Six weeks after signing the papers to write this book about free time, happiness, and productivity, I found myself (for the first time), as a patient in the emergency room.
The doctor concluded I had suffered an esophageal spasm, a condition that closely resembles a heart attack and is presumed to be caused in part by stress and anxiety (Whelan, 2017).
How did I get here? How did a guy in his thirties, a productivity coach and marathon runner, find himself so overworked that his own body revolted against him? How did a beautifully manicured calendar with ambitious goals turn into an uncontrollable monster with such an extreme consequence?
Most importantly, how can you craft your own productive, fulfilling, and successful life, while ensuring a situation like this one does not happen to you?
This book is about so much more than free time. It is about so much more than an extra hour of Netflix, or another night out on the town. This book is about designing your ideal world and experiencing the extraordinary benefits that come with it.
Let's back this story up just a bit. There is a lot to unfold here.
One year before my surprising medical fiasco I was in a good place. I was working hard, accomplishing goals left and right, and riding a wave of hope, optimism, and some seriously great outcomes.
Right in the middle of this productive season I got sick and took a few days off to recover. I was beaten up, exhausted, and long overdue for a break.
Though my physician told me I had caught a seasonal bug, I knew the truth: I had caused this illness. I had pushed too hard, asked for too much, and believed I was invincible (which is pretty typical Jeff Sanders behavior). Knowing that I tend to lean on my natural ambition (and quite a few shots of espresso), it was clear I needed a new plan to ease into my goals. I needed a new rhythm, more flex time, and a balanced approach to my entire calendar.
I tried a new approach and, surprisingly to me, it worked wonders. For a full year, I was crushing my goals while not getting crushed myself. For twelve whole months, I managed to get more done than I expected and avoid any serious lapses in productivity.
But … (you may have seen this coming) … it did not last. I got greedy. I became overly ambitious (again) and began to uncontrollably take on more than I could reasonably handle. My projects were growing bigger in scale, I was saying yes to more opportunities than I had time for, and, most importantly, I was squeezing every last ounce of margin out of my life.
Free time? Nah! I had work time.
Breaks? Nope. I was on fire, remember?
Then, one by one, the precursors to the ER began to appear. Because I had booked my schedule to the brim, there was no free space for anything else, including the inevitable problems that always show up in the process of doing anything significant.
Let's get specific.
In eight short weeks I booked and delivered back‐to‐back‐to‐back speaking engagements; recorded and edited the audiobook for The 5 AM Miracle (my first book); negotiated the contract for the book you are reading now; launched a premium productivity membership program; scaled up my exercise routine to six days a week; continued recording, editing, and publishing weekly episodes of my podcast—and I continued to manage any and all personal responsibilities I have with my wife, Tessa; our home; our pug, Benny; our finances; and on, and on.
You can likely see where this is headed. There was no wiggle room, no flexibility, no free time. Though I could not see it myself, I was teetering on a total breakdown, and it was only a matter of time before I would come crashing down.
Without warning, and in the final seven days of this eight‐week calamity, my life went from busy and productive to chaotic and unmanageable. On top of all of the many projects I was working so hard on, three formidable and unforeseen problems fell right into my lap.
I found myself arguing over a contentious contract dispute with an important client, fighting a collections issue over a hospital billing error, and receiving challenging family medical news that only added additional debt, stress, and frustrating uncertainty.
This was a formula for disaster—a shining example of building a frail house of cards and then helplessly watching as the foundation gives way.
Each challenge was daunting on its own. As they began to stack up, one after the other, it was becoming clear that I was losing the tight grip I valued so much over the projects and opportunities I had personally accepted, and relinquishing any ability I had to respond to setbacks I never saw coming.
I was beginning to feel the substantial weight and crushing magnitude of my current commitments and brand‐new obligations. Without a minute of flex time on my calendar, and my stress already rising to an all‐time high, I was out of options to realistically complete the tasks at hand.
A few days later my wife called 911 when I found myself with heart attack–like symptoms: rapid heart rate, shortness of breath, rising blood pressure, nausea, and extreme tightness in my chest—essentially, a full‐on panic attack that felt as though death was knocking at my front door. Thirty minutes later I was riding in an ambulance to the nearest Nashville emergency room, and confronting my poor decision making that allowed this mess to occur.
A perfect storm arose, and I was crushed beneath it.
Fast‐forward a few months and my life, business, and daily calendar had all transformed in dramatic ways.
No longer was I planning epic goals on top of one another, or booking fourteen‐hour workdays on purpose. Instead, I found myself with an extraordinary situation that still makes me smile today. I had free time—real time to process my life and goals—time to address the unpredictable challenges that inevitably pop up—AND focused time to make significant progress on my most important work.
The irony is not lost on me—I needed “free time” to write The Free‐Time Formula, and I made it happen.
There are many lessons to be learned from our most challenging seasons in life: consequences we should avoid, problems we should prevent, distracting people we should block on Facebook …
And I believe there is also so much to be gained from reviewing our victories, digging deep into the seasons of life when everything flows smoothly, analyzing our brightest moments, and figuring out how we can repeat those successes over and over again.
When I think back to that tough season of my life that resulted in an unexpected ER visit, I am forced to confront difficult but powerful questions—and you too can ask yourself these same questions about your current challenges and vision for the future:
The answers to questions just like these are what this book is all about. There is a lot we can do to build ourselves up to handle more every day, but there is infinitely more we can do to design a life that operates beautifully on less.
The process to find more happiness, focus, and productivity lies in The Free‐Time Formula. Carving out free time for our most valuable ambitions (and our sanity) in the midst of a busy life is more of an art than a science, but the productive building blocks are here, and I am excited to share them with you!