Episode 1463: Interview with David Buck About Living a Time-Optimized Life

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining us on episode 1463 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:08] David Buck: I'm David Buck, and I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, Develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to be proactive in your use of time is key.

[00:00:28] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this. The Inspired Stewardship Podcast. My

[00:00:39] whole process with the time optimized life is the idea that we identify what are your unique opportunities? Where are you strong at? Where are your opportunities? And we then work on the opportunities, but also challenge you to continue to think about how, how you can get better on your strengths because it's you, it's your unique strengths.[00:01:00]

[00:01:01] Scott Maderer: Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:27] In today's podcast episode, I interview David Buck. I asked David about how he became focused on not managing time, but optimizing your life through optimizing time. David also shares some of our common challenges and the solutions to dealing with our time. And I also asked David about his journey and his faith.

[00:01:49] I've got a new book coming out. called Inspired Living, assembling the puzzle of your call by mastering your time, your talent, and your treasures. You can find out more about it and [00:02:00] sign up for getting more information over at InspiredStewardship. com, Inspired Living. That's InspiredStewardship. com, Inspired Living.

[00:02:12] David Buck is the author of The Time Optimized Life. He has 35 plus years of organizational and time management experience. That led him to start Kairos Management Solutions and the Infinity Lifestyle Design Program. David empowers business professionals to overcome the struggles of a lack of flexibility in life.

[00:02:32] He helps his clients craft a strategy to optimize their time that defines a lifestyle focused on meaning, purpose, and joy. David resides in Ponte Verde, Florida with his wife, the Reverend Dr. Susan Rose. Welcome to the show, David.

[00:02:48] David Buck: It's an honor to be here, Scott. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

[00:02:51] Scott Maderer: Absolutely. I'm anxious to have you on and talk a little bit more about time and what you call the time optimized life. [00:03:00] But before I go there, let's back up a little bit. I talk a little bit in the intro, but intros never tell the whole story. What got you to the point of working in this area and putting out this idea of time optimization?

[00:03:16] What got you to being, this is the message you're putting out in the world.

[00:03:21] David Buck: So I spent, Oh, 35 plus years in business development. That's the fancy word for sales. And so in sales, I understood very quickly and the audience can't see because it's not true, but my amazing. a good looks and total charisma personality wasn't going to get me very far in the sales world.

[00:03:44] And so I had to understand, so what can I do to bring value to my clients? And I learned early on, I was going to be more prepared than my competition. I wanted to make sure that as I either engage with new or existing clients, [00:04:00] I tried to make their life as easy as possible. And that naturally will led myself to say I got to manage my time well to do that.

[00:04:08] But also if I help them manage their time well by making life easy for them usually was able to build good, long lasting relationships. And after my stint in decades of corporate work I said, wow, There are a lot of other people that are challenged with their time, not just the clients that I deal with.

[00:04:30] And so for me, it was a natural transition to move into this area of helping coach people to use their time better and be more productive.

[00:04:41] Scott Maderer: So as you dived into it and began thinking about it, was it something that you struggled with? Was it something that, came naturally to you? How did this, Working in getting better with how you use your time.

[00:04:56] How did that play out for you as you began to journey through it? [00:05:00]

[00:05:00] David Buck: I'd love to say it naturally happened. Like I have this natural knack for that, but it really came about for the circumstances that I was in. Like, how am I going to be able to juggle having all these clients and the pressure of, the boss or the employer saying, we need more, sales, there's never enough.

[00:05:19] And I found there that it was almost. I had to do it. I was forced if I was going to be successful, I needed to know how to do that. And then I found that as I began to lead teams and train others and coach others, that became a natural extension for me because I always felt particularly people who reported to me.

[00:05:40] I felt were better pure sales people than I were. They had such great relationship skills. And so instead of me trying to say, Hey, you need to be just like Dave. It was more like, how can I help them improve the use of their time? So their natural skills and ability get to be the forefront to what they do to be successful.[00:06:00]

[00:06:01] Scott Maderer: Yeah. And I think that's an important point that I want to call out and then let you expand on it if you'd like. I think a lot of the literature and the things that are out there around time and how to use time. So I use the disc personality profile. That's just the one I use in my head because, and part, I use it because like I tell people, that's the one I can carry around in my head and actually understand.

