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Bill Murray might be the most remarkable person at any party. And based on his propensity to crash parties to play the drums or wash the dishes, he might be at your party someday.

Murray is as famous for his offscreen approachability as he is for his onscreen hilarity. He’s the kind of person who can work on any movie project he wants. Yet, he won’t work on just anything, even if you’re a big-time director.

He doesn’t have an agent, manager, or publicist. He carries a phone, but the number is secret, and should you call him on it, he will first ask you, “Who gave you this number?”

Murray's not-so-secret 1-800 number

If you want to work with Murray, you must call his 1-800 number and hope he calls you back. Even famous directors, like Wes Anderson, call the 800 number if they want Murray to work on a project.

Willie Geist with the Today Show called the 800 number to request an interview and never heard back. A while later, Murray arrived on set for the Weekend Today show and declared, “I want to do that Willie Geist show.”

He didn’t mean in the future. He wanted to do it right then. Geist and crew scrambled to make the interview happen in a rooftop hotel bar later that day.

Murray was fed up with his home phone constantly ringing and told Eric Kohn.

He explained his thought process.

Time is your most precious resource.

There are demands on your time. You have obligations at work and commitments to family. The days are never long enough to do all that needs doing. Day after day, your promises start to feel like a debt owed.

It might be easy to shrug off Murray’s 800 number as something only someone wealthy and famous could do. Setting boundaries like that would never work for the average person like you. Maybe someday you could have that kind of freedom.

That day isn’t coming. It’s not something that happens after the kids move out or they throw you the retirement party. When you’re dead, the to-dos will stop, but it’s too late by then.

It has nothing to do with money.

Having money doesn't make you wealthy. It's being free to choose what you do, when, and with whom you do it. Wealthy people are the ones willing to go so far as setting up an 800 number to protect their time and attention.

Distractions are like gravity. They are everywhere, and they will pull you down. Freeing yourself is deciding what your non-negotiables are.

• If sleep and health are a priority, you must kick guests out of your house before nine, even on the weekends.
• If knowledge is essential, then you block time to read every day.
• If your relationship with your kid matters, leave your phone plugged into the wall.

If you want to live life on your terms, set up an 800 number and check messages when you get around to it.

You either define the rules for which you live, or other people will define them for you. The choice is yours to make.

Want to listen to the audio instead? Listen on Apple Podcast or Spotify.

Hat tip to Bill Oppenheimer for turning me on to this story.

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