ULTIMATE GUIDE TO

TIME MANAGEMENT
(aka Get Your Business Week Under Control)
If we had to guess, we’d say you’re here because you’re sick and tired of running
at top speed and putting out fires all day, every day in your business. You might
even feel like you’re stuck on a treadmill trying to push through the same old
roadblocks and distractions week after week. That’s frustrating. Sure, you live
to fight another day. But what if instead of working in the business just to keep it
going, you could spend more time working on your business to see it grow?

Here’s the great news: You can! You can put an end to the daily cycle of chaos
that’s sucking the life out of you. In fact, you’re just a few steps away from getting
back as much as 50% of your time for the important work you want to do. How do
we know? Because we’ve seen it happen for other business leaders like you when
they took these exact steps.

Steps You’ll Cover

Reset and Dream Track and Assess Make a Plan
• List Desires and • Audit Your Time • Restructure Your
Distractions Calendar
• Review Your Time
• Commit Audit • Own Your Daily Top 3
• Do Your Time • Bonus Time Tips
Management
Quadrant
RESET AND DREAM
A recent EntreLeadership study found that 40% of small-business owners
regularly finish their workday physically and emotionally drained. 1 That’s
because so many business leaders struggle to figure out how to spend more time
on what really matters most to them instead of on all the tasks they feel trapped
into doing.

Sound familiar?

Okay, then let’s start with a reset. Here are five critical truths about time
management to keep in mind as you work through this guide.

1. You have the same number of hours in the day as everyone else.
2. You either tell your day what to do or you’ll wonder where it went.
3. If you spend just 15 minutes at the start of your day planning what has to
get done, you’ll be more strategic and productive.
4. Traction equals satisfaction. The more efficient and on-task you become,
the more energy you’ll have.
5. Fulfilling your mission starts with managing your minutes.

Now you’re ready to dream. We’re not kidding. Take a few minutes to think
through how you want to use your time.

PAGE 2
Action Step 1: List Your Desires and Distractions
Answer the following questions:
What are the top five things you’d like to do (for yourself, your family or your
business) if you had more time?

Top 5 Time Priorities (aka How I Want to Use My Time)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Now that you’ve clarified what you want to give the most time to, the next big
question is this: What’s holding you back from spending your time the way you
want?
_______

_______

_______

_______

Some of your blockers will be as clear as the nose on your face, but others you
might not see at all . . . yet. The work you do on the following pages will show you
what’s really holding you back and help you make a plan to overcome it. Lean into
each action step and keep your Top 5 Time Priorities front and center to motivate
you!

But before you dive in, you’ll want to take an honest look at your commitment
level. After all, as business leader Peter Drucker put it, “Unless commitment is
made, there are only promises and hopes, but no plans.”

PAGE 3
Action Step 2: Commit
On a scale of 1–10, how committed are you to the process of change?

8–10: Time’s a wastin’. I’ll do whatever it takes to work smarter and

level up.

Move to Section 2 now.

6–7: Time out. I’m frustrated that I can’t get traction with my time but
not sure I have the energy to try something new.

Change can feel exhausting. We get it. But spinning in circles is even more
exhausting. You’ve got this. Focus on your Top 5 Time Priorities now and run fast
to Section 2!

5 or below: Stop the clock. I need some better self-management

first. Then I’m all in.

All the time-management principles in the world can’t fix how we think, behave
and connect with others. If you’re looking to get healthier inside so you have a
stronger foundation to build on, check out Dr. Henry Cloud’s book Integrity.

PAGE 4
TRACK AND ASSESS

Here’s the reality: You and practically the entire U.S. workforce are up against
some major time suckers:

• Trying to multitask
• Fielding interruptions
• Doing other people’s work
• Focusing on the wrong priorities
• Being bombarded with emergencies (that often aren’t actually emergencies)

No wonder 3 in 4 workers in the U.S. experience burnout at least sometimes.2

And 42% of small-business owners have experienced burnout in the past year.3

You’re not alone if you’re running fast but hardly ever feel like you’re getting
ahead. That’s why you owe it to yourself to get crystal clear on where your time is
really going. Only then can you fix it.

