How A Top CEO Reclaimed 20+ Hours A Week Using Automation

The average CEO works 62.5 hours per week. Juggling endless meetings, strategic decisions. More often than not fighting fires.

The most successful entrepreneurs don’t grind harder. They automate smarter.

Look at Elon.

Love him or hate him. When he took over Twitter, now X. He worked out how he could automation 80% of business operations. And fired 80% of the staff. But it didn’t impact the platform's ability to operate.

For 7-figure business owners. Automation isn’t about replacing staff. But amplifying their impact.

More importantly, the impact you have on your own business.

Here’s how to deploy enterprise-grade automation to get your time back. Prevent burnout. And scale productivity in ways that impact your bottom line.

Identify High-Impact Automation Opportunities

If you’ve been following me on social media.

You’ll have seen me bang on about High-Impact, Low-Effort tasks.

Why?

Because these sorts of processes are prime examples of things you can leverage. Low effort = easy to automate. High impact- well, that speaks for itself.

But how do you do this?

Start with ROI-driven workflow improvements.

Before adopting tools, focus on what to automate.

High-growth businesses waste 15–20 hours per month. On repetitive tasks like reporting, scheduling, and data entry.

Use this framework to figure out what to focus on:

Step 1: Map Critical Processes

• Start by registering for a workflow diagram tool (tools like Lucidchart or Miro)
• Visualize core operations like sales, fulfillment, or client onboarding using the tool
• Identify bottlenecks (e.g., manual approval steps)
• Find “decision-fatigue hotspots” (e.g., repetitive email responses).

Step 2: Apply the ICE Scoring Model

I usually hate acronyms.

But this one is useful.

ICE stands for Impact, Confidence, Ease

• Impact: Which tasks, if automated, would free up executive brainpower?
• Confidence: How certain are you that automation will work here?
• Ease: The speed and effort it will take for you to put in place an automation workflow.

Case Study

A CEO of a SaaS company (software as a service). Looked at their onboarding process.

They integrated Calendly (scheduling), DocuSign (contracts), and ActiveCampaign (email sequences).

This cut onboarding time by 40% and reduced admin work by 12 hours/week.

Deploy AI-Powered Executive Workflows

I do this in my own business.

You’ll have decisions to make. Even research to get done.

Using AI to help well makes sense. I’ve even created my own custom chatbots. That has context about my business to give me the best possible outcome.

Transform data into decisions, not distractions.

Top executives use AI not for gimmicks but to:

Automate Strategic Thinking:

Use tools like Claude, my personal favourite. Or Gemini. To perform advanced tasks. Like analysing market trends, financial reports, and internal KPIs. To generate risk assessments and growth opportunities.

It’s surprising what information it will actually “spit out”

Simplify Reporting:

Platforms like Tableau or Power BI auto-generate visual dashboards. Replacing manual spreadsheet updates.

Streamline Communication:

AI writing assistants, like ChatGPT’s “Executive Tone” feature. Draft stakeholder emails, investor updates, and policy documents in seconds.

TOP TIP: Schedule “AI digest” times

Set up automated daily briefings using AI to summarize key metrics, team updates, and industry news. Into consumable in 10 minutes.

Build Custom Automation for Your Specific Business Needs

One of the biggest problems I see within the new but fast-growing AI automation space. Are all these “gooroos” telling you how to run YOUR business.

Trying to sell out-of-the-box” workflows.

It’s the crypto/NFT/Dropshipping bro’s jumping on the bandwagon.

From working in the software automation space since 2007. What I’ve found is the best automation “slot” into a business's already established processes.

Like getting an architect to design an extension to your house.

You don’t go and “copy-paste” the extension that John, down the road, had.

Don’t do the same for your business.

Avoid one-size-fits-all tools.

At your scale, off-the-shelf software often fails to handle complexity.

Custom solutions are key:

Integrate with APIs

Connect your CRM (HubSpot), project management (Asana), and financial systems (QuickBooks) using Zapier or Make.

Example: Auto-trigger inventory reorders when sales hit a threshold.

Security-First Design:

Enterprise automation demands encrypted workflows and role-based access.

