoil.
And this is where the entrepreneurial magic of time management comes in.
It’s called delegation.
Many, many of my entrepreneur friends never managed to master it.
They tried.
They gave it a shot.
They pushed through.
But eventually, they gave up and caved.
And… stopped growing.
Delegation is hard for many to accept for various reasons:
- The feeling of losing control
- Fear for their reputation
- Perfectionism
- Distrust
Delegation takes time.
You need to train someone in how things should be done.
Regularly check in and correct them.
It often feels easier, faster, and better to just do it yourself.
Especially since delegation can be painfully disappointing.
When the person you’ve invested so much time and knowledge in suddenly turns around and leaves.
If you’re lucky, they’ll say goodbye on their way out.
Yes, but…
That’s the path to stagnation.
We all have the same 24 hours for everything.
And if you’re spending time on one thing, something else is being neglected.
That elusive balance everyone talks about doesn’t actually exist.
You feel like an acrobat-juggler with a hundred clubs, jumping through a flaming hoop.
Here - there. Here - there.
For hundreds, thousands of years, there’s been only one way to do more with the same 24 hours.
A team and delegation.
Today, some tasks can be delegated to automation and AI.
But even that isn’t a cure-all.
And the AI, praised from every corner, isn’t a panacea either.
You can and should automate routine tasks.
Especially those that take up the most time and occur frequently.
But the rest?
And the rest—people.
Living people.
Who:
- Do things worse,
- Screw up,
- Quit, etc.
Who:
- Are proactive,
- Effective,
- Creative, etc.
And who also require a lot of time to find, check, train, and keep an eye on how they’re doing.
But that’s a story for another time.
In summary.
The main principles without which no business can scale:
- Balance is a myth
- Resources are always scarce
- Delegation is key to managing time
- It always takes longer than you expect
- Automation is great, and partially solves problems, but not all of them
- A product-based digital business scales faster and easier than a service-based one
And most importantly—the earlier you start, the more time-resource you’ll have for learning, experimenting, failing, and making changes.
If you want to know more about other mess-ups and lessons on my entrepreneurial journey — subscribe to Eugene’s Stories.
See you soon!
- Eugene
Join the “most offbeat” storyletter on entrepreneurship.
Who is Eugene?
Here, in my sandbox, I share stories from my entrepreneurial life, along with thoughts and reflections on business, life, and philosophy.
I am obsessed with helping non-tech entrepreneurs demystify web design, development, automation, and new tech.