5 Categories of Work Every Great Entrepreneur Makes Time For
How blocking your time can improve your workflow and efficiency
Let’s be real y’all — being an entrepreneur isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. As Thomas Frank pointed out in one of his videos, 5 Things I’d Tell My 19-Year-Old Self About Running a Business, every entrepreneur has to wear several hats.
“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” — Vince Lombardi
Whether that’s shifting between creative and managerial tasks, or something completely different, every business owner/entrepreneur/self-employed individual has different modes of working.
After recently starting a blog, I’ve felt this on all sides.
Not only are bloggers/writers responsible for the upkeep and layout of our website, but we’re also responsible for managing our social media, responding to people’s questions and comments, and let’s not forget actually writing the blog.
“mode”, noun, a way or manner in which something occurs or is experienced, expressed, or done.
What’s important is that we try to shift through different modes on purpose. This list of the five modes of entrepreneurship is meant to help you do that.
It’s meant not only to remind you of your responsibilities towards yourself and your business but of the different modes you have the opportunity to flip between to be the most effective and happy in your work and life.
Now let’s get into the actual tasks you’ll need to make time for…
#1: Exploration
The exploration mode is the mode that every future entrepreneur goes through before they even decide what they’re going to try doing with their life and business. In the exploration mode, an individual will think of ideas.
“explore”, verb, inquire into or discuss (a subject or issue) in detail.
In the exploration mode, the creator must let themself think and dream, and feel without a filter. You must not control what is going through or prevent something from passing through your mind.
Anything goes. Let it through, let it pass, or let it stick. Don’t lock yourself down on a particular idea — open yourself up to a vast array of possibilities.
For my own business and entrepreneurial pursuits, I’ll often put this down in my calendar as “tinkering time”, a term that comes from Emilie Wapnick’s How To Be Everything.
This is what Barbara Oakley, author of A Mind For Numbers, refers to as diffused thinking, as opposed to the more productive and focused kind of thinking.
Exploration mode is where it all begins — which kind of makes it the most important.
Work rushed into misses a key ingredient from the start — unbridled creativity which has allowed so many creators throughout history to create incredible but once-thought-ridiculous inventions, systems, and tools we still use today.
#2: Brainstorming
Now you have your ideas. Once you have your ideas, your unbridled and unfiltered list of things you’ve come up with to do in your business or with your time, you have to get into actionable steps.
Now that you’ve decided what your options are, you have to pick something. The brainstorming mode isn’t as much of a creative process, but a revisionary process.
Once you have your ideas, you have to decide which you are going to use in your life/business/etc.
Whether it be throwing your ideas out on Reddit (my favorite pastime) and waiting for feedback or talking with a few friends or co-workers, get your ideas out into the world in a brainstorming and experiential way.
“brainstorming”, noun, group discussion to produce ideas or solve problems.
But, as you can see in the definition of brainstorming brought to us by Google, brainstorming is about more than just yourself. When you have a brainstorm, you have to have a whirlwind of brains, plural.
We often mistake brainstorming for sitting in our room by ourselves — but that’s just thinking, maybe it’s idea generation, but brainstorming involves pulling otherwise and helpful people in your life into the process.
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou
To truly brainstorm, you have to work with other people. I’ve talked with friends over the phone, co-workers over Zoom, and family at the dining table and come up with more ideas than I ever could on my own.
When you have your idea and are ready to get to work, don’t forget to bring your crew together and get some ideas.
When you’re wearing this hat, you can also pull in helpful resources like articles, videos, lectures, books, etc. that can help you on your journey of refining what your next entrepreneurial project will be.
#3: Monk-ing
Monk mode is the third hat you should be wearing and it builds off of the results of your two previous modes. Once you have your ideas, and once you’ve filtered those ideas through your mind and the minds of others, you have to apply them to your life and your model of business.
“A monk may be a person who decides to dedicate his life to serving all other living beings, or to be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live his or her life in prayer and contemplation.” (“Monk”, from Wikipedia)
In her TED talk, “Want to be more creative? Go for a walk”, Marilly Oppezzo talks about something called “appropriate novelty”. Creative ideas can come from anywhere, but they must be practical.
“Monk mode will increase your resilience and independence. If you were able to cut people and pastimes from your life, what does it say about you?” — Lucio Buffalmano
The monk mode of the entrepreneur’s creative process is the most spiritual and introspective of the modes.
In the monk mode, an artist is focused on what is most important for their life, mission, and goals right now. (You can read more about Lucio Buffalmano’s practice of “Monk Mode” in this article.)
Monk mode is when we can journal, when we can process where we are, get in touch with how we’re feeling and who we need to be, and what we need to be pursuing to keep ourselves interested and passionate about the work that we’re doing.
This helps you become the most centered and intentional creator and worker so that your work can bring the most meaning and good to your customers and clients.
#4: Executing
In this mode, you have to use your executive functions to say “yes” to the things you need to say “yes” to and “no” to the things that you need to prevent from cluttering your schedule at the current time in your career path/year/etc.
“execute”, verb, carry out, or put into effect (a plan, order, or course of action).
Executing mode is all about taking your ideas that align with your current stage of life and your current goals, and making them happen.
In executing mode, you’re emailing people, you’re making phone calls, you’re filling out your calendar, creating a clear and actionable task list, and preparing to sit down and work.
For me, executing mode is when I’m finally able to check off my task. It’s where I finally hit send on the email, or add the meeting I wanted to schedule to my calendar, buy the product/membership, and more.
The execution mode is all about getting the balls rolling, whether that be planning for you to do the work or delegating to someone else.
This is where stuff gets done. Save this mode for when you’re brave enough to really do something.
This is when you buy the domain name, publish the blog, and outline the next post. When you finish in this mode, the task is complete, the plan has been executed, and it’s time to move on to the next amazing project.
#5: Working/Grinding
Now you’ve thought of ideas, you’ve filtered the ideas, and you’ve ideologically processed them, now you’re ready to work through those tasks — and once you’re done, you’re going to see the results.
This is often our least favorite mode, but it can be one of the most important ones, and the one that makes us the most money. Everything else is just prep work.
It becomes especially productive when you invite creativity into it.
“Greatness is sifted through the grind, therefore don’t despise the hard work now for surely it will be worth it in the end.” ― Sanjo Jendayi
This is that 4-hour block of time you’ll spend designing your website or the 10-hour day you’ll spend rounding up a list of clients who might actually be willing to speak to you.
It’s the weekend you spend in constant writing mode or the endless research hole you go down into for your next piece.
“work” — activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.
This is where the real work happens — and you’re prepared for it if you’ve thoroughly worn all of the other hats. Don’t forget to grind. Otherwise, everything else you’ve done in preparation for your work is kind of a moot point.
This is also the time when you should probably be implementing Cal Newport’s idea of Deep Work or Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s idea of Flow, which they each write about in their respective books.
Get to work and grind your outcomes, results, and plans out to make your mark on the world and bring in the income you’d like to be making.
The truth is, you need all five of these hats.
All five of them are hats that entrepreneurs have to wear. You have to explore, brainstorm, connect with your intentions and goals, execute, and grind out results.
Don’t forget to use them all, and diversify your actions as an entrepreneur.
Spreading out your time amongst these roles will help you become a better business owner and creator, and a more full and fulfilled person who can put out much better work in the world, and maybe even enjoy themselves in the process.
Let’s get to work. Best of luck!
