You’re busy. I get it. Me too.
However. You don’t have any thought the place your time truly goes. I do know you suppose you do. You’ll inform me you spend most of your time on gross sales, consumer work, or development methods. But when I requested you for the info (actual, documented proof) you’d in all probability stare at me blankly or mutter one thing about your chaotic calendar.
And that’s the issue. Entrepreneurs are inclined to fly blind in the case of priceless time. We assume we’re spending it correctly, however the actuality is that we’re bleeding hours on low-value duties. Need to know the scariest half? That misplaced time is the very factor standing between you and the liberty you crave.
It’s time for a chilly, onerous time audit. Let me present you the best way to do it and, extra importantly, why it’ll set you free.
You may’t optimize what you don’t observe
Think about you’re attempting to shed extra pounds, however you by no means step on a scale. Otherwise you’re trying to handle your funds with out checking your checking account. Sounds ridiculous, proper? But, that is precisely what most enterprise homeowners do with their time. We will guess the place it goes. We really feel productive. However emotions and info hardly ever align.
If you wish to work smarter (and have a life once more), you want information. Chilly, onerous, factual information.
Step 1: Monitor your time (sure, each single job)
For one full week, observe all the things you do throughout working hours. And I imply all the things.
- Writing emails? Monitor it.
- Answering consumer questions? Write it down.
- Doomscrolling LinkedIn whereas pretending it’s “networking”? Yep, log that too.
The objective right here is to seize the way you truly spend your time, not the way you suppose you do. Use your calendar or a time-tracking app (like Toggl, Clockify, or Harvest) to make this straightforward. Should you choose old-school, jot it down in a pocket book.
Step 2: Categorize your duties
After you have every week’s price of information, categorize every job into one of many 4 D’s:
- Doing: That is the hands-on, day-to-day stuff. Shopper calls, answering emails, creating content material, managing orders.
- Deciding: That is the place you’re making fixed decisions however not truly doing the work. For instance, for those who hold approving each tiny choice your group makes, you’re caught in “decider” mode, which is a large time suck.
- Delegating: That is whenever you’re successfully handing off duties to others. Ideally, try to be doing much more of this.
- Designing: That is the place the magic occurs. Designing is high-level, strategic work. I’m speaking big-picture planning, inventive problem-solving, and vision-building. The stuff solely you are able to do.
Step 3: Remove and reallocate
Right here’s the place issues get uncomfortable. It’s additionally the place the magic occurs.
If you evaluate your classes, you’ll in all probability understand you spend far an excessive amount of time Doing and Deciding and never almost sufficient time Designing. That is the bottleneck. It’s why you’re overworked, overwhelmed, and unable to scale.
Your job? Ruthlessly eradicate or reassign as a lot of the Doing and Deciding as attainable.
- Remove low-value duties: Lower out something that doesn’t transfer the needle. Say no extra usually. Automate the place you may. That weekly report nobody reads? Gone. The third standing assembly of the week? Bye-bye.
- Reallocate: Delegate duties to contractors, staff, or automation instruments. Free your self from the day-to-day grind so you may spend extra time Designing. That’s the place your genius lies. That’s the place you unlock development.
The actual cause this issues: Freedom
Look, I’m not simply telling you to trace your time as a result of I feel you want one other job in your plate. That is about freedom.
You don’t wish to be essentially the most overworked worker by yourself payroll. That’s not freedom. That’s a glorified job.
If you optimize your time, you are taking again management. You cease being the bottleneck. You empower your group (or construct one for those who haven’t). You create programs that run with out your fixed involvement. And immediately, you could have the time to do the issues that really matter each in what you are promoting and in your life.
Knowledge to recollect
Stephen Covey nailed it when he stated, “The secret’s in not spending time, however in investing it.”
Take into consideration that for a second. Are you actually investing your time? Or are you simply spending it, hoping for a return?
Your time audit problem:
Right here’s what I would like you to do that week:
- Monitor each job you do for a full seven days.
- Categorize every job into Doing, Deciding, Delegating, or Designing.
- Remove or reassign low-value duties.
- Reinvest your time into Designing. Do the stuff that makes you a visionary, not only a taskmaster.
Do that, and also you’ll uncover the stunning fact about how a lot time you’re losing. Extra importantly, you’ll reclaim the liberty you’ve been chasing all alongside.
Now, go make investments your time just like the freedom-loving entrepreneur you had been meant to be.
You’ve received this!
-Mike
PS
Need to go deeper on this? My guide Clockwork walks you thru the complete means of designing a enterprise that runs itself. Learn the entire thing as a result of it’d simply change your life.
Ultimate thought: Should you’re able to simplify what you are promoting, unlock your time, and encompass your self with growth-minded entrepreneurs, be part of The Legacy League. You’ll get weekly assist, dwell Q&As with me, and a neighborhood that will get it. All for lower than your month-to-month streaming invoice. See you there.
