# Chapter 232

I am not sure that we can change the number of hats we wear to any significant degree, because the hats we have are the hats we have. If you are picking up additional hats for the fun of it, you are insane. No most of us just have the hats that we have and we want no more. So what is really needed are systems that will allow is to remain focused on the most important actions within those hats that will produce the results that we need.

There are at least two regular systems I employ to gain tractions and amplify my results. First is the overlapping system - when I am wearing certain hats they don’t demand my full mental attention, they just demand time and energy from me. So I can overlap those hats. This means that I listen to audiobooks while exercising and I exercise a great deal! This allows me to log 20-30 hours per week of extra “reading” time, without dinging the exercise hat. Second is the free-hands system - when I am having my daily conversations on the phone with my dad (and others) I need my hands free so that I can work on other projects while listening to someone gab. I invested in AirPods early on so that I could have my hands free while talking and listening.

In the last month I have reupholstered all six of our dining room chairs while listening to my dad on the phone. I have discovered that I can not be looking at screens while listening, or I will stop listening. Screens are too distracting. But working on my house hat, while wearing my take care of dad hat works out just fine. I don’t need much mental bandwidth to do laundry or sweep the floors or cut material.

You have your hats and most of us have little choice in those hats. But how you get them done - that allows for lots of systems and compression.