Now’s the time—roll up those sleeves, knuckle down, and get an honest picture of
your schedule.

Action Step 3: Audit Your Time

For the next week, log everything you do in a day. Yes, everything—answering
texts and emails, leading meetings, having hallway conversations, all the things
from start to finish in real time.

Use the following page or click here for a digital time tracker spreadsheet.

Pro tip: Take your time tracker worksheet with you everywhere so it’s easy to track your time as
you go. If you try to record your activities at the end of the day, you’ll waste a lot of time trying
to remember what you did. You’ll also end up wanting to pull your hair out (or chuck your audit).
Don’t do that. Note every block of every day as it happens. (It’s just for a week. You can do this!)

PAGE 5
PAGE 6
3 Time Tracker Tips
1. Set a daily morning reminder to track your time.
2. Set a daily evening reminder to complete final tracking for the day.
3. Start your time tracker tomorrow. Seriously.

Warning: Signs of imbalance, bad habits, overwork and stress might immediately jump out at you. Don’t freak out!
It’s part of the process. We’ve all been there. You’re identifying issues so you can grow. Change is coming.

Discover Your Most Productive Times of the Day

Once your audit is done, you need to note the good habits you want to repeat
and the bad ones that need to go. So grab your completed audit and some
highlighters for a different way to look at your time.

Action Step 4: Review Your Time Audit

• Use one color to highlight where you were productive and in your flow.
• Use another color to highlight where you were interrupted, distracted or
struggling with flow.
• Use a third color to star the time blocks where you wish you were doing
something else.

Now study your patterns.

• What were you doing when you felt in the zone? Was your work
creative, tactical or planning-focused? Were you alone or with others?
Consider what work flows naturally. (These are your sweet spots.)
• What necessary tasks did you struggle to complete? Is it because you
don’t like them, you’re not good at them, or both?
• Now look for your energy patterns in the morning, midday and
evening. Did creative planning on Monday morning fly by but drag when
you picked it up again Wednesday afternoon? You might be more creative
in the morning.
• Finally, consider inefficiencies. Did you make six trips to Home Depot
throughout the week when you could’ve grouped them into three? Did you
respond to emails throughout each day instead of handling them at just a
few set times?

PAGE 7
Jot down your notes here. You’ll use them in the final section to make a plan.
_______

_______

_______

_______

Now that you’ve learned what’s filling your day and how those activities make you
feel, you’re ready to look at the bigger picture.

1. What are you doing every day to enjoy or improve in the areas most
important to you?
2. Are your minutes adding up the way you want them to?

_______

_______

_______

_______

Get Your Head in the (Right) Game

Everything you do, every task you complete—whether it’s mundane, mission-
critical or out of left field—falls into one of these four categories:

1. Important and urgent

2. Important but not urgent
3. Not important but urgent
4. Not important and not urgent

PAGE 8
In his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey showed us
how to plot our tasks in a time management quadrant. Here’s a closer look at how
that works:

URGENT NOT URGENT

1. 2.
IMPORTANT

These are things you have to do to These are things that are easy to put
stay in business. off but that massively impact life and
business—avoid these long enough
Examples: Meeting deadlines, and they’ll relocate to quadrant 1.
driving sales, and making payroll
Examples: Planning, goal setting,
reading, praying, exercising and
spending time with family
NOT IMPORTANT

3. 4.

These are things that seem These are time wasters that are easy
important because they’re pressing to recognize but hard habits to break.
but are really a waste of time.
Examples: Watching TV, scrolling
Examples: Answering relentless social media, and talking football for
texts and emails, putting out fires way too long at the water cooler
others should put out, and doing
your own bookkeeping

PAGE 9
Action Step 5: Do Your Time Management Quadrant
Plug the activities you logged during your time audit into the time management
quadrant below. You’ll see quickly what’s urgent and important, what’s not, and
where you’ve been spending the most time.

