Time-Saving Tips for MIS Executives

Time stops being your own the moment you become CEO. I remember taking over London radio station Kiss FM years ago. (The youthful demeanour in that photo didn’t last long 👶🏻 😂) In my first week as a CEO, my calendar filled up faster than a Glastonbury headline slot. Everyone wanted a catch-up or “just a quick word”. I spent so much time reacting to other people’s priorities that my real job - leading the company - got buried beneath the noise and it took me weeks to regain control of my own agenda. Here are four strategies that I still use today when I feel the outside world leaning in too far: 1. Turn your calendar into a fortress Block out “deep work” time every week for strategic thinking and high-impact work. Treat these blocks like your most important meetings. 2. Shrink your default meeting times Most meetings expand to fit the time they’re given. Set the calendar default to 30 minutes instead of an hour. You’ll be amazed at how much more productive they become. 3. Make stakeholders work for access Create clear communication rules with board members and investors. Regular updates are fine, but limit how often you’re available for drop-ins or last-minute calls. 4. Say no - without apology As CEO, your most powerful tool is focus. Politely but firmly decline anything that doesn’t align with your top priorities. Saying no isn’t selfish; it’s leadership. Master these, and you’ll feel a little less like the company’s busiest person - and a lot more like its most effective one.

9 frameworks that save CEOs 20+ hours weekly. (I tested all of them. Here's what actually works.) Last month, a founder friend texted me at 3 AM: "I'm working 80-hour weeks and falling further behind." Sound familiar? What I’ve learned from years of coaching top CEOs: More hours won't save you. Better filters will. I learned this the hard way after nearly burning out myself. Having the right prioritization system changes everything. 1. Eisenhower Matrix ↳ Instantly reveals which 50% of tasks to delete ↳ Most "urgent" work isn't important ↳ Brutal truth: Your Delete quadrant is too small 2. Warren Buffett's 25/5 Rule ↳ The 20 items you don't circle? They're your biggest distractions ↳ This hurt: I had to fire a client in my "avoid at all costs" list ↳ Revenue went up 40% 3. The 80/20 Rule ↳ I tracked everything for 14 days ↳ Shocking discovery: 4 activities generated 87% of results ↳ Eliminated the rest. Nothing broke. 4. RICE Scoring ↳ Ends the "pet project" problem forever ↳ My team now self-selects the right priorities ↳ Zero politics. Pure data. 5. Value vs. Effort Matrix ↳ Found 12 hours of "fake work" in my calendar ↳ Quick wins I'd missed for years ↳ Now mandatory for quarterly planning 6. MoSCoW Method ↳ Exposed brutal reality: We had 47 "musts" ↳ Real number after honest analysis? 3. ↳ Everything else was fear disguised as urgency 7. 3-3-3 Method ↳ Morning = deep work. Afternoon = urgent. Evening = maintenance. ↳ Energy alignment doubled my output ↳ Home by 6 PM most days now 8. The Focus Funnel ↳ Question that changed everything: "Can this be eliminated?" ↳ Delegated my entire email (yes, all of it) ↳ Freed up 11 hours weekly 9. Theory of Constraints ↳ Our bottleneck: CEO approval on everything ↳ Created decision templates for my team ↳ Company speed increased 3X My breakthrough moment: I realized successful CEOs don't manage time. They manage decisions. Every yes is a hundred nos. Every priority is a trade-off. Every meeting is a choice. The best time to start? Right now. What's the first thing you'll eliminate? P.S. Want a PDF of my How CEOs Prioritize Cheat Sheet? Get it free: https://lnkd.in/dcJ_JSiN ♻️ Repost to help a CEO in your network. Follow Eric Partaker for more time management insights. — 📢 CEOs, the Earlybird Discount for my October cohort of The Founder & CEO Accelerator just opened. Don’t miss your chance to join early and save: https://lnkd.in/dsKaH6KV

I've tried 100s of time management techniques.  This is by far my favourite: I used to work 80 hrs/week and call it "productive." When really I was: - Attending pointless meetings - Fighting countless small fires - Being involved in every decision Now I work less than 70% the time and get 4x as much done. The Eisenhower Matrix helped me get there.  It teaches you to categorise tasks by importance and urgency. Here's how it works: 1. Do It Now (Urgent + Important) Examples: - Finalise pitch deck before investor meeting tomorrow. - Fix website crash during peak customer traffic. - Respond to press interview request before deadline. Best Practices: - Attack these tasks first each morning with full focus. - Set a strict deadline so urgency fuels execution. 2. Schedule It (Important + Not Urgent) Examples: - Plan quarterly strategy session with leadership team. - Map long-term hiring plan for next 18 months. - Build a personal brand content system for LinkedIn. Best Practices: - Protect time blocks in advance. Never leave them floating. - Tie them to measurable outcomes, not vague intentions. 3. Delegate It (Urgent + Not Important) Examples: - Handle inbound customer service queries this week. - Organise travel logistics for upcoming conference. