CEO Systems to Automate Your Life: Transforming Efficiency and Reducing Stress

Written By Shelly Morse

You are the business of you, baby. If you’re not running your life like a business, you’re missing out on the number one mindset hack that can take you from struggling to successful.

Imagine the CEO you admire the most – Sara Blakely, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Sophia Amoruso – or create an avatar of YOU as a CEO in your mind. How do the best CEOs in the world operate? They are dedicated, organized, methodical, have support and rely on systems to keep the company on the right track.

If you’re going to be the CEO of your life, you need to adopt systems to streamline daily tasks so you can vastly improve your overall and financial well-being. Here's how to create and implement "CEO systems" to automate and optimize various aspects of your life.

Life Improvement with Guardrail Systems

Calendar Consistency

Pick a calendar system and stick to it religiously. Using a consistent platform like Google Calendar can centralize your tasks and reminders, ensuring you never forget an important date or task.

  • Weekly Personal Reminders: Set a weekly recurring calendar date that integrate health routines, appearance maintenance, home tasks, and social plans… or whatever is important to you. Create a checklist that you run through each week. For instance:

    • Health: Schedule workouts, yoga sessions, and half-days off for rest.

    • Appearance: Plan monthly mani-pedis, weekly hair care, and skin treatments.

    • Home: Plan meals and housekeeping schedules.

    • Social: Set reminders for upcoming social events and weekly catch-up calls.

  • Quarterly Reminders: Set a quarterly recurring calendar date with a checklist for bigger picture planning for the upcoming months:

    • Identify blackout dates for travel, Plan travel and ensure you're having fun while staying productive.

    • Network and seek mentorship. (see oldmoneypodcast.com/network for a networking tracker)

    • Set health appointments like physicals, dentist, etc.

    • Schedule time to see family, review upcoming anniversary’s, holidays, birthdays

  • Friday or Sunday Routine: Set yourself up for a successful week ahead. Program a half hour of time in your calendar weekly to get yourself organized.

    • Planning with Your Partner: Schedule a weekly standing meeting with your partner. Coordinate with your partner to align schedules, plan workouts, delegate household tasks and set weekly goals. This collaborative approach ensures that both partners are on the same page and can support each other's routines.

    • Minimizing Decision Fatigue: Every Sunday, set out your entire wardrobe for the week. Or.. just plan to wear the same thing every day. This technique, famously used by Steve Jobs, reduces daily decision fatigue and helps you start each day with one less decision to make. Decide now what you’re having for dinner, what nights you’re ordering in & when you’re going out. Ensure you have enough food for breakfast/lunch & get all that thinking out of the way now.

Setting Up a Second Brain

A second brain system, using tools like Notion, can store all your important notes, reminders, and tasks:

  • Car Maintenance: Keep track of service dates and requirements.

  • Addresses: Maintain a digital address book.

  • Personal Library: Store recommendations, weekend plans, and other essential notes.

  • Shopping Lists: Keep a list of your commonly purchased household items so you can go through a checklist without racking your brain for what you need each time. Ad

Financial Automations

Automate your financial tasks to ensure you stay on top of your finances effortlessly:

  • Set up automatic savings transfers and investments, such as monthly ETF purchases.

  • Automate bill payments directly from your bank to avoid missed payments and late fees.

Inbox Management

Treat your email inbox as a to-do list to maintain organization:

  • Inbox Zero: Regularly process emails by doing, delegating, or deleting them.

  • Use email templates for repetitive responses to save time.

Outsourcing Tasks

Identify tasks that can be outsourced to maximize your productivity:

  • Calculate Your Hourly Rate: Determine if outsourcing a task is cost-effective.

  • Food: Use meal delivery services to save time on cooking.

  • Housekeeping: Hire cleaners for monthly deep cleans or invest in a Roomba for daily upkeep.

  • Errands: Use services like TaskRabbit for errands like returning items to UPS.

  • Virtual Assistants: Platforms like Fancy Hands can handle administrative tasks.

Enhancing Daily Experiences

Invest in quality items you use frequently to make daily tasks effortless:

  • Phone and computer accessories.

  • Wallet and keys.

  • Household items like vacuums, coffee makers, and reading tools.

Embracing Structure for Flexibility

While these systems may seem rigid, they actually provide a structured foundation that reduces stress and frees up mental space. This allows you to embrace a more balanced and relaxed approach to life, ultimately enhancing your overall well-being and productivity.

By implementing these CEO systems, you can automate mundane tasks, reduce decision fatigue, and focus on what truly matters. This approach not only boosts efficiency but also allows for a more enjoyable and fulfilling life.

For more on this, Check out Episode 006 of Old Money Podcast, Be the CEO of Your Life – Systems for Success.

 

Shelly Morse
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