S2E348 A Minute to Think with Juliet Funt

10 snips

Nov 18, 2025

Juliet Funt, founder and CEO of an efficiency firm and author of *A Minute to Think*, dives into the paradox of busyness. She reveals how our addiction to constant activity stifles creativity and damages relationships, particularly in real estate. Juliet shares insights on creating 'white space' in our schedules—time without assignments that fuels focus and productivity. She discusses the destructive 'four thieves of time' and offers practical tips like strategic pauses and daily priority rituals to combat overwhelm and cultivate intentional thinking.

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INSIGHT

White Space Fuels Creativity

White space is time without assignment and provides the oxygen that lets creative sparks ignite.
Busyness and digital touches have co-opted that space, preventing deep focus and recalibration.

ANECDOTE

Three Minutes Facing The Water

Brian turned a beach workout into a three-minute breathing pause and got more feedback than most sessions.
The brief pause delivered unexpected relief and was widely praised by attendees.

INSIGHT

Hallucinated Urgency Misleads Action

Hallucinated urgency is anxiety masquerading as tactical urgency, driving frantic but unhelpful action.
Spotting emotionally time-sensitive tasks helps you avoid moving fast without purpose.

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In today’s world, busyness has become a badge of honor – but it’s secretly burning people out, dulling their creativity and damaging their client relationships. That is especially true for those in real estate, who often feel they must be “on 24/7.” In this powerful conversation, Brian Buffini sits down with Juliet Funt, the founder and CEO of an efficiency firm, as well as the author of the book, A Minute to Think: Reclaim Creativity, Conquer Busyness, and Do Your Best Work, to talk about why we’re so addicted to activity.

Drawing on her decades of research and work with top organizations, Juliet shares advice on how you can build more “white space” into your schedule. She also explains the concept of “hallucinated urgency” and how the “four thieves of time” hijack your day. Whether you’re a perpetually “on” entrepreneur, a frenzied realtor or a leader trying to refocus your team, this episode will help you slow down, think clearly and show up as your calm, confident best self.

YOU WILL LEARN:

What white space really is and why time “without assignment” is the missing oxygen that fuels your creativity, focus and long-term success.
How to use strategic pauses and wedges to build brief but powerful moments of thinking time into even the busiest schedule.
How to spot – and stop – the “four thieves of time” so you can reduce frenetic busyness, prioritize what matters and work with more focus and intention.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Free Business Consultation

A Minute to Think: Reclaim Creativity, Conquer Busyness, and Do Your Best Work by Juliet Funt

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

10x Is Easier Than 2x: How World-Class Entrepreneurs Achieve More by Doing Less by Dan Sullivan & Dr. Benjamin Hardy

NOTEWORTHY QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE:

“Why are we just doing every single thing as opposed to figuring out where our strengths are?” — Juliet Funt

“White space is simply time without assignment – the open, flexible time that used to live between things and let us recalibrate.” – Juliet Funt

“We all want to do every single project and plan, but we need to learn the gear of taking things out as well.” — Juliet Funt

“If you do start dialing down into the population, there's a lot of people in much more pain than I would guess you're in because every single day is a chaotic, fearful, reactive flow.” — Juliet Funt

“I have a practice all day long, I will stop and say, ‘What am I doing?’ And I just stop for a second and I'll see if the thing that I am actually doing is of value to my dreams. And a lot of times you catch yourself and it's not.” — Juliet Funt

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