Turn Your Life into an Exponential Organization

by Robin Farmanfarmaian

A main foundational aspect of my career is that I treat my life overall as a business. I don’t differentiate between “personal” and “professional” life as to how I approach running it: from systems, to efficiencies, to Profit & Loss Statements, to outsourcing I think of every aspect of my world as a department of “Robin, Inc”. Some departments bring in money, some spend, some require outside resources, and all divisions need to work together smoothly.

To an outsider, my life may look like chaos, and that I’m involved with so many companies and projects that a normal person couldn’t possibly keep track and stay effective. But I’ve created a complex web, where every strand builds and augments the others – and together, work as a unit.

My life goal is to directly impact 100M patients – and I’ve built my entire life around that goal. I’m VP of Business Development for 2 companies – at Invicta Medical – working on a disruptive sleep apnea platform device ($10B market), and Actavalon, curing cancer by repairing p53, and advise many companies such as MindMaze, Virtual Reality for stroke and brain injury rehabilitation. The common theme is that the companies are disruptors in the world of medicine, and all are poised to impact at least 100M patients – but don’t compete with each other at all. It is only a small amount of incremental work to do what I do for 3 companies, as it is for 1 company, as long as I choose wisely, in line with my goals, overall project plan, and passion.

Choose the top 5 things you are best at, and outsource the rest.

How much time do you spend designing your last Slide Deck Presentation? 5 hours? 10 hours? How about grocery shopping this past month, or editing your last article?

Technology has democratized having a full time staff. From connectivity, to the power of the crowd, to platform markets – it has become incredibly easy and inexpensive to delegate tasks and responsibilities. I get 100% of what I need delivered from grocery stores using platform services like Instacart, online platforms and retailers like Amazon, and autodelivery from my pharmacies, and errand delivery services like Postmates– and most of the time, it is actually cheaper than going to a brick and mortar!

Have a Solution Mindset
The pushback I’ve been hearing include “I like to pick out my own fruits and vegetables”. Really? More than you like that extra 45 minutes of sleep? Or an hour with your children? What did you have to sacrifice or skip in order to go to the store? There are always solutions to whatever “excuse” you can imagine – for instance, in the fruit example, just order from stores with a reputation for high end produce, like Whole Foods, or use a mail delivery service for high end produce. Yes, that might cost a little more, but what is the opportunity cost for the hour of time you spent choosing your own produce?

The Way You Do One Thing IS the Way You Do Most Things
Time and resource management need to extend past the office and into your life as a whole. “Personal life” tasks need to be prioritized with thought to maximizing overall life goals.

I use platforms like UpWork and TaskRabbit to get everything done from cleaning closets to designing a new Power Point Pitch Deck or website – just post a job, get a handful of applications, hire and manage through the platform. My other favorite on-demand resource includes a subscription service for Virtual Assistants on Demand. For a monthly subscription, I have a team of VA’s on demand – I’ve had them do everything from editing videos, to formatting a database, to making travel arrangements,

Actions Items:
Create the project plan of “Your Life, Inc”. Keep monthly accounting of your exact finances. Commit to avoiding running your own errands or entering stores for 2 months. Apply processes to your daily life that become habits and behaviors, such as scheduling exercise, downtime, and especially, a full night’s sleep. You’ll be surprised at how quickly your life becomes more efficient, you become more effective, and how much extra time you suddenly have in a day.