How Millionaire Business Owners Maximise Productivity

As CEOs and entrepreneurs, we become so busy that often our head can feel like a computer with 300 tabs open.

We’ve got a lot going on.

Every day, we’re pulled in so many different directions. We’re leading teams, fighting fires, defining and articulating the vision for our business, driving commercial outcomes and growth.

And that’s just the beginning – then there’s family, friends, health, personal development to focus on too.

So how as entrepreneurs do we manage all of this, while maintaining the mental clarity required to build multi-million dollar businesses?

The key is having a select few non-negotiable principles and rituals that you complete each week. Rituals that will enable you to stay ahead of your schedule, your team and your business, so you’re no longer in catch-up mode, but instead proactively controlling your time.

Here, I’ll share the three principles I’ve personally incorporated into my schedule that empower me to be as effective as possible week-in, week-out.

Principle One: Every Sunday schedule your non-negotiables.

If you’re anything like me every week is probably completely different.

Between meetings, leading your team, travel, speaking gigs and all the other pressures that inevitably come with running a business, it’s easy to fall into the ‘busy trap’, and be left feeling as if you ‘don’t have time’ to do anything but work.

You can combat this by scheduling in your non-negotiables for the week every Sunday. These are rituals or activities that you do, without fail.

For me, this includes scheduling in time to:

• Exercise
• Mediate
• Spending time with family and friends
• Personal development & reading
• World’s best practice research

For you, this list might be completely different.

However, no matter what your non-negotiables make sure they’re in your calendar, as they’ll ensure you remain healthy from not only a physical standpoint but from a mental and emotional standpoint too.

Principle 2: At the end of every week review the current month’s business performance

At the end of each week (between Friday and Sunday), review how your business is performing for the current month.

Each business will have different performance indicators, regardless of what they are, each week make sure you are across…

1. Where are behind this month?
2. Where are you ahead this month?
3. What do you need to change the following week to ensure your team is hitting their targets?
4. What are the conversations you need to have or questions you need to ask in order to develop a holistic understanding of what you need to move towards your monthly targets in the most effective way possible?

Schedule time into your calendar for the following week to address this – whether it’s conversations with your team or strategy meetings with your leaders.

Getting into this habit is game-changing. It means you start every Monday morning at 8 am with complete clarity on how your business is performing, and an exact plan for what needs to happen in the coming week to drive commercial outcomes.

Principle 3: Wake up at 5 am every morning

My number one productivity principle? Wake up at 5am every morning. 

For me, the hours between 5 am and 8 am every morning are the most productive hours in my entire schedule.

If you’re a founder, CEO, or a lead executive in a business, undoubtedly every day, and probably every night you have people who need your attention. People who need your help, your support, your instruction, your feedback.

It’s easy to lose your day in the midst of giving your team the attention they need to drive things forward. But waking up at 5 am gives you time to focus on any personal rituals you might have, whether it’s training, reading, meditating, writing, journaling or whatever else it might be for you.

It also enables you to get your Quadrant 2 work done. Quadrant 2 is a term I’ve borrowed from Steven Covey’s, ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’. Essentially it refers to work that is ‘Important, but Not Urgent’ – strategic planning, researching world’s best practice and thinking about where your organisation is going.

Good CEOs spend their time doing what’s urgent and important. Great CEOs spend their time doing what’s important but not yet urgent.

In the comments below, I’d love to know, which of these rituals are you personally committed to doing? If you were to pick one out of the three rituals we’ve spoken about what would they be?