URGENT NOT URGENT

1. 2.
IMPORTANT
NOT IMPORTANT

3. 4.

PAGE 10
Seeing which quadrants get the biggest chunk of your time and energy changes
the time management game. Want a simple way to filter your tasks even more
strategically? Ask yourself these four questions:

What can I do now (important and urgent)?

_______

_______

_______

What should I delay or save for later (important but not urgent)?

_______

_______

_______

What can I delegate (not important but urgent)?

_______

_______

_______

What can I drop or delete (not important and not urgent)?

_______

_______

_______

PAGE 11
MAKE A PLAN
You’ve completed your time audit, highlighted your results, and plugged key
activities into your time management quadrant. Excellent! Now it’s time to
reimagine your schedule and show your time who’s the boss. Remember: You
either tell your day what to do or you’ll wonder where it went.

Action Step 6: Restructure Your Calendar

Using the calendar on the next page, plan your new and improved schedule. We
can’t encourage you enough to schedule as much as you can. The goal isn’t to
function like a robot but to be intentional so your Top 5 Time Priorities stay on top.

Include times to check email and texts, take a walk, have dinner with friends, go to
your kid’s baseball game, and do routine tasks. And don’t forget to set aside time
to make your schedule each week. You’re an efficiency machine now!

Productivity Tips:

• Want to see your quality of life go way up? Focus first and most on quadrants 1 and 2. No
more drama and disorder hijacking your days.

• Fill your peak hours (when you have the most energy) with what you do best, what you love
most, and what has the most impact on your goals.

PAGE 12
PAGE 13
Action Step 7: Own Your Daily Top 3
Your new plan looks great on paper, doesn’t it? But out-of-control lists and priority
impostors can sneak in quickly. You need a way to stay focused on the right things
no matter what’s screaming for your time. This Daily Top 3 method will help.

1. Make a list of all the things you need to get done, in no particular order.

2. Label your to-do list (above) according to the following:

A – What you need to do today
B – What you need to do very soon
C – All the rest (these are great ideas you’ll either get to in a few weeks,
delegate, or file away for later)

3. Look at the A’s and choose the most important thing to get done. That’s
your A1 (like the steak sauce)—the thing you’ll devote your most prized
moments to doing. Continue to rank all your A’s so you have A1, A2, A3,
and so on.

4. Rank the B’s and C’s in the same way.

5. Now, create your new prioritized to-do list using the boxes below. There
you have it—your plan for the day (aka your daily steak sauce).

PAGE 14
 A B C

Pro tip: Don’t sweat it when distractions happen. That’s called life. Just handle interruptions as
quickly as possible and move back to your list.

Do It—On the Daily

Now that you have new insights and strategies, take the next few weeks to add
them into your workflow. At the start of each day, list what needs to be done that
day, focusing on A1, A2 and A3. These are your Daily Top 3.

If a team member comes in with a problem, ask yourself: Is it steak sauce? Is it

more important (not more urgent) than my A1? If not, have your team member find
someone else to help handle it.

When you plan your day carefully, you’ll evaluate interruptions better. You’ll also
manage your activities to get the results you want.

PAGE 15
What’s Next: Get Your Time Back
Take off any pressure or high hopes right now that these are one-and-done action
steps. They’re not. Just like you can’t expect to go to the gym a few times and
become an Olympic sensation, you won’t become a time-keeping master right
away. But you will open more space to do the things you want to do most.

When you own your Daily Top 3 consistently, before you know it, productive days
will become productive, meaningful weeks and years, and you’ll have a more fruitful
life!

Need some extra help getting your time under control? Watch EntreLeadership
Elite’s Delegation course. You’ll learn how to delegate without guilt, how to find the
right people to delegate to, and why most leaders find it hard to delegate. While
you’re in Elite, check out the other tools and eCoaching to help you advance to the
next stage of business. Learn more at ramseysolutions.com/elite

PAGE 16