How to Unlock 10-30 Hours a Week
I have a simple but powerful belief that you probably share: life is short, and your attention?is your scarcest resource. To reclaim your attention and focus,?and lead with purpose, there's one essential habit that stands above the rest—tracking your time and auditing your activities. This habit is not just about becoming more efficient; it’s about recognising your true worth as a leader and focusing on what truly matters.
The True Value of Time Auditing
Time is not just a measure of hours—it’s a reflection of where your focus and attention are being allocated. Leaders who track and audit their time gain a deeper understanding of how their days are spent and, more importantly, how aligned their time investments are with their long-term goals.
One of the most common pitfalls for business owners is that they undervalue their time. They end up spending too much of it on low-value tasks that could be delegated, automated, or eliminated. This habit, over time, diminishes their capacity to lead at the highest level and limits their ability to scale their business. By auditing time, leaders can identify these inefficiencies and make deliberate choices about where to focus their energy.
Developing the discipline to monitor how you allocate your time is a critical step in breaking this cycle. It’s not just a productivity exercise; it’s a process of recalibrating how you value your worth. When you consciously choose to dedicate your time to high-value tasks, you unlock your potential to lead strategically, rather than getting bogged down by daily operations.
The Vital Importance of Tracking and Auditing Time
Business icons like Richard Branson, Warren Buffett, and Tim Cook have one thing in common—they are all masterful at managing their time. They track, manage, and audit their days to ensure their focus is sharp on high-value tasks. Whether they’re leading teams, innovating new products, or expanding their businesses, they know exactly where their time goes and make sure it's driving their vision forward.
Leaders who don’t audit their time are likely to spend too much of it reacting to day-to-day fires rather than proactively shaping their business’s future. This reactive mode not only inhibits business growth but also reinforces a lower sense of self-worth. When you’re stuck handling every little detail, it’s easy to feel like you're the bottleneck in your own business. The truth is, you probably are—until you break free by changing how you manage your time.
Options for Tracking Your Time
There are multiple ways to start tracking your time, depending on your preferences and tech comfort level.
The key is not the tool itself but the commitment to tracking your time regularly. Over time, these small daily logs give you a clear picture of how your time is being spent—and where it might be slipping away.
How to Audit Your Time
The first step in auditing your time is to commit to tracking it for a full week. At the end of the week, break down your activities into three main categories:
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This audit will highlight areas where your time is misaligned with your goals. Ask yourself: Is my time being spent on the most critical tasks? Could I delegate or automate some of these low-value activities? What tasks should I focus on more to scale my business?
For example, if you notice you’re spending a large portion of your week on operational issues, it might be time to consider bringing in support staff or refining your processes to reduce the time spent on those tasks. This allows you to redirect your focus toward more strategic, high-value activities that drive growth.
Using the Data to Make Strategic Decisions
Once you have audited your time, you can make strategic decisions to realign your schedule with your highest priorities. Warren Buffett is an excellent example of a leader who uses this principle. He often advises people to list their top 25 goals and then circle the five most important. The key is to actively avoid the other 20 goals because they are distractions from the most critical objectives.
This principle can be applied to time management as well. By narrowing your focus to just the high-impact activities, you unlock your potential to grow your business and lead with vision. Time is limited, and when you spend it wisely, your value as a leader grows.
Example: Tim Cook and the Power of Focus
Apple CEO Tim Cook offers a more practical, less extreme example of time management. Cook is known for focusing on just a few key priorities at any given time. Under his leadership, Apple streamlined its product line to focus on the core products that would drive innovation and growth. This kind of prioritisation is only possible when leaders are clear about where their time and energy should be spent.
By simplifying decision-making and limiting distractions, Cook ensures that his focus remains on the highest-value tasks that align with Apple’s long-term vision. This is the power of time auditing: it helps you make decisions about where to invest your focus, ultimately driving greater results and higher self-worth.
Raising Your Self-Worth Through Time Auditing
At its deepest level, time auditing is about honouring your own worth. Leaders who spend time on low-value tasks limit their own potential. When you take control of your time, you’re taking control of your leadership. You begin to see yourself not just as someone who manages the day-to-day but as a visionary who steers the future of your business.
By tracking your time and shifting your focus to the highest-value activities, you raise your self-worth, amplify your impact, and grow your business. This habit, when mastered, becomes the foundation for building a thriving, stand-alone business and creating a lasting legacy.
At John Douglas Coaching, we believe that mastering this one habit—tracking and auditing your time—can unlock your leadership potential, raise your self-worth, and pave the way for you to reclaim 10-30 hours each week. This is how visionary leaders grow their business, scale strategically, and leave a lasting impact.?Let me know if you disagree!!