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Last night, I watched a YouTube video from my friend and mentor Dan Martell called 8 Hacks to Stop Wasting Your Evenings.
I’ve had the privilege of working with Dan over the last five years, and one thing I’ve learned is this: when Dan talks about time, I listen. He’s not just another productivity “guru.” He’s lived the grind of 100-hour weeks, burned out, and rebuilt his life in a way that is both high-impact and deeply intentional.
He even wrote the bestselling book Buy Back Your Time, which I recommend to every business owner I meet.
This video grabbed me because evenings are where so many of us either level up—or lose ground. As Dan says, “Evenings are where winners are made.”
Here are the eight hacks Dan shared, along with a few of my reflections and personal experiences.
1. Use Your Feed to Feed Your Mind
Dan pushes back on the “delete social media” mantra. Instead, hack your algorithm to actually learn from it. Search for what you want to grow in—AI, marketing, leadership—and teach your feed to serve you. He calls it “friendventory”—unfollow or mute the accounts that drag you down, and curate the ones that lift you up.
It reminded me of Jim Rohn’s famous line: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Today, that includes the digital people on your feed.
2. Forget Work/Life Balance
Dan doesn’t separate work from life. He integrates it. Tuesday nights are date night with his wife, Wednesdays are mountain biking, and dinners with founders count as both social time and business development.
This is a great reminder for agency owners. Stop trying to build a wall between “work” and “life.” Instead, look for ways they can fuel each other.
3. Schedule Family Time
This one hit home. Dan shared a quote from Ryan Holiday: “There are people with kids, and then there are parents.” The difference? Intentionality.
If you don’t block out family time, your loved ones will always get your leftovers. For me, that means planning—not just hoping—my evenings with Lisa and our kids are meaningful.
Lisa and I spend almost all our time together—working, eating, exercising, going to church, and even just enjoying our patio every evening when we’re home. We’re intentional about FaceTiming with our kids and grandkids, and even more intentional about visiting them, even though they’ve all moved across the country. Add in weekly time with close friends, and evenings become not just downtime but meaningful, memory-making time.
4. Defend Your Downtime
Dan used to believe hustling nonstop was his edge—until it landed him with adrenal fatigue and shingles. His new rule: hobbies aren’t just hobbies, they’re strategy.
That resonates deeply with me. I’ve always believed in hobbies and have added them over time as life allowed. After 40 years, I’ve built quite a list: earning a 2nd degree black belt in Taekwondo after 50, getting my commercial pilot’s license (plus multi-engine, instrument, and flight instructor certifications) after 40, and consistently weightlifting since I was 15—including competing in a bodybuilding show at 20 and becoming a certified personal trainer in 2012.
Lisa and I ride bikes together, usually 10–20 miles at a time, though I’ve gone as far as 300 miles in 3 days. I’ve taken guitar, keyboard, and drum lessons after 50. We have a boat in Florida I learned to captain in 2017, which we’ve taken as far north as the Chesapeake Bay and as far south as the Keys. And yes—we love our two Harley Davidsons, one in North Carolina and one in Florida (though Lisa doesn’t ride her own, she rides with me!).
The point is, hobbies keep me sharp, healthy, and energized. They’re not distractions—they’re fuel.
5. Never Eat Alone
Keith Ferrazzi wrote a book with that title, but Dan lives it. Dinners, hikes, and workouts become his networking playground. And here’s the cool part: most of the opportunities that change your life don’t come from your closest circle, but from “loose ties”—the new relationships you intentionally create.
Agency owners, this one’s huge. How many referrals, carrier relationships, or client introductions have started with a simple dinner?
6. Avoid the Dragon
Dan’s phrase for this is gold: “Don’t try to slay the dragon, just avoid it.”
Translation? Your environment beats your willpower every time. If junk food is in the pantry, you’ll eat it. If video games are plugged in, you’ll play them. Remove the temptation, and you won’t need to fight it.
7. Do an Evening Reset
Dan gives his teams The Five-Minute Journal—a simple way to reflect, review, and reset. Each night, he:
- Reflects on what went well.
- Reviews his goals.
- Plans tomorrow.
Think of it like cleaning the kitchen before bed. You wake up ready to go.
8. Set a Bedtime Alarm
Everybody talks about morning routines. Dan argues the evening routine is even more important. He literally sets an alarm to remind him to go to bed at 9:00. That’s why he can wake up at 4:00 a.m. without an alarm.
Your energy today comes from last night’s choices.
Why This Matters for Insurance Agency Owners
Dan’s hacks aren’t just about being more “productive.” They’re about protecting your energy and using your evenings in ways that compound.
For insurance agency owners, evenings often disappear into email catch-up, Netflix, or sheer exhaustion. But what if instead, you…
- Used your downtime to truly connect with family?
- Made networking dinners a weekly practice?
- Reviewed your agency goals each night so your team wakes up aligned?
Those small evening choices could create massive long-term growth—for both your business and your life.
I’ll wrap this up by giving Dan full credit. These are his eight hacks, and they’re straight from his YouTube video I watched last night. I’ve seen Dan model these in real life over the last five years, and I can say from experience—they work.
As Dan says: “Evenings are where winners are made.”