A lot of people ask me how I find the time to do all that I do. The blog, the radio show, the conference, running 6 companies, all the business travel, being a father to 2 young kids, and a husband. Well time is all we have.
As I have taken more family and business responsibilities I have taken away personal and fun time stuff.
Things I have given up:
Being A Sports Fan
I used to be a sports FANATIC. I could tell you any players name on any team in any sport. My TV was glued to ESPN Sportscenter 24/7.
Gaming
I used to love to play console games. I purchased the UFC game when it game out over a week ago and still have not unwrapped it =(. Its becoming a trend… I have about 8 of the latest big titles that have never been played =(.
Going Out With Friends
Friends? What are those? The only time I hang out with friends is when I travel for business. My closest friends live all over the world.
If you eliminate all the stuff in your life that does not matter its amazing how much time you have. Being a sports fan was a lot of fun but even when my Green Bay Packers won the super bowl…. I still had to goto work the next monday morning.
A.D.D relevant sidenote: Some of the poorest people I know are the biggest sports fans. Thats weird but anyway…
Having children ironically showed me really how much time I have. And how I need to manage it.
Today our nanny, Carly, is on vacation and my wife is working all day so I am responsible for the children.
I woke up at 5:30 am with our 10 month old crying. Got her and coddled her until about 6:30 then gave her a bath and dressed her.
Then I started making lunch for my 2 year old. She (the 2 year old) woke up about 7ish and I got her bathed and dressed for school.
Fed both breakfast then loaded them up in the car to drop the 2 year old off ad school.
Once home from school gave a bottle of milk to the 10 month old then put her down to rest.
Now I have 1 hour or so until she wakes up. No time for instant messengers or social networks just time to get shit done.
In this 1 hour I will write this blog post, respond to all emails, and check in with my employees who have only been at work for about 30 minutes.
Anyway we all have a TON of time. We just need to eliminate the bullshit and get after it 
- Comment Likes 
- Comment Dislikes
June 6, 2009 at 9:20 am
Great post! Usually every single entrepreneur claims how hard it is. At least concerning me, the question is not about hours I have, but about keeping my enthusiasm and attitude on the high level. When I`m enthusiastic, my workload can be whatever and I`ll handle it. If we love, what we do, everything feels like entertainment.
June 1, 2009 at 10:36 am
Your better off Jeremy,
The Packers SUCK!
Signed,
Vikings Fan
May 30, 2009 at 2:27 pm
So you spend your life working and tending kids… exactly how is that better than a 9-5 job?
I make less money than you do but it sure as hell sounds like I have a better life. When my wife asks me to tend the kids, I can actually spend the day with them not having to sneak in an hour of work while they sleep.
When was the last time you were out of USA on a non-business trip? For me, the best part of being a webmaster is being able to take all the several month longs trips all around the world.
I’m not sure what exactly would’ve been the point of making all that money if I didn’t enjoy life with it.
May 30, 2009 at 4:59 am
Perfect
Enjoyed this post! The thruth after all..
May 29, 2009 at 7:45 pm
The big question of the hour is whether we have time to read the Shoemoney blog?
May 29, 2009 at 11:45 am
Time managnent is very important, it’s true
May 28, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Will the nanny get a raise now ??
May 28, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Isn’t amazing how much time there is when you cut out all the unnecessary things? When it comes down to crunch time, we can always focus on the essentials to accomplish what we need. But then we often lose that ability to distinguish between the important and the trivial during everyday life!
I agree that having kids makes you realize that some things just have to go to make way for everything else. Your morning’s play-by-play sounds just like mine!
Danelle Ice / Homemaker Barbi
May 28, 2009 at 10:22 am
Great Post and it shows how important focus is in our business and in this times. I really liked to read your post because it showed me again how important it is to just through the things out of your day/life which just steal your time.
And you must be a great father too, when i read the post that wa sthe main thougjt which popped up in my head. Thanks for sharing that with us.
May 28, 2009 at 1:23 am
Seems like a great and full day.
May 28, 2009 at 12:05 am
Certainly you know how to manage times and I think this is showing in this post. But I am really surprised to see that you are doing all those works for yourself.
May 27, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Everyone has the same amount of time in a day. It’s what you do with it that counts!
May 27, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Great post! Usually every single entrepreneur claims how hard it is. At least concerning me, the question is not about hours I have, but about keeping my enthusiasm and attitude on the high level. When I`m enthusiastic, my workload can be whatever and I`ll handle it. If we love, what we do, everything feels like entertainment.
May 28, 2009 at 12:14 am
Well said … but what about switching one thing to other things. For an example if Jeremy is making lunch and after that he will seat to write a post than this is not at all an easy task. This will take time to adjust.