[00:06:21] I can't do that with some of the other ones, it's too, they're too complicated. And when you think about that kind of personality or communication style, I think a lot of the time. work and a lot of the material that's out there in books and literature is focused on one segment of the population.

[00:06:39] The writing to one group of people, as opposed to taking into account that wait a minute, different kinds of personalities, different kinds of styles, not to mention different types of work and different kinds of life, whether or not you have a wife and kids or you're single, all of that affects how you handle time.

[00:06:56] And a lot of times they tend to be written in these kind of very narrow, [00:07:00] here's the one way, kind of thing. What's your thoughts on that?

[00:07:04] David Buck: I feel everyone's time journey is obviously unique. We all consume time at the same rate. So a second for you, Scott, and for me and for the listener, it's the same.

[00:07:17] It's measured the same, but what we do in that time is very different and how we approach it is very different. And I love the fact you mentioned the disc. Personality profile score, because a lot of what your designation is in that or any personality profile is going to mean that you're going to be thinking about using time a little bit differently than maybe somebody else.

[00:07:38] An introvert's going to think about it differently than an extrovert. And my whole process with the Time Optimized Life is the idea that we identify what are your unique opportunities? Were you strong yet? where are your opportunities? And we then work on the opportunities, but also challenge you to continue to think about how you can get better on your [00:08:00] strengths because it's you, it's your unique journey.

[00:08:03] It's what you define and how you want to use it. That's ultimately going to be able to get you to be the most productive.

[00:08:11] Scott Maderer: So before we dive some more into the time optimized life and your book and some of the details of that, one of the things I like to highlight on the show is the intersection that we have between kind of our life journey and the work that we do and that kind of what we normally talk about and our faith journey.

[00:08:32] and how that affects us, our spiritual development and all of that and how those two things often for many of us affect each other. So would you mind sharing a little bit about your faith journey and how that's intersected with this journey that you've been on?

[00:08:46] David Buck: I would be happy to because as I have gone along on my faith journey, I even appreciate more this concept of time.

[00:08:56] And so I actually, my life, I grew up unchurched [00:09:00] probably by the time I was till my late twenties. I may have been in a church maybe about a dozen times. And I sensed this idea this concept, this poll that there was something greater. So I began to, explore this idea of Christianity and what it meant.

[00:09:16] And for me, God put my wife in my life because on our second date, she was like, Hey, listen, it's important to me that if we continue forward, we need to attend church. It doesn't need to be my church, but we need to find a church. And that was an answer to prayer to me. And so she's been so much linked to my faith journey.

[00:09:36] But then as I got into this idea of then my professional life, my personal life I found that when it was okay, I had a pastor one time emphasize the fact that whether in your career, obviously, as long as it's ethical and that it's meaningful, he said, what you do is tied to who you are [00:10:00] and in your faith journey.

[00:10:01] And so that opened it up to say, okay, my work. is I'm honoring what I'm doing to the Lord through my work. And so I tried to link those two together. And then I was blessed as part of my career, I worked for two faith based or Christian companies. So I got to live my, what I sold. was tied directly to my faith, which that I felt was a blessing.

[00:10:26] So it's been an interlinked thing to me. And time is so a key part of that.

[00:10:33] Scott Maderer: How has it changed your view of time itself? When you think about your faith background.

[00:10:39] David Buck: So two elements, one is that I have an infinite view of time because we're living in this existence. But yet we're going to continue on afterwards and an infinity and how can I can't even wrap my head around what infinity means, but I do know that my existence [00:11:00] doesn't end at the same time.

[00:11:02] I know in this life that I live right now, I owe it to God. As a matter of fact, my own personal purpose statement is to use my time to the best of my ability that God has given me. And so that then now. means is am, as I look at the end of the day, did I use my time to the best of my abilities? Not only for what's best for me, but for best for God and his kingdom.

