How I run a business while being a full-time student

Welcome to Curious Jay, a weekly newsletter where I share actionable ideas on life, work, & business.

For the past two and a half years, I’ve been running an internet business while being a full-time high school student.

Balancing school work, client work, and social life hasn’t been easy. But along the way, I’ve learned a lot about how to maximize your efforts.

Here are 7 pieces of no-BS productivity advice (that I wish I had known earlier):

1) Plan the night before

Before bed, I write out my top priorities for the following day. That way, when I wake up, I know exactly what I need to work on.

Before I started planning my day the night before, I found myself wasting a lot of time trying to figure out what I should be working on. Even worse, I was easily distracted by tasks that didn’t truly move the needle forward.

Another added benefit: Writing out all the things you need to do closes all the open loops in your mind that make you anxious. My sleep has improved tremendously since I started this habit.

End the day with clarity. Start the next with momentum.

2) Remember the Top Goal Framework

At the start of my nightly planning, I ask myself this question: “What’s the one thing, that if completed, would make tomorrow a win?”

One of the problems with having a heavy workload is that on a day-to-day basis, there seems to be an infinite amount of things to do, yet weeks will go by and you feel like you haven’t accomplished anything meaningful.

The antidote to this problem is to implement what CEO Coach Matt Mochary calls the ‘Top Goal Framework’. Block off two hours each morning to work on your Top Goal only.

Matt writes in his book The CEO Within, “During this Top Goal time, do not respond to emails, texts, calls, and messages. Only work on your top priority. If you follow this pattern each workday, you will achieve amazing things.”

I use my Top Goal time to lift for an hour and read & write for the other hour. Even if the rest of the day is a mess, if I complete my Top Goal time, it’s hard to count any day as a terrible day.

3) Maximize Dead Time

I want you to take your phone out.

Go to settings.

Check your screen time.

It was higher than you thought, wasn’t it?

Mine was too. It’s wild how much time you waste in tiny increments. 10 minutes here. 15 minutes there. Next thing you know, 2 hours are gone.

Instead, learn to turn dead time into alive time.

• Making breakfast? Read.

• Working out? Listen to podcasts.

• Waiting in line? Respond to messages.

You may not be able to do the full thing, but don’t let the optimal get in the way of the beneficial. 10 minutes of reading is much better than no reading.

The goal is to look back and think, “Damn, all those tiny increments really did add up.”

4) Use A Power Box

The problem with to-do lists is your most important tasks get buried under less important tasks. We’ve all been there, skipping the hard tasks to do the convenient ones first.

Instead, create a power box. A power box keeps you focused on the highest-leverage tasks.

Important: What drives your goal forward the most?

Urgent: What needs to be done right now?

• Not important & not urgent? Eliminate it.

• Not important & urgent? Delegate it.

• Important & not urgent? Save it for later (like dead time!)

• Important & urgent? Do it now.

The most productive people I know are relentless about what matters and ruthless about what doesn’t.

5) Avoid the “Yes… Damn” Effect

The “Yes… Damn” Effect is the idea that we say ‘yes’ to things with the assumption that we’ll have more time in the future than we do now, but then say ‘damn’ when we schedule too many things.

My rule of thumb for this is if you’re going to say ‘yes’ to something because you think you’ll have more time in the future, just say ‘no’ instead.

Do it now or don’t commit.

As a people pleaser, I struggle to politely decline invitations to things I’m not super excited about. So I have a personal rule to never say ‘yes’ on phone calls. Instead, I wait until after the call to fully think through my commitment.

6) Be willing to make sacrifices

Harsh Truth: You can’t do everything all at once. Some things will need to be sacrificed.

• I don’t play video games

• I don’t go to any school clubs

• I quit playing varsity basketball

As Steve Jobs eloquently put it, “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.”

When you say yes to average opportunities, you’re also saying no to exceptional ones. An empty calendar is a competitive advantage.

7) Make it easier next time

My personal rule: If you do anything more than twice, create a system.

A system can be a:

• Checklist of steps

• SOP on how to do a task

• Template to make it easier

Every Sunday, sit down and review the past week. Look for areas or tasks where a system can be created.

Not only will committing to this process make it easier to train future employees, but it will also reveal the bottlenecks in your business.

Remember, productivity isn’t about doing many things fast. It’s about doing the right things well.

See you next Sunday,

Jay “Wishing You A Productive Week” Yang

PS — One last point that I forgot to mention… rest! Rest is crucial to being a more productive person. Without it, you’re like a car running on fumes. Work intensely. Rest intensely.

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