Tools like Microsoft Power Automate offer compliance with SOC 2 and GDPR.

Scalable Architecture:

Build automations that grow with your team

A logistics company used Airtable and custom scripts to automate freight routing. Handling a 300% increase without new hires.

Automate Executive “Time Management”

This may sound like an oxymoron (my favourite word). Or near impossible.

You won’t like me telling you this.

But that “open door” policy you’ve put in place.

It’s costing you money. More importantly, it’s costing you time. The reason you might not be able to scale. It is because you haven’t given yourself 2-4 hours a day. Even a week to do the deep work that only you can do.

Protect your time like a finite resource. Because it is!

High performers don’t manage time. They automate energy preservation.

Calendar Defense:

Tools like Clockwise or Reclaim.ai auto-block focus time, limit back-to-back meetings, and reschedule low-priority calls.

Email Guardrails:

Use SaneBox to auto-sort emails into folders (“To Review,” “Delegated”). And Shortwave to schedule send times for maximum impact.

Now, the big boys like Apple, Microsoft and Google are using AI inside their email software to help you manage email to protect your time.

Automate Delegation:

Asana’s “Rules” feature auto-assigns tasks to team leads based on keywords. For example, “PR inquiry” → Marketing Director.

Case Study:

A founder reduced weekly meetings from 25 to 8 by automating agenda approvals (via Typeform) and requiring AI-generated summaries (Otter.ai) for all briefings.

TOP TIP: Start by setting up an “office hours” session once a week. Let you’re team know that between certain times, on a specific day. That you will be available for anyone to pop into your office to discuss any issue they have. This frees up 80% of your time. And assure your team that you are there for them.

Productivity at Scale

You might think that you need to work even more hours to get more done. To be “productive”.

But that’s another lie.

It’s about getting more from the effort you already put in.

Even more from less.

Systemize deep work and decision-making.

With the raft of tools out there these days. You can even put a system in place to help you with deep work. Even “thinking time”

Energy Management:

Sync your calendar with energy patterns.

Use Exist.io to track focus levels and auto-schedule high-cognition tasks (e.g., M&A negotiations) during peak hours.

Deep Work Automation:

Tools like Focus Time auto-enable “Do Not Disturb” across devices during scheduled work blocks.

Auto-generate meeting transcripts (Fireflies.ai) to skip redundant debriefs.

Decision Automation:

Pre-programmed rules for recurring choices. For example, AI approves refunds under $500 if customer sentiment scores are low.

Use ChatGPT to simulate “if-then” scenarios for strategic decisions. Another example: “If supplier costs rise by 10%, what’s the EBITDA impact?”.

The ROI of CEO Automation

So how do you measure if automating a process will give you an ROI?

Well, there’s a simple question you can answer.

Every automated workflow should answer: Does this free me to focus on what only I can do?

If yes, then it’s worth looking into.

But not all automation is created equal.

You may have a list of tasks that you could automate. But let’s say it only takes you 10 minutes a week. But it will take 2 days to set up. And requires a review once a quarter. There’s no point even looking at automating it.

Here’s a quick checklist to help you refine that list even further

Quick ROI Checklist:

• Saves ≥4 hours/week
• Reduces error rates (e.g., invoicing mistakes)
• Improves team output (e.g., faster client response times)
• Scales without linear cost increases

At scale, a well-designed automation system can yield 3–5x returns through reclaimed time alone.

Final Thoughts: Automate Like CEOs

For 7-figure leaders, automation is a strategic lever.

Not a tech trend.

Start small but think big: implement one high-ROI system this week, measure results, and then expand. Remember, the goal isn’t to eliminate work but to elevate your role from operator to visionary.

It goes back to the phrase I first discovered in the book The E-Myth revisited: “Work on your business, not in your business”.

Next Steps:

Audit one workflow this week using the ICE framework.

If it scores above 8/10, automate it within 14 days.

Your future self. And your balance sheet will thank you.

Oh, one more thing. If you want help documenting a process, then figuring out how to automate it. I’ve a “Process Map” generator. Enter the details of the task you want to automate. And my custom-built AI tool will generate it all for you. Give it a try: Automate your first or next business process.