[00:11:28] And and I could tell you some days I could say I really could have improved myself a lot then, but it keeps me. Focused on the fact that my time is much greater than just the use of what it is at that time.

[00:11:41] Scott Maderer: So let's dive into a little bit. So the book is titled Time Optimized Life.

[00:11:47] And, I've tried real carefully to not use the word that I think Neither one of us likes that much, which is time management. Why do you call it time optimized life instead of time management?

[00:11:59] David Buck: So [00:12:00] I'll start out by saying there's nothing wrong with the word management. It does play an important key in our life, but I find when people saying I'm trying to manage my time, what that usually means is they're very reactive to what happens.

[00:12:13] So typically when I work with a client, the first thing I'll say to do is let me see your calendar and their calendar. They'll pull up it's populated with a series of meetings or time blocked off, but much of it's open. There's nothing there. So what's going on here? Either I scheduled a meeting or the boss has scheduled a meeting.

[00:12:30] So what are you doing in that open time? I don't know. I try to work on my tasks during the day. And I said, so what happens if a meeting comes in? I got to drop what I'm doing and go to that meeting. And I try to tell people to flip the script because you're being reactive to your time. You're allowing a first in first out.

[00:12:49] mentality. And that might not be the right thing if you've got important things planned during the day. And so I want to flip the script to say, don't manage your time, optimize it because that [00:13:00] makes you be proactive by planning a little bit more upfront. You get to be able to negotiate what happens when someone wants to call and use your time for their benefit.

[00:13:11] Scott Maderer: So one of the things too, that, I've pointed out to people is that earlier you said it, time passes at the same rate. We've all got 24 hours. We've all got, 168 hours a week. We've all, you keep doing the math. One of the things that I found is I think sometimes when we say time management, it almost lets ourselves off the hook as opposed to when we recognize that what we're really trying to manage, if we're managing anything is ourselves.

[00:13:35] , we're not managing time, 'cause time just is happening. It's you know it's gonna happen whether you do anything or whether you don't do anything, it still happens.

[00:13:43] David Buck: That's right. Whether you sit and binge watch TV or you get up and you do an activity. Either way, the kind the time, as I said earlier, is getting consumed whether you like it or not.

[00:13:53] Scott Maderer: So if it, I think sometimes when we use that term time management, it's almost to let ourselves off the hook. I just can't manage my time. [00:14:00] Wait a minute, so what do you see as some of the challenges that the average person has when they begin to think about, back to managing our time, are they, that's the frame that most people come to it with what do you think are some of the challenges that folks face?

[00:14:20] David Buck: So one of the areas I use in my work with clients is they take an assessment that I do called a time management analysis. And so I've got hundreds of those. And based upon that data that has come through the top three challenges that people have in their lives. First are distractions and I define distractions as an internal disruption that you allow.

[00:14:41] to that you allow that takes your focus away from something more important. And the biggest cause of that is our smartphones. Our smartphones are an amazing tool of productivity, but they are as equally, and I would even say greater, a [00:15:00] disruption for us that causes us to be distracted. And so the second.

[00:15:04] challenge that people do is procrastination. And I define that as intentionally delaying on something that, you know, that by delaying, it will harm you. And that typically is the result of, we don't have something clearly defined with what we want to do and it's lacking details and specifics. And so therefore we'll just push it off and push it off.

[00:15:28] When, if you break it into smaller chunks and do it. slowly and piece by piece, you'll find you're satisfied and it gets done probably sooner than you think. And then the third one that I've mentioned already is this idea of not using your calendar. If you're on an email exchange server, it comes with a calendar.

[00:15:49] If you learn to use that. and proactively plan off of that, you'll find your life is a lot easier. So distractions, procrastination, and not [00:16:00] proper calendaring are the three ones that I find that people, if they work on those will improve their life a lot.

[00:16:07] Scott Maderer: And do you think for a lot of people, those three things are interrelated?

