Design a template week with your non-negotiables on the calendar, pick three priorities each day, and score each day before you close it.
The idea
Time management is a lie. You can't manage time, only create habits and choose priorities, and if you don't know your priorities you'll be ruled by everyone else's. If you're like me, if it's not on your calendar, it won't get done. So in my coaching we had people build a Perfect Week, a template calendar with the things that matter already blocked, and then run each day against three priorities.
How to do it
Set a timer for 30 minutes.
Set your boundaries for on and off work hours.
Fill in your non-negotiables on a template week: YOU time, CEO time (working on your business), calls, coffee meetings, family time, lunch.
Each day, pick three priorities and work them through urgent vs. important. Order by effort, and know what you'll cut.
Do one thing at a time. Multitasking is really switch-tasking, and moving between tasks is what leaves you drained.
End the day with a scorecard: rate the day, set tomorrow's three priorities, congratulate yourself on today's wins.
Example
Our sample Perfect Week for an agent opened every weekday with YOU time at 8:00 and CEO time at 9:00, blocked lunch at noon, and put client updates and a CRM update on Friday afternoon, with family time bookending the weekend.
Watch out for
Not every day will be a 10. Aim for 1% better, and review your scorecards weekly to spot patterns.
Sources
From Zvi's coaching program
Related frameworks
The Review Cadence: Review weekly for 30 minutes, monthly for an hour, quarterly for half a day and yearly on a retreat, so you stop adding without removing.
The Hour of Power: Block a recurring hour, label it HOUR OF POWER, ignore email and calls, and spend it working on your relationships instead of in your inbox.
Important vs. Urgent: Relationship work is important but never urgent, so it loses to email every time unless you deliberately schedule it.
The Recurring Calendar Appointment: Pick a regular time based on your energy and calendar gaps, make it a recurring appointment, and defend it.