Writing is difficult, arduous work. It requires years (in some cases, decades) of research, practice, feedback, and refinement—especially a practical book like this one that promises readers they can achieve more by doing less. This book would not exist if it were not for the influence of my mentors, colleagues, clients, customers, and family.
Of my mentors, there are many. I benefited from their books, workshops, and personal coaching. These include David Allen, Ken Blanchard, Larry Bossidy, Stephen R. Covey, Charles Duhigg, Carol Dweck, Peter F. Drucker, Todd Duncan, Tim Ferriss, Daniel Harkavy, Charles Hobbs, Gary Keller, Jim Loehr, Leslie H. Matthies, Chris McChesney, Greg McKeown, Dan Meub, Ilene Muething, Cal Newport, Hyrum W. Smith, Dan Sullivan, Rory Vaden, and Stephanie Winston. My work is built on the foundation of yours.
Joel Miller, our chief content officer at Michael Hyatt & Company, drafted this manuscript using the content of my course by the same name, assorted blog posts, podcasts, and webinars, and my interactions with students both online and off. He (and collaborator Allen Harris) worked tirelessly to finish this project in the midst of an unusually busy season in our business. I am grateful for Joel’s ability to analyze, synthesize, and organize my content into final form.
My literary agent, Bryan Norman of Alive Communications, is an invaluable part of our team. He is my trusted advisor for all things related to my publishing. Not only is he crazy-smart, but he’s also exceedingly responsive and flawless in his execution. His quick wit and light heart are the icing on the cake.
I am grateful to my editor, Chad Allen, for his vision, creative input, and patience in working with Joel and me on this project. His enthusiasm for this project was contagious and provided the creative fuel we needed to carry it across the goal line.
I would also like to thank all my friends at Baker Books, including Dwight Baker, Brian Vos, Mark Rice, Patti Brinks, and Barb Barnes. This is our third project together, and we have several more to come. I am deeply grateful for our publishing partnership. As an author, I could not be happier.
My wife, Gail, is a constant source of encouragement. Nothing ever makes it into print without her input. I test all my ideas on her first. Gratefully, she jumps in with a joyful and supportive heart. She is also not bashful in expressing her opinion—and I am better for it. She constantly challenges me to say things in a way that is more clear, more simple, and more engaging.
It’s difficult to achieve maximum productivity without a great executive assistant. In my nearly four-decade career, three stand out as extraordinary. Tricia Sciortino was my first virtual executive assistant. By her own example, she demonstrated that executive assistants are capable of way more than I ever thought possible. Not surprisingly, she is now the president of Belay Solutions, now the world’s premier provider of virtual assistant services.
Suzie Barbour served as my executive assistant after Tricia. She, too, did an amazing job—so much so that we promoted her to supervise our internal pool of executive assistants. We then promoted her again. She is currently our Director of Operations. She continues to exceed my expectations, raising the bar on what is possible.
Jim Kelly is my current executive assistant. He anticipates my needs, not only before I articulate them, but often before I am even conscious of them. My only explanation is that he is a mind reader. He does all this with unusual professionalism, kindness, and zero drama.
I especially want to thank the alumni of my Free to Focus online course and BusinessAccelerator clients, including those who have shared their stories in this book: Rene Banglesdorf, Roy Barberi, Mariel Diaz, Matt Lapp, Caleb Roney, and Stephen Roney. You are more than customers and clients; you are my teachers.
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my amazing team at Michael Hyatt & Company. They inspire me every day and enable me to do what I do best. They are truly the #bestteamever. These include Adam Hill, Aleshia Curry, Andrew Fockel, Chad Cannon, Charae Price, Courtney Baker, Danielle Rodgers, Dave Yankowiak, Deidra Romero, Jamie Cartwright, Jamie Hess, Jeremy Lott, Jim Kelly, Joel Miller, John Meese, Justin Barbour, Kyle Wyley, Larry Wilson, Mandi Rivieccio, Megan Hyatt Miller, Megan Greer, Mike “Verbs” Boyer, Mike Burns, Neal Samudre, Sarah McElroy, Susan Caldwell, and Suzie Barbour.