[00:16:11] David Buck: Yes. As a matter of fact, I find that also I found with clients is that when you focus on one, and so let's say those are your top three, I don't tell you dive into all top three to try to fix it. I'll tell you, pick one of those. What you find is when you pick one and you focus on improving that, The old adage of rising tide lifts all boats.

[00:16:34] You will find your other areas. So if you work on procrastination, you're probably going to find I'm not distracted as much, and you're using your calendar to plan it. So one helps all.

[00:16:46] Scott Maderer: When folks are struggling in that and maybe struggling in really hard in, in procrastination, just to pick one In your experience, do most folks get more progress if they dive on the one [00:17:00] that they're struggling the most with, or if they start with one of the ones that's a little stronger for them?

[00:17:04] David Buck: Oh, that's a good one. I find that if people are strong in an area, I tell them, don't necessarily start there unless you think it's going to interrelate to the others because you're already good there. So I usually just say if procrastination is your top, top challenge, let's work on that first, because the good news is you're not going to get bad in the others because of that, so if let's say organization is your strength. and procrastination is your weakness. Just because you work on procrastination doesn't mean you're going to be disorganized. So keep so I would say start with the ones that you know are going to provide you the most time benefit.

[00:17:42] Scott Maderer: So I know too that you work with folks at different stages of their life.

[00:17:46] But when we go through life, like I use the acronym LAM, LAMP, launch, acquisition. and then pre retirement, you go through these different stages of your life. And I think the way we are dealing with [00:18:00] time and the challenges we have change, with those a lot of times at the beginning of life, you're dealing with college and school and maybe starting a family.

[00:18:09] And then as you move along, that shifts, but for most people, by the time they're pre retirement or retirement, the kids are long out of the house and that kind of thing, it's a different phase of their life. When you think about those phases, what are some of the ways that you have seen those challenges change and, or.

[00:18:27] The tools or the solutions that people use change.

[00:18:31] David Buck: Great question. What I try to tell both people, particularly someone first starting a career and then someone stopping their career, heading into retirement. I use what's called the 40 percent rule. So if you work 48 hours a week. and your career, that is 40 percent of your awake time.

[00:18:51] So if you go into college, then you start your career, you're going to be working around 40, you're automatically have 40 percent more structure into your life [00:19:00] simply by the fact that you're working. Now, for someone who's headed into retirement, it's the exact opposite. All of a sudden, 40 percent of your awake time that was structured is now unstructured.

[00:19:12] And you have to figure out if you're going to do a traditional retirement, what happens with that time? That can either be a time suck or vacuum where you find yourself really struggling with what to do with your life. Or if you plan well, you can be looking back on career on your career going, thank you Lord for the resources I have to be able to live this incredible life in retirement.

[00:19:42] But a lot of people struggle with that 40 percent regardless of where they're at in their career.

[00:19:48] Scott Maderer: So when you think about that 40%, that, that time that isn't automatically structured what are some of the things, what are some of the traps that people fall into or things that they can do to use that [00:20:00] time in a more, a way that they actually appreciate and enjoy and use well.

[00:20:08] David Buck: Yeah. So I go back to first thing is have a a purpose statement outside of work. It's broader than work. It can include work. And again, it's okay to work in retirement. That's fine as well. But what people need to do is establish some type of purpose first and structure, and then decide, how am I going to fill that time?

[00:20:32] Is that going to be with part work, part play, all play? And that's why I encourage people who head into retirement, if you're still not sure, then go back and do what probably your kids or your grandkids did and take a gap year. What that means is just go into retirement and say, I'm going to take a year to figure out what life is going to be like for me, it may mean you return back to some work, but it doesn't mean that on [00:21:00] Friday, your last day at work, Saturday, you wake up and say, this whole new life, I've got to figure things out.

[00:21:07] Don't put that much pressure on yourself. If you don't need to work into it, but the idea is you got to build. Like that 40 percent structure you got with your career, you got to build that 40 percent of post career time to figure out what's going to bring you meaning, value, purpose, and joy.