May 27, 2009 at 2:22 pm
I guess I can see some of those parallels in my life too…
As my business became more and more successful, I found the less I HAD to work, the more I WANTED to work.
Because I’m the one who gets to enjoy the benefits.
I gotta say, I often made a terrible employee, but now that I’m running the show, I have more energy and work ethic than anyone.
Go figure!
May 27, 2009 at 1:05 pm
I wish i can do all this, But i didn’t have time. when i”ll have time i’ll spend my time with all of them and with you to @Shoemoney.
May 27, 2009 at 10:48 am
Planning is required then only things can move easily …Shoe is handling a huge responsibilities i wish a great success for him
May 28, 2009 at 12:16 am
I am sure while he is making lunch for his baby he keep planning for the day as these are the great times when you can plan and go ahead with that as soon as the day starts.
May 27, 2009 at 10:41 am
Nothing is impossible, it’s just badly prioritised! First post I read on my first visit to Shoemoney, and it’s solid gold. Fits right in with my personal philosophy and also marks the difference between the winners and the “also ran”.
I’ve lost count of the number of people I’ve communicated the message of this post to. The people who say they want to be successful, yet spend more time watching daytime drama than reading journals. You can almost smell the fear when you tell them the things they have to “give up”!
Rich people have big libraries. Poor people have big TVs.
May 27, 2009 at 10:30 am
Actually I think if you have one blog (or two) it’s best if you only have around 2 hours each day to write a blog post, and maybe some optimizing.
Because if you’ve a lot of time you check Facebook (for no reason, it’s okay if it’s business) and chill. So with limited time, you’ll be able to do more, than if you had maybe 4-5 hours.
But if blogging (and whatever else) is you primary blog, I can see if you need time, but if it is, you’d probably have more than one blog..
//Mikkel Juhl
May 27, 2009 at 9:44 am
Time is all i need.
May 27, 2009 at 9:35 am
It’s all about balance. Work hard, spend time with family, play with friends a bit (at a sporting event occasionally with friends and/or family – kill 2 birds with 1 stone). I go to hockey and baseball games with my various combos of Dad, Mom, in-laws, wife and son. The game is just a small part of it.
Video games and TV are the biggest waste of time in the history of man IMO.
May 28, 2009 at 12:19 am
Yes in this way you can enjoy the game and also enjoy the company of your loved ones. You do not have to go for gym as well, as this game can do the trick for your health.
May 27, 2009 at 8:56 am
Responsible dady you are shoe
May 27, 2009 at 7:49 am
i could not believe that it’s Jeremy’s life, so efficient and i admire your time manage method.
May 27, 2009 at 6:27 am
You’ve given up on many good things, but it’s worth it, isn’t it?
May 27, 2009 at 5:40 am
How the hell have you not burned out yet?
May 28, 2009 at 12:20 am
Because we always pumped him to give his best to every field … remember the post of Mrs Shoemaker … that post itself saying that he is perfect all rounder.
May 27, 2009 at 4:23 am
great time management .keep it up
May 27, 2009 at 4:16 am
Well said Shoe, well said. We need to prioritize stuff in our life. If our priorities are right then we can surely get alot of work done efficiently.
May 27, 2009 at 2:22 am
I really enjoyed this post of yours. I read all of your posts, given that I love affiliate marketing, and success stories like yours, in general. This post serves as a great reminder that you too, are so human like the rest of us
Throwing a truly personal post out there now and then is a great idea.
May 28, 2009 at 1:21 am
Yes this give us an opportunity to look at the other side of these GURUs. John always show sally’s photos and her cute act.
Those photos give some relaxation to mind and put smile on the face.
May 27, 2009 at 1:14 am
The time i give up gaming is when i start making $$$ daily.
May 27, 2009 at 1:12 am
“If you eliminate all the stuff in your life that does not matter its amazing how much time you have.”
Nice quote–I’ll have to think about that one for a while.
May 27, 2009 at 12:05 am
Shoe i am very much with you as far as time management is concerned & i am sure it is one of the most important thing one should manage in HIS or HER life.
I can see that you have given up on Sports and Gaming in order to manage things but giving up on friends, do think that is necessary ??
You must be having really busy day these days as Carly is on leave..lol
May 28, 2009 at 12:23 am
Yes I am agree with you … but however sometime life demands to be in that manner and you will have to follow in that manner only.
May 26, 2009 at 11:00 pm
You’re right on Shoe! Like it or not, life is all about choices and that’s the bottom line. The great thing is, the choice is only up to us! Thanks for validating.
