The Time-Mastery Framework

You can't manage time, manage your priorities instead.

Time is a unique resource. People may have longer or shorter lives, but everyone has the same 86,400 seconds daily – powerful or weak, wealthy or poor, senior or junior.

How do some people get more done in the same 31.536 million seconds a year?

Think of a person walking in a straight line vs. someone turning randomly occasionally. After a while, the person walking in a straight line may have walked less but will be further away from the start point than the confused rambler. In time, the gap widens, and the rambler wonders how the other guy got so far ahead.

We can not 'manage' time; we can only manage ourselves.

By managing our priorities, we manage our time utilisation.

To have a productive, happy life – maximise purposeful movement towards a goal. Minimise aimless rambling. At the same time, have fun and enjoy the scenery and companionship along the way.

When done well, these principles give the illusion of 'mastering time'.

First, set ONE core goal in a year. If you start today, decide what you will achieve before Dec 31 2024.

Selecting a goal that will make you successful if achieved is critical.

It's OK if the goal is audacious or complex, but it MUST have a material impact.

If the goal is professional, ask your boss a simple question. 'What is the one thing you want me to deliver before Dec 31 which will make you super-successful this year?' This is an excellent test for your boss. If s/he cannot answer this question, consider options for moving on and finding a new boss.

Next, identify your time wasters.

Anything that doesn't take you towards your goal is a 'time waster'.

In a work context, these come in 2 buckets :

1. Habitual behaviours – things you have 'conditioned' yourself to do – e.g. Read emails, check social media, etc.

2. Meetings may be important but not take you towards your goal.

Every evening, plan your next day on your calendar. Ensure a specific task related to your big goal is on top of the list and first on your calendar.

Set an out-of-office reply. Suggested text: 'I am busy in meetings and will look at email only after 5 PM on XYZ date (next day). If it is a matter of life and death, reach me via text message/WhatsApp/Slack/Teams.'

Execute the following daily plan :

1. Work exclusively on the big goal for the first 2 hours (most productive period).

Refuse all meetings. Do not open email or log onto the internet. If you are in a cubicle, wear headphones or book a meeting room and use it privately.

Even if you have no tasks for the big goal, work on it anyway – think about it, improve your plan, and find a better way to get there.

In the last 15 minutes, log on to the internet and scan any developments or trends related to your long-term goal. It helps to set up a standard Google search or use an AI service to aggregate news in your area of focus.

Once a week, scan LinkedIn for people with skills related to your goal.

At the end of the 2 hours, you have completed your 'real work' for the day.

You can then spend the rest of your time doing whatever you want or 'need to'.

While it seems counterintuitive that you can 'finish your work' in 2 hours a day, remember that in 300 working days, you can spend 600 hours focused on your goal. 

Very few projects or priorities can not be cracked in 600 hours of single-minded focus.

2. Take 30 minutes to batch process and clear your emails. 

Force yourself to scan and deal with all pending emails in 30 minutes.

It won't be easy at first but will become easy with practice.

Group emails by subject, and look at the last email in the chain first. Look at the others only if needed. Force yourself to respond with a maximum of 1 line answer or delete the email. As a general rule of thumb, only answer up to 10% of your email.

Remember – email is a boomerang. The more you send out, the more you'll get back.

If the email is critical and you can't answer in a few words, put it in a 'pending' folder. Have the discipline to allow a maximum of 2 emails in this folder.

3. Reward yourself for 30 minutes

Check your social media, and do some of the things you like to do.

4. You are now open for meetings

Remember three rules for meetings :

a) Take 5 minutes before the meeting to write down your desired outcome at the end.

b) Limit each meeting to a maximum of 1 hour, ideally 30 minutes. Where possible, ask for a pre-read and agenda. Start each meeting with the question, 'What do we need to achieve in the next 30 min?'.

c) Have a conversation rather than a presentation. Steer the conversation towards your desired outcomes. Once achieved, leave.

See my Framework for managing meetings here 

5. Use lunch to have a 'conversation'

Use lunch to have conversations which can help further your goal. Infecting people who are passionate about your goal will get you more support and ideas.

6. Do a daily walk around the office at least once

Chat with your colleagues. Often, these interactions spur new ideas and help you develop an early warning system for issues.

7. At the end of the day, batch process email again.

Clear your email, including anything you put into 'pending' using the same rules as the morning. Once your mailbox is empty, leave.

If you cannot manage your mailbox to zero in the week, take a couple of extra hours on Friday or Saturday to manage the week's accumulation to zero. Start each week with 0 emails in the inbox.

8. Every two weeks, meet someone new/external over coffee. Proactively reach out to the folks you identified in Step 1 on LinkedIn or through connections. You will be surprised how much new perspective and help you get.

9. Create a system to manage repetitive jobs 

If your job is repetitive, you have a great opportunity – expend one time effort to create a system to automate the work. Free up most of your time to follow your goal. Stay tuned for upcoming frameworks I intend to publish to automate workflows and tasks using AI tools. 

With practice and determination, you can stick to this schedule for 75% of working days – Expect days where you compromise for travel, meetings, reviews with the boss, offsite meetings, etc. When back to normal, get back to the system – make it a habit and don't slip.

When done well, in my experience, this system :

1. Helps you get promoted fast because you deliver the big stuff and make a real difference.

2. Allows you to have fun at work. You spend a lot of time in conversations, which helps you build relationships and belonging.

3. Forces you look outwards – so you grow and develop. You find new and unexpectedly creative ways to reach your goal. You become a thought leader in the organisation.

4. Gives you job satisfaction – imagine completing your work in the first 2 hours of the day and being 'free' after that!

By managing your priorities, you project the illusion of managing time.

So next time, don't say you don't have time – say it's not a priority.