Habits and Routines of Entrepreneur Matas Jakutis

I met Matas Jakutis almost a year ago in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Jacob, our mutual friend, introduced us, and I’m grateful to meet and learn from this creative entrepreneur.

Matas has an enormous hunger for knowledge and self-development. I love his learning philosophy and razor sharp focus keeping him ahead of the game.

Matas Jakutis

Matas Jakutis is a co-founder of Filippo Loreti, a watch brand that focuses on creating exceptional luxury watches at an irresistible price.

Their new collection on Kickstarter raised over $200,000 in the first 24 hours. Filippo Loreti skips wholesalers, distributors and retail fees to offer $1000+ limited edition Italian luxury timepieces for less than $200.

What are the most influential habits in your life and why?

Separating a few out of many is hard. The way how I look at my habits is that every single one should support me in moving to what I am focussing at the time.

There’s a great concept coming from self-development of immersion and maintenance. It says that to achieve something significant in the field of your choice, you have to be fully immersed in it.

So, for example, in my case, my focus for the next 18 months is scaling the business. Therefore, I am committed to fully immerse into everything business related and put everything else (fitness, relationships, etc.) on the maintenance mode.

In this case, I build my habits around my primary focus – I am cutting out everything that does not support me in that direction – media influences, certain relationships, activities, etc.

It helps me focus on what matters during this period – reading business books, watching relevant courses, consulting with pros in the field.

I believe the most important habit one can have is reading non-fiction books. I can honestly attribute the vast majority of my accomplishments in life to reading non-fiction.

Mark Twain said, “He who does not read, is no better than he, who cannot read.”

Also, love this quote by Chalie Munger, avid reading and business partner of W. Buffet “Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up.”

“In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time — none, zero. You’d be amazed at how much Warren reads–and at how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.” – Charlie Munger

Essentially, you have to ask yourself – has thinking the way that I’ve been thinking my whole life and has done things that I’ve done my entire life led you to a place where you want to be in your life?

If not, then you need to go out and change those things

How do you set goals and manage time?

I think it’s more important what goals do you set than how. There’s an excellent book written on this subject: The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz.

What you achieve is determined by what you work on, and you work on what you think about. Therefore, how big you think becomes the launching pad for your success.

Now, in regards to managing time – I use David Allen’s Getting Things Donemethodology. Also, tracking my time throughout the day with Toggl Desktop helps me to track where my time goes and how can I optimize it.

Here’s a quote that I love and often rehearse about managing time, from The Effective Executive by Peter F. Drucker.

“Effective executives, in my observation, do not start with their tasks. They start with their time. And they do not start out with planning. They start by finding out where their time goes. Then they attempt to manage their time and to cut back unproductive demands on their time.” – Peter F. Drucker

Time is also a unique resource. Of the other major resources, money is quite plentiful. We long ago should have learned that it is the demand for capital, rather than the supply thereof, which sets the limit to economic growth and activity. People—the third limiting resource—one can hire, though one can rarely hire enough good people. But one cannot rent, hire, buy, or otherwise obtain more time.

All work takes place in time and uses up time. Most people take for granted this unique, irreplaceable, and necessary resource. Nothing else, perhaps, distinguishes effective executives as much as their tender loving care of time.

Can you describe your work process and thinking behind it?

After reading The Power of Self-Discipline by Brian Tracy about a year ago, every day I am trying to consciously focus only on the task that only I can do, and if done well will have a tremendous impact on the business.

In other words, focusing on my highest yield activities.

Every day I am fighting with and trying to overcome this need to do something of low value. Something that can be outsourced for less than I make per hour.

It’s important to understand, that not only that working on low-value tasks gives you no value, but they also keep you from working on your high-value tasks.

Therefore, I try to refuse to do anything that I can outsource for less than what I make per hour.

Also, you’ll notice that the happiest days at work are always those when you will work on your most important tasks.

What do you eat for breakfast?

I am trying not to eat anything for at least 2-3 hours after I wake up, I guess you could call it a form of intermittent fasting.

Start the day with a glass of water and freshly squeezed lemon.

I’ve found that during these first few hours just after waking up I have the most mental clarity and it’s perfect for focusing on high-value tasks.

How do you train your body and mind?

I read at least one non-fiction book a week. That’s for the mind.

As for the body – Ido Portal Method. It mainly involves body weight movement, gymnastics and calisthenics.

How do you meet and connect with people?

Meeting new people and networking is not something that I am focusing on at the moment.

What are your sleeping rituals?

It depends on what continent I am working because I’ll have to adapt to their timezone. Nothing special, just try to get 7 hours of sleep per night. With less than that I’ve found I am not that effective.

What are your investing habits?

I believe that investing in your mind is the best investment you can make. I’ve found again and again that books and online courses have RIDICULOUSLY high ROI.

What books, people, experiences shaped your thinking?

There’s the saying that you’re an average of five people you spend most of your time with. And as you know, these people do not necessarily have to be someone you interact with in your real life – they can be book authors.

It’s amazing to me how most people don’t see the value in reading. It’s as if they have not yet taken responsibility for their lives if that makes sense.

Listen, the author (usually world-renowned professional in some field) has spent his whole life trying and experiencing things, attaining knowledge, reading.

Then he spent few years of his life trying to condense that timeless wisdom into a 200-300 page book so you can read it in a few hours.

Read, and it will change your life. Guaranteed.

More interviews

If you enjoyed my interview with Matas Jakutis, make sure to read an interview with a world traveler and author Gregory Diehl and nomadic polymath Patricia Parkinson.