Article - Claw Back Your Time

READ: 2 mins

AUTHOR: Robert Craven

Clients have been asking me about how to claw back time in their busy schedules. The irony is that a simple technique of adding a new task will give you back some time.

Cutting to the chase, the method is to work on either one or two core projects or issues in two 45-minute slots before any other work. Every day you can. Ideally five days a week. I call this “Working On Sessions”.

The two packets of work are working ON your business: they must make everything else easier or less necessary. For those of you familiar with the work of Stephen Covey, they are Quadrant Two work (not urgent but important).

Examples might include any of the following as a starter for ten:

• Creating a process for onboarding clients

• Creating a system for your PA to take a job off your desk for good

• Creating a new product spec

• Creating a dashboard for measuring financial performance

• Finding a way of increasing customer conversion

• Simplifying your product mix so that your offering becomes even more attractive.

A failproof method?

No.

There is no one-size-fits-all productivity tool. Just look at the sheer volume of literature* on the subject. However, you can find something in this tool that can work for you. Maybe it is at 6am or 6pm or at weekends. Or when riding a bike. Or in 30-minute slots. Adjust it to fit with what works for you.

Why does this method work?

Being productive is about maintaining a steady, average speed on a few things, not maximum speed on everything. End of.

If you do the most important thing first each day, then you'll always get something important done. Every day.

You should be working ON your business not just IN it.

This is doing $1,000 an hour work and not just $10 an hour work (which can be delegated).

This is working on projects that you must focus on and where you add the most value.

This makes everything else more productive and more effective.

As a result, the pressure on you is reduced elsewhere. You firefight less and less and get yourself away from the menial $10 an hour work. As a result, you get space to take time off elsewhere eg a Friday afternoon. Or leaving the office at 5!

Why do it?

Let me explain why you should do this aside from the fact that it works*.

Willpower tends to be higher earlier in the day. Unexpected tasks inevitably creep in later…

It is aligned with One Thing Thinking*: “What’s the one thing that if you did it today, it would make everything else less necessary or easier to do?”

Time is your most valuable and scarcest resource. This exercise identifies your most important task. You work on it each day before doing anything else

It supports your immediate goals.

It is the 20% of your time that delivers the 80% of your outcomes Focus your time only on things that utilise your unique strengths and passions.

It can become part of your early morning rituals – yes rituals. I am not a huge fan of hippy-dippy thinking but I grow more and more convinced of the benefits of an early morning ritual: yoga, meditation, exercise, walk, breakfast then 2 activities ON the business before emails and the rest of the noise… Such rituals strengthen your mind, body, and spirit.

Getting yourself and your business organised means there is less firefighting elsewhere.

This is a productivity ritual. It is all about energy and focus.

It is uni-tasking (is there such a word?) not multi-tasking.

Try it for two weeks. You will be amazed. The impact of two 45-minute slots per day tackling some of your thorniest issues will free up the mess in your head (and those of others) and will give increased clarity and focus to everything that you do. If you are not careful you will become addicted to the habit as you see the incredible benefits of such a simple activity.

Can you afford the time? My reply is, “Can you afford not to do it?”

* Key reading:

15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management by Kevin Kruse

One Thing Thinking by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey

Atomic Habits by James Clear