May 26, 2009 at 10:45 pm
I can’t imagine giving up my friends. They have been there like my family through some of the worst times in my life. No matter how much money I make in my career, or from my hobbies, its all worthless if I cannot share with them. Its all about finding the balance that works. For Shoe, and others, it may mean different priorities.
May 27, 2009 at 12:26 am
That is the truth, great friends are definitely worth their weight in gold.
The bad friends on the other hand are usually the ones you slowly phase out of your life naturally.
May 26, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Oh my god , thats a hot looking nanny
, but I agree if you cut down on the unnecessary things there seems to be plenty of time to to the necessary things , I used to play all sorts of games in FB , Imperia online , Travian and the lot and used to wonder why I never had time to blog 
May 28, 2009 at 12:25 am
Yeah and Shoe have USED her for ….
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His promotion … lollzz
May 26, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Jeremy,
I’m amazed how you are able to make the main thing, the main thing as you put all the little things like sports etc and put your focus on getting stuff done, engaging in some multi
tasking,which is inspiring me to get my thinking cap on to see what I can do to get more stuff done and follow it to its conclusion.
May 26, 2009 at 9:29 pm
I would much rather socialise with friends and enjoy sports than make money. Money is not everything in my world.
May 26, 2009 at 9:25 pm
that’s wat u call “proper time management”
May 26, 2009 at 9:02 pm
I love when Shoe goes personal development. Thanks for the insight!
May 26, 2009 at 8:14 pm
I think time is one of the most underated variables… as we forget about just how precious it is untill it is all but gone!
May 26, 2009 at 7:40 pm
I’m beginning to wonder whether or not age plays a big factor into why I have been dedicating less time to video games as well.
I have been dying to buy the latest Street Fighter 4 game, but that would mean upgrading my gaming system to the newer PS3 or XBOX 360 and decided against my desire to do so because I noticed my time for games has dropped drastically in the last year.
May 26, 2009 at 7:36 pm
I also wasted many time in things like Facebook (not for business), TV and chatting about foolishness by MSN with friends. Fortunately, I have abandoned these things and I am trying to invest my time the best way possible… and reading blogs like this is not a waste of time at all.
May 26, 2009 at 7:22 pm
I used to play a ton of games as well but now only play once or twice a month at most. There just is not enough time anymore. I won’t give up my sports though as some of them are who I am and I enjoy watching too much. But more and more I am working while watching and following instead of just sitting, watching and eating.
May 26, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Indeed, you have left behind some of those small pleasures in order to manage well your time… It is difficult to acomplish… indeed.
May 26, 2009 at 6:50 pm
…
Your 2-year-old goes to school?
May 26, 2009 at 10:47 pm
pre-school I’m guessing.
May 26, 2009 at 6:15 pm
You just need to prioritize and make the most of the time you have.
May 26, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Dude…you’re wife is the coolest wife ever if she lets you have a nanny that hot.
But I’m sure you’ve never noticed
May 26, 2009 at 10:49 pm
I just noticed that nanny pic..wow…
May 26, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Thanks shoe, man I really needed to hear this. I have been working my butt of so hard, and trying to manage my time to keep up on everything. I too have almost eliminated playing my video games and other stuff too, hopefully I get back to gaming sometime another, but family, business, and other things makes more sense….thanks dude, now I know I haven’t gone crazy. :-s
May 26, 2009 at 4:21 pm
I don’t know how people can spend all weekend in front of the TV watching sports. I am a sports fan but could never justify wasting that much time. I get funny looks sometimes from guys because I don’t know the scores. I just play along like I know.
My sports watching is spent at my son’s soccer and baseball games with the family. It’s pretty exciting to see your kid play sports, even if they aren’t a star player.
May 26, 2009 at 3:54 pm
I heard someone once say “if you work for yourself, you have the freedom to work any 16 hours of the day you want”
May 26, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Nanny shmanny…
Woo Woo!
May 26, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Your point on folks saying they ‘don’t have enough time‘ is spot on man, it’s all about how we prioritize our time in what we do.
Great points man!
-Swansonager
May 26, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Wow, it looks like i’m a big slack ass after reading this. Thx!
But i totally get ya – all about prioritizing what’s important and getting straight to it. I dig it.
May 26, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Good post!
May 26, 2009 at 3:21 pm
It’s all about setting your priorities and having balance in your life! Plain and simple! And family first!
May 26, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Amen to that and come to think about it. The biggest sports fans I know spend a lot of time glued to ESPN too.
May 26, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Jeremy, I think you are wrong calling your (local) friends “bullshit to eliminate”
Simple as that – it’s a stupid view,
or your friends were not friends but assholes you hung out with because of no other idea what to do with your time.
