How To Reclaim Your Time Freedom

Productivity is not about “getting more done”.

Success in business rarely comes from “working harder”.

I’ve studied many successful people, worked with some, and even coached a few in my lifetime.

What I’ve learned is that you’ll never win the chase for “success”.

Because underneath the desire for success is actually a desire for fulfillment and meaning.

What all entrepreneurs are working toward, whether they consciously admit it or not, is to experience fulfillment and meaning through their business and life.

So productivity can’t be about “getting more done” and success can’t come from “working harder”.

This would create a misalignment between your intentions, desires, and actions.

When there’s misalignment and incongruence, you will continue to be at war with yourself.

True productivity is about organizing your life to get the right things done while enjoying the path toward your desired outcome.

The result of truly being productive is fulfillment and meaning in your work.

It’s achieving more by doing less and being in more alignment.

This takes a mindset shift and some simple systems to make happen.

When working with me, I get all my clients to start with a Time & Energy Audit.

It’s a simple tool that will show you where your time is going and how you can reclaim your time spent on low-value and energy-draining tasks.

The time you get back can be reallocated to high-value and energy-giving activities. This simple audit has helped all my clients reclaim at least 10 hours a week.

10+ hours that they can reallocate to:

• Working ON the business

• High-value and energizing tasks

• Strategic and creative work

• Spending with their family

• Rest and recovery

This isn’t just about time management, it’s about creating leverage for time freedom.

The Time & Energy Audit tool I’m going to share here is not new. I didn’t invent it. There are many versions of this out there.

The goal of my version and process is to provide a simple tool and process that creates results and lasting wins.

It is simple and it works, but it requires you to take radical ownership of your time and energy.

Let’s dive right in.

7 Steps of a Time and Energy Audit

You can download my Time & Energy Audit Tool (it’s free) and follow the process below.

Step 1: Download the Time & Energy Audit Template

Once you’ve grabbed the Time & Energy Audit Tool, you’ll get a link to access the audit template.

Make your own copy of the template:

1. Go to “File”

2. Then “Make a copy”

3. Save it to your Google Drive

4. Delete the sample data provided

5. Now you can edit and start your audit

If you don’t want to use my template, you’re welcome to do this exercise with a blank paper or document.

Step 2: Audit your daily tasks and activities

List out all the tasks and activities you do on a daily basis.

Include both business activities as well as personal ones.

There are 2 ways you can do this:

Method 1: Audit every hour of your workday for two weeks

• Set a timer for every hour and document all your tasks and activities

Method 2: Schedule 15 mins at the end of each workday to audit the day

• Do an end-of-day review and document all your activities

You’ll want to do this Time Audit for 2 full weeks to get the best results.

Calculate how much time you spend on each activity per month.

• Ex. Daily task that takes you 30 mins. Multiply 0.5 by 20 business days.

• Ex. Weekly meeting that’s 1 hour. Multiply by 4 weeks.

Step 3: Score your tasks and activities on Value and Energy

When you’re done with the Time Audit over 2 weeks, it’s time to rate and score your activities.

Value Scoring:

Give each activity a Value Score of $ to $$$$ based on how much value that task creates

• Ex. admin tasks can be scored $

• Ex. sales calls can be scored $$$$

This will be specific to your business model and situation.

Optional: you can assign amounts to each label

• $ = $10/hr tasks

• $$ = $50/hr tasks

• $$$ = $100/hr tasks

• $$$$ = $500/hr tasks

Energy Scoring:

Give each activity an Energy Score of “Gives Energy” or “Drains Energy”

• Gives Energy = you love doing this, it energizes and fulfills you

• Drains Energy = regardless of whether you like doing this or not, it depletes your energy or fulfillment

Step 4: Review the Report and set your Goal

Once you’ve completed the Time & Energy Audit, you can review your report in the “Report” tab.

This will give you an overview of how much time you’re spending every month in each category.

Take some time to reflect on how you feel about the way you’re organizing and managing your time and energy.

• Which value-level activities are you spending most of your time in?

• Are you spending most of your time on energy-giving tasks or energy-draining ones?

• Is there anything that surprises you here?

Now set a Goal on how much time you want to reclaim or reallocate to work that brings you energy and fulfillment.

Your role as a business owner is not to create more traction for scale, it’s to create more leverage for scale.

Step 5: Decide on Solutions and Committed Actions

Once you’ve set a Goal for yourself, now it’s time to start getting things off your plate so you can reclaim your time.

Go through each task and decide on a solution and action step.

There are 5 Potential Solutions:

• Delegate

• Automate

• Eliminate

• Replace (yourself)

• Keep Doing

If a task is “low-value” and “drains energy”:

• You can delegate it to someone on your team or a VA

• You can find a way to automate the task

• If it’s unnecessary work, you can eliminate it

If a task is “high-value” but “drains energy”:

• This is likely a task you’re attached to because it’s generating value

• You don’t want to just delegate it to anyone, you want to be intentional with the delegation and replace yourself (not remove)

• This involves effectively hiring, training, and delegating the decision-making and outcomes to someone

If a task is “low-value” but “gives energy”:

• The good thing is this task energizes you but you want to be conscious of how much time you’re spending here

• If your time could be better invested in other work, you’ll want to let go of this task

Step 6: Prioritize the completion of each action

You’ve completed the Time & Energy Audit and assigned clear next steps for each task.

Now it’s time to commit to the game plan and start prioritizing the reclaiming of your time and energy.

If you have an EA, Integrator, Ops lead, or right-hand person…

Enroll their support in getting tasks off your plate and holding you accountable for your committed actions.

Step 7: Reallocate your time & energy

This one is important.

Reclaiming your time alone is not enough. You must also reallocate or reorganize your time.

As Visionary Entrepreneurs and ambitious business owners, you may have a tendency to fill up your time and energy quickly.

For every hour you reclaim, make sure you’re intentional with where you’re reallocating that time so it doesn’t end up getting filled with low-value and energy-draining tasks again.

Pro Tip: Time block your calendar

• If you’re reclaiming time to focus more on high-value tasks or deep work, schedule that into your calendar

• If you’re reclaiming time to spend with family and friends, schedule that into your calendar

• If you’re reclaiming time to rest and recover, schedule that into your calendar

Take ownership of your schedule, prioritize what matters most, and eliminate what does not.

You’re either managing your time and energy consciously or unconsciously.

There it is, 7 steps to do a Time & Energy Audit.

Thanks for reading, I hope you found it helpful!

My goal is to make these letters as valuable as possible, so if you have questions or want me to elaborate on anything, I want to hear it.

If you enjoyed this letter and think it will benefit others, consider sharing it (feel free to share a screenshot on social media and tag me)

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Your Pal,

Colin

P.S. Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. I’m currently doing some market research on founders, so for a limited time, I’m offering free Strategy Calls (all value, no pitch). You’ll walk away with actionable tips on scaling your business and time freedom. Claim a call!

2. A new course launching soon - The 20 Hour Founder, to help you reclaim your time by unlocking the power of your EA, AI automations, and systems. Join the waitlist!

3. Follow me on LinkedIn and Instagram for more tips on business growth and personal development

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