[00:21:24] Scott Maderer: So I hear a lot of times from folks that are thinking about, retirement and whatnot.

[00:21:29] I hear themes that show up a lot. The one is the kind of stereotypical I'm just going to go play golf every day. Kind of thing. And another one I hear a lot is, we want to travel. We want to, we want to spend time traveling. When you hear things like that, is that enough?

[00:21:44] Is that what people, should be thinking? Or, how detailed do you think they need to get when they start thinking about that, that 40%?

[00:21:52] David Buck: So I look at golf and travel, for example, seeing the kids. Those are one element. [00:22:00] I don't, now I know some avid golfers, retired, who love the fact that they can go out and play a round or two every day.

[00:22:07] That's five hours. Sometimes it's all day if they play a couple of rounds, but the idea to each one of those activities, when you look at that in isolation, it depends on, your physical and cognitive abilities. And at some point, you're not going to be able to continue to do that at the level, or you can't.

[00:22:26] I have a friend of mine who spent 40 years in the golf industry. He can't golf now because of arthritis. And so he's had to readjust his life. The favorite thing he planned on doing, he can't do anymore. So I try to tell people it's don't look at that one element. but map it out. And that's why I make clients develop what I call a typical retirement week.

[00:22:50] independent of just one activity where they have to put down what does an ideal typical retirement life look for them, and they're not allowed to either do [00:23:00] Groundhog's Day, where they repeat the same day, or they're not allowed to copy and paste. It has to show diversity because that gets them thinking about all the different things that they can do.

[00:23:09] Scott Maderer: I think to a lot of folks, like you mentioned having work in retirement, that's another one that I see as a theme is the, I'm never going to retire. I'm going to work until I die, kind of thing which I'll be honest. I've got a little bit of that, in me, cause I do too, part of the work I do.

[00:23:24] I love the work I do. I enjoy the work I do. I don't really want to quit doing the work I do, kind of thing. So what do you say to those folks that, that. That's their attitude is no, I'm not going to need to worry about extra time because I'm just going to keep working and that's going to fill my time.

[00:23:40] David Buck: I have found with most of the people with that attitude, again, if that's what you want to do, that's fine. What I then ask after that is, if they have a spouse, What does your spouse feel about that? Have you talked to your spouse? What does your extended family? What do your kids feel about that? The grandkids feel about [00:24:00] that because they may have been counting on Being able to have you more a part of their life and if you haven't thought about that, then I would say challenge that because You're you bring value to other people's lives now if everything and I've had spouses or like parents fine, let him or her work.

[00:24:23] That's okay. Then I challenged, the next thing I challenge is where are you going to do the flexibility? So tell me works, not everything. What are other wonderful things you hadn't really thought about doing that you would love to do? What's your bucket wish or wish list? And when you list all that down, then I say, how are you going to accomplish that if you're working all the time?

[00:24:45] Because if you decide I'm going to, okay, 75, I'm going to retire again, I go back to the cognitive aspect and the physical aspect. Would you be able to do those things? So can it be, can you negotiate? I'm only going to work part time or project based [00:25:00] either if you have your own business or if you're working for an employer and I'm going to weave in the other flexibility elements there.

[00:25:06] So you get the best of both worlds.

[00:25:10] Scott Maderer: So when you think about your book, The Time Optimized Life who do you really consider that book for?

[00:25:16] David Buck: So I consider that more for the in career person right now. I'm actually halfway through writing the second book, which is going to be The Time Optimized Post Career Life.

[00:25:27] The time optimized life can fit in for anybody, any age. So if you still are retirement and because it's all about proactively using your time and those, the exercises that I put people through and the things that we cover in the book will definitely relate to someone who's in career or post career, but I did tie it into more people who are in career right now.

[00:25:51] Scott Maderer: So I've got a few questions that I like to ask all of my guests, but before I ask you those, is there anything else about your book or this [00:26:00] work you do around time optimization that you'd like for the listeners to hear?

[00:26:05] David Buck: Probably to repeat myself, I would just simply say if you're struggling where you are at right now on where do I move forward on trying to manage my time?

