How do you mange your time wisely? Some life-hacks for high(er) productivity

 

Because everyone wants some part of it. And it is the greatest resource that you have. Or as Warren Buffet said: “I can buy anything that I want, basically but I can’t buy time”.
Especially draining on you & your time are the unexpected, mundane things that take away a lot of valuable time. One book that had one of the most (if not the most) impact on my time management style is the book High-Output Management by Andrew Grove. I saw it recommended by Bill Gates as one of his favourite management book. And if you have not read it yet: Just do it. It‘s practical, helpful and most importantly impactful. I also do share notes with other entrepreneurs and can recommend the articles about “The 8 habits of highly productive people”.

• Gatekeeper: I currently have 2 gate keeper for my time
  • First, my PA who is managing my calendar. She makes sure that any request (meeting, call etc) has to go through her. I then prioritise on a weekly basis during our Jour Fixe the requests incl. what can be done by her or someone else.
  • Secondly, my calendar. I don‘t take calls that are not in my calendar. I don‘t randomly check mails (>as this is one of biggest time sucker/killer possible as you only re-act instead of pro-actively act) – I do it only 2x a day (in the morning and late afternoon/evening)

 

• Calendar Management:
  • Synching: I have synched all my calendars (private, Alps (our investment holding), FALCON (our ad holding), FALCON Agency (our agency)). Each entity (incl my „private“) has a unique colour code so by looking at my calendar I get a good feeling of my time focus/company and upcoming activities.
  • Timing/Topic/Participant: I (or better my PA) usually marks invites in this order: 5PM (=timing): Call Mgmt Session (=Topic) FD (=Participants). I do use Singapore time as my standard time. This is especially important as I am living (and working) in different time zones.
  • Cascading of calendar: This one is especially difficult but if done correctly very impactful. I usually structure my days that I don‘t have meetings on Mondays and Fridays (as I either have to catch-up on work, finish something for this week and/or will be traveling), I have my FALCON Agency day on Tuesday (meaning, I will physically be in our agency office and mainly do FALCON Agency-related work and activities), I do my external meetings on Wednesday (usually at Straits Clan) and Thursday is my FD/Brand Nation day (=this is our holding and eCommerce business). I follow this regiment so that (a) I am fully focused on each entity and its activities and (b) everyone around me knows when I will be available for what (including the Jour Fixes I got with my leadership teams which are highly important and must be done in person from my POV)
  • Most of my private activities are also in my calendar. This includes my daily exercise & meditation (=which are non negotiable) and my study hours on Saturday (I tried several ‚blocked‘ hours from early morning to late night during the week but found reserving 5-6hours on a Saturday as most effective). I also put private dinner on my calendar so that my PA knows when (and when not) to book dinner appointments.
  • Slack time: This is something I also learned the hard way. In the beginning of my entrepreneurial career, I tried to „maximise“ my time and did not have enough slack time for pre/post-work or a toilet break. The most embarrassing moment was when I was on a conference call with the whole team and was doing the call from the toilet. The problem: the camera was on and I realised it too late 🙂 Ever since I plan 15-30min before or after a call or meeting for preparation, follow-up or toilet break.
  • An example for a usual week looks like this:
    

 

• Location & Separation of Work vs. Family Time
  • As already highlighted during „cascading of calendar“ above, I am strict with my physical presence. E.g. if someone needs a signature from me for Brand Nation then they know that I am in the office on THU. Or if I have to pick up letter/mails regarding the agency business than it is on Tuesdays.
  • Another important aspect is that I have clearly separated my private and professional setting. E.g. I commute every 5-10 days for 2-3 days to Vietnam. This means that during my time in Singapore the super majority of my time goes to work. When I am in Vietnam the super majority of my time (and attention) goes to my family. I do have a home-office set up in Vietnam but Saturdays and Sundays are reserved for studying or family time.