The other things like TV watching, being a sports fan, well – that’s crap – no discussion on that.
cheers,christopn
May 26, 2009 at 3:16 pm
I just had a thought like your ADD moments, if people stop using up their time of frivolous tasks then wouldn’t that hurt your business Shoe? Seeing how a lot of people who are online are wasting time?
May 26, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Eliminating the bullshit, as your put it, is certainly important. The difficulty is that what seems like bullshit to one person is valuable time with family and friends. For example, it sometimes seems like the only meaningful opportunity I have for conversation with my 17-year-old is at sporting events because I can’t slow him down for anything else. Give those up? No way!
I, too, have a nanny and a stay-at-home spouse. Those of us who have that kind of support and help are among the most fortunate.
Finally, I don’t consider time with family and friends to be wasted time. In fact, time spent building the important relationships in your life is the best spent time there is.
I’m not writing this as one who is making excuses for lack of financial and business success. It’s quite the opposite. It’s the relationships in my life that have given me the strength to do what I have to do to have the business success I have.
May 26, 2009 at 2:30 pm
I don’t even have kids and I’m facing the time problem. I do know what the problem is though. TV!!! I’m a sucker for a good TV show or movie so I really need to work on that.
Thanks for this Jeremy!
May 26, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Sports?!?! I gotta give up the sports!
Sigh…..
As they say, life is all about the tradeoffs…..
May 26, 2009 at 1:28 pm
How much time do you spend with the kids on average?
which takes about 11 hours a day for me right now.
I elliminated most of my things as well, but I feel that I don’t spend enough time with the kids when I put all my time into the new startup…
May 26, 2009 at 1:07 pm
friends of mine are all over the world – so I hang with them the most when I travel or go to conferences.
games and sports are very minimal for me right now wit the exception of the nba finals
May 26, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Totally agree with the sports thing. Here in Canada it’s all about hockey and here in Vancouver it’s all about the Vancouver Canucks. 10 years ago I heard someone wealthy say “Who cares about the Canucks. Even if they do win the Stanley Cup, in 4 months another season starts all over and everything resets. In the meantime, you’re just as broke as you were before. Stop watching other people win and go win in your own life.”
I’ve been watching less and less sports over the years and now I don’t even watch TV all that much and I have so much more time to work on my own stuff.
I read somewhere that the average American watches more than 40 hours of TV per week. That’s like another full time job.
May 26, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Great post, Geremy, are you honestly happy working like 16 hrs a day? Once you r kids grow up, you dont get to go back and relive their young days.
May 26, 2009 at 3:22 pm
LOL Geremy As long as the family is taken care of and get time with you. You can sleep when you are dead!
May 26, 2009 at 12:41 pm
OK – Somethings wrong here… 20+ comments and I am the first to mention your Nanny!
There is a time for work and play… working at home, the balance is almost impossible to reach!
May 26, 2009 at 12:29 pm
The time is the treasure of the modern age
May 26, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Couldn’t agree more. I have 3 kids and recently was feeling quite burned out. My wife and I took a quick 2-3 day vacation and upon returning I am looking at things differently. Started by unfollowing some people in Twitter. Going to stop trying to do work in my unproductive portions of the day. And gonna focus on activities that generate the most potential for income vs quick buck. There is only so many hours in the day.
May 26, 2009 at 12:10 pm
You are a great role model. Seriously your blog is awesome and I love reading it!
May 26, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Hi Jeremy,
or you can give one away.
You work hard let me reward you with a free logo design
just let me know, I really want to show you what logomyway can do. I want to be the guy who designed something for shoemoney.
Thanks
Joe
May 26, 2009 at 11:51 am
Amen! I have to agree eliminate all time wasting and just get down to the actual stuff. Nice post by the way!
May 26, 2009 at 11:37 am
It’s amazing, over the holiday weekend, I didn’t check my email, didn’t blog, or go on any social networks but instead I spent the time with family and friends. We were able to do so much and surprisingly I didn’t miss it as much as I thought I would. If I can just find a way to limit these things throughout a normal work day like you’ve suggested, I could get so much more done!
May 26, 2009 at 11:34 am
The most important thing is to organize your time. Make a list of things to do (family, life, business, etc) and order them in importance. You can’t get to everything, but getting the most important things first will go a long way.
May 26, 2009 at 11:31 am
I could give up sports but never my friends. There’s always time for my friends.
May 26, 2009 at 11:29 am
I had this bad habit of WASTING my time & money guzzling barrels of beer with friends. I have quit doing that. Lot of friends do call me in the evenings and I know what they are calling for. The best thing I do is not answer their calls. I know I will be tempted to WASTE my time again by going out with them if I answer their calls.
