A Day in the Life of Dan Sullivan – High-Performance Routine for Entrepreneurs

Dan Sullivan, my podcast co-host, is a clear example of success both in his personal and business life.

In this episode, I get together with him to discuss his main habits, routines, and life hacks.

We know Dan. He is the founder and president of The Strategic Coach Inc., a visionary, innovator, and gifted conceptual thinker. 

He has over 40 years of experience as a speaker, consultant, strategic planner, and coach to entrepreneurial individuals and groups.

I think that everyone would benefit from understanding how Dan makes decisions and approaches life. I will discuss the habits that have shaped his life the most.

The Importance of Dan’s Weekend Routine

In our hustle-driven culture, knowing what a high-performer does during his weekdays is considered the real key. However, Dan believes that his weekend routine is as important (if not more important) because it’s this approach that allows him to achieve his highest level of contribution.

The first key is that Dan takes a free day every week. For him, that day is Saturday.

He may take an additional day off if his work-life balance requires it; however, Saturday is a free day that he never misses.

It is his relaxing day, where he goes shopping with his wife Babs or does similar activities that take him out of the routine. 

Dan also loves to read for one or two hours without any rush or pressure. His favorite read for this space of time is The Wall Street Journal.

Sunday is a day of preparation and creation for him. He gets ready for the week that is about to start and also takes advantage of the undisrupted environment (because everyone else is resting) to work on his ideas, tools for workshops, books, and more.

This approach allows him to renew and create in the best way possible.

What Does Dan Do to Record and Organize Ideas?

These fantastic weekend sessions always bring an inflow of ideas, possibilities, and theories that need to be worked further to become products and programs.

Dan mentioned that he has only one place where he puts all his ideas.

He uses something called Idea Developer to store these valuable insights.

Idea Developer is a thinking exercise in the Strategic Coach programs that consists of a single page diagram with boxes, and relevant questions, that helps the entrepreneur take all of these thoughts from zero to structure and implementation.

The tool has been very successful because we tend to store our ideas and never look back at them. On the other hand, Idea Developer forces you to take action or delegate these actions to your team.

Dan’s Approach to Learning

According to Dan, a routine for learning is something that every person needs to personally experience if they want to become lifelong learners at some point.

He shared an experience about one of his coaching groups where four brilliant people had a hard time progressing with the rest of the group.

Dan asked them their thoughts on the actions that he was requesting from the group, and they said they would like to do it differently.

Then Dan told them they should try an experiment: use different approaches to the same problem. 

The results were enlightening for Dan. He reinforced his idea that the goal is what matters and that every person will have a different way of doing things.

The most important thing is to have a clear vision and improve our abilities to learn and customize those knowledge acquisitions into a skill set that works for us. 

Listen to the Full Conversation

Dan and I discussed other exciting routine hacks like how he counteracts the adverse effects of screen time, his rules for leadership and team management, and other valuable lessons.

If you would like to listen to the complete discussion with Dan, don’t hesitate to listen to the podcast here, on your favorite platform, or on YouTube.