How You Spend Your Time Is Costing You.
After years of working with professionals, business owners, and large companies, I can spot it from a mile away: The squirrel brains. And it's costing you everything.
This is the first thing we covered in my last workshop and it wasn't by accident. In all my years working with professionals and entrepreneurs, one theme consistently shows up: we are overwhelmed and tired not because we have too much to do, but because we can't stop letting the wrong things in, at the wrong times.
You already have a full plate. Actually, its probably even overflowing. And your plate never gets empty because you never stop adding to it. You keep piling on tasks, commitments, meetings you don’t need, and obligations that don’t require all your time. And nothing ever comes off. So the pile just grows, and you wonder why you feel forever behind. Its too heavy, and frankly looks ridiculous.
"We're not unproductive because we lack the tools. We're unproductive because we haven't learned to protect where our energy goes."
Let's start at the beginning, literally. As soon as your eyes open.
What's the first thing you do when you wake up? For most people, the answer is: grab your phone. And in that single moment, before you've even had a chance to take a moment to reset, you've already handed your attention over to everyone else.
Emails. Notifications. News. Social media. In those first minutes when your mind is fresh and clear is some of the most valuable time you have. And you're giving it away before you've even gotten out of bed or before you had your first sip of coffee.
What if, instead, you gave that time to yourself first? It doesn’t have to be for hours. Just allow yourself to be first.
Meditate. Even ten minutes of stillness before the noise begins changes the entire texture of your day.
Move your body. A workout, a walk, ten minutes outside. You return sharper than any cup of coffee can make you.
Read something that feeds you. A book, not a feed. Information you sought out, not content that was pushed at you.
Simply be quiet. Sit outside. Breathe. Give yourself ten unscheduled, unperformed minutes before the performance of the day begins.
You don’t have to do all of those, or any of those, but my point is, your time belongs to you and how you start your day matters to the rest of your day.
Think about it. How good do you feel after a workout? After a long walk, or after laying in bed with a good book? After a hot, uninterrupted shower? I bet you feel free good and that creativity spark stars to show itself.
While the workshops I facilitate are around creating content, being consistent and showing up, the rule I give everyone is met with the same reluctant recognition every single time: for every new thing you add to your plate, something else HAS to go.
That's it. That's the rule. It sounds simple. But we almost never do it because we've been conditioned to believe that doing more is always better, that a fuller calendar means a more successful life. And I just don’t subscribe to that because it doesn't. It means a more exhausted one.
When something new comes in, ask yourself honestly: what needs to leave? Your options are always the same three:
Delegate it. If someone in your life or on your team can do this, let them. Holding onto everything is not leadership, it's hoarding.
Automate it. If a system can handle it, build the system. Stop manually doing things that don't require you.
Eliminate it. Some things simply do not need to be done. Ask whether this task actually moves anything forward or if it's just familiar.
Burnout doesn't start with a breakdown. It starts with resentment. You start feeling tired before you've done anything. You start dreading the work you used to love. This has nothing to do with your character.
This is what happens when you spend more energy than you recover, day after day, without a reset.
Exhaustion, resentment, and hating what you do don't just appear suddenly, right? They show up as small nudges or hints that something has got to give. And they start to accumulate because we keep giving out more than we take in until there is literally nothing left.
So, you probably don't need another productivity app or need a new system, a new template, a new course.
What you need is to look honestly at where your time has been going. Where it actually went. Who is getting your energy? And I mean, every task. From checking social media, to laundry, to driving across town to deliver something. What tasks are consuming your focus? And by the time everything and everyone has taken their share, what is left for you?
For most, the answer is simple and confronting: very little. Doesn’t it makes complete sense, that by the end of the day, you scroll, watch TV, you lean into habits that don't serve you. Because you are drained. You've given everything away, and what you have left isn't enough to fuel anything intentional.
This isn’t a willpower, motivation or even a discipline problem. That is an energy accounting problem. And it can be fixed and rewired but only once you see it clearly and actually want to change it.
One more thing on this, that is probably the most important piece. If you have people in your life who can help you, use them. This applies at work, and at home. Asking for help is not weakness.
Refusing help while drowning is not strength.
The professionals who are genuinely effective not just busy, are the ones who have learned that their time is limited, their energy is temporary, and protecting both is a skill worth protecting.
That kind of focus is available to everyone. It just requires making a choice and then making it again, every day.
Your time is the one thing you cannot earn back. Each day isn’t just a new day, but its also, one less day. The question worth sitting with is not how to do more but how to ensure that what you do, matters.