[00:26:15] Identify something. that you know you struggle with. If it's even as simply, I'm on my phone too much, then set quarantine dates. Work on not being on your phone as much, but please be pro active in your approach. Take the time to carve out. what you're going to want to do. So you're less reactive. The more you're proactive, the more you're able to, what, again, optimize your time.

[00:26:43] Scott Maderer: So my brand is Inspired Stewardship, and I run things through that lens of stewardship. And yet that's one of those words that means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. So when you hear the word stewardship, what does that word mean to you? And how has it affected your life?[00:27:00]

[00:27:00] David Buck: So I think there's two components to that. Obviously, the first part of stewardship is for us to be mindful of our first fruits that we give to God. And, so there is an element in our lives, obviously, where we give monetarily to our church or other organizations that we feel reflect being able to enhance God's kingdom here on earth.

[00:27:23] But I'm going to go back to time. And I think stewardship of our time is just as important. The fact that what am I going to do with my time to honor my actions so that if I have to account to the Lord for what I've done I can at least say that was done intentional in that respect. So I think people being good stewards of their time will help them.

[00:27:46] Create more time to in, to place it in the areas that are important to them. And for us in our faith journey, obviously the more time that we can align with trying to do God's will and [00:28:00] purpose. I always say that's well time, invested.

[00:28:05] Scott Maderer: So this is my favorite question that I like to ask everybody.

[00:28:09] Imagine for a minute that I invented this magic machine and with this machine you were, I was able to take you from where you are today and transport you into the future, maybe 150, maybe 250 years. And through the power of this machine you were able to look back and see your entire life and see all of the connections, all of the ripples.

[00:28:30] all of the impacts you've left behind. What impact do you hope you've left in the world?

[00:28:34] David Buck: probably not a surprise to the listener at this point, is that not only I managed my time but that I didn't waste other people's time. The idea that as much as I can and interact with people, that the idea is I'm enhancing not only their time and my time, because that time invested enhances relationships and do things.

[00:28:56] So it's to me simply that I didn't waste my [00:29:00] time or anybody else's. So what's on

[00:29:03] Scott Maderer: the roadmap? What's coming next as you continue on this journey?

[00:29:07] David Buck: So I am, as I mentioned 50 percent through the writing of my second book and fully in the getting out the awareness of my first book, The Time Optimized Life right now.

[00:29:18] but also I am learning on that. So that's on the professional side of life and obviously working with my business. But in September, I am going to be a first time grandfather and my wife and I are totally ready and excited for that and are trying to lean into greater flexibility for both of us so that we can be there in our grandchild's life, but also to help our kids out in that respect.

[00:29:43] So looking forward and excited to that part of my life.

[00:29:47] Scott Maderer: Yeah, that will probably affect the way you use your time.

[00:29:51] So you can find out more about David over on his site at infinity lifestyle design. com. Of course, I'll have a link [00:30:00] to that over in the show notes as well. David, anything else you'd like to share with the listener?

[00:30:05] David Buck: Yeah. So I'd like, if you go to the website, you'll see on the first page, just scroll down a little bit.

[00:30:10] I offer two free assessments for people to take one for the in career that's called the time management analysis. That's to help you give those benchmarks and guidelines for you to figure out what you want to do. So please feel free to take that free assessment. And then the second one is the retirement time analysis.

[00:30:26] That's for those people heading into post career. Again, It gives you a quick summary assessment that allows you to figure out where are the areas maybe I need to pay attention to as I'm either in or headed into post career. So feel free to take those and get your free results back.

[00:30:42] Scott Maderer: Awesome. Thanks so much.

[00:30:43] That's a great gift and I appreciate it.

[00:30:46] Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and [00:31:00] find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode please do us a favor. Go over to inspiredstewardship.

[00:31:10] com. iTunes rate all one word iTunes rate it'll take you through how to leave a rating and review and how to make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so that you can get every episode as it comes out in your feed Until next time, invest your time, your talent, and your treasures. Develop your influence, and impact the world.