May 26, 2009 at 11:08 am
It is true that we all have quite a bit a time but at the same time we are all victims of “EXCUSITIS”. We would find reasons for not doing something rather than finding a reason for doing it. That is why most of the people in the internet marketing business fail.
May 26, 2009 at 10:39 am
The people who always complain about the how little time they have to do things hate to hear that everybody has the same amount of time (24 hours) each day to get things done. It is how you choose to use those 24 hours each day.
May 26, 2009 at 10:27 am
Man, I got your point but you still sound like you could use a nice vacation!
(if you have time, take a look at http://www.madeiradream.com for photos of Madeira Island, Portugal and just relax for a bit
)
Yet, you’ve just reminded me to turn off cellphones, disconnect from distractions and get what I needed done, really done.
Thank You!
TC
May 26, 2009 at 3:13 pm
You do too much you’re not superman you know.
May 26, 2009 at 10:26 am
I say this all the time to anyone who complains about time (including myself): “You can do anything you want, but not everything.”
May 26, 2009 at 10:25 am
Well atleast you can sit back and do whatever whenever and not have to sit and put in an 8 hour day. Not saying that you don’t put in more than 8 hour days which I’m sure that you do but you can better spread your hours out through out the day and between feedings and naps.
I think my biggest bullshit would have to be work itself, even when I was part time and was going to school I never had time and now that I have gone full time it seems like I have even less.
May 26, 2009 at 10:21 am
Shoe, pure and simple: you’re the man.
May 26, 2009 at 10:16 am
I have found that TV, mainly due to sports, caused me to waste so much time. Been slowly weaning myself away from it and after the NBA Finals I will be in good shape. The big task will be trying to stay away from college football when the fall rolls around.
I was amazed that everything I was able to get accomplished this weekend because I did not go out with friends. Great advice!
May 26, 2009 at 10:16 am
I have to agree, time is all that we have. But why do I have to spend a day of my time waiting for a chapter to a book that like… it said it was coming, now I have to wait until tomorrow? Wassupwiddat?
May 26, 2009 at 10:13 am
Jeremy-you are a bad-ass, ninja father. Thanks for holding down the fort! J.
May 26, 2009 at 10:11 am
Your what like 35 years old?
You’ve made the big bucks already…Your telling me you could just sell all the businesses and live off that til you die?
I know what your going to say, well you would be ruining the people working for you, or well what would I do with my time, <— That would defeat the whole purpose of this post…
I always said if I could bank a couple million I would be living off it it doing what I want to do…Sure your “want to do” could be running those businesses, but then again it would defeat the whole purpose of this post…
Why don’t you? I’m sure when your kids grow up in a couple years you would like to be there for them…After that you can’t get that “time” back.
And where the hell have you been, I thought you were dead!! 3 days in between posts!!
May 26, 2009 at 5:02 pm
You can’t just sell your business and stop working if you like your job. Even if you have already made millions. Sooner or later you will miss this part in your life and will start to work again on a new project or something.
Ok, a few people won’t start to work again, but most.
May 27, 2009 at 10:04 am
“You can’t just sell your business and stop working if you like your job”
Yes you can…
Oh, some people can do it, some people can’t…some people will…some people just don’t have it…make up your mind…
May 26, 2009 at 10:06 am
I don’t know you say you don’t have friends or do things with them because-you have eliminated things that don’t matter.
Sounds like working and making money matters huh? Ouch, I think you made a bad trade and you don’t know it yet. But you will.
On the deathbed human relationships are the only thing that will amtter.
May 26, 2009 at 10:05 am
Really, *now* is all we have
Sounds like you’ve had a great day.
May 26, 2009 at 10:01 am
Now, if i could just find a way to eliminate said bullshit, lol
May 26, 2009 at 9:53 am
LOL…. you looks more like a mother, then a father to me…. anyway, leveraging is the word to be use if we really want to play big in the game of business….
May 26, 2009 at 9:52 am
I agree. I have a 10 month old as well (my first) and all I can think about now is how much time I wasted before I had him. I agree with the first 2 on the list….sports and video games. I have had an xbox 360 since 2007 and have probably played it 3 times. Also just bought undisputed though and haven’t played it.
TV is the other thing I gave up almost entirely. I watch Lost, 24, The office, and most UFC stuff. Other than that, I cut out a load of garbage I was watching.
May 29, 2009 at 9:04 am
I am with you Dave & Shoe! A wife, almost 11 month old son, just turned 3 year old daughter and no time for video games and less time than I use to for TV & Sports! I just had to prioritize and adjust.
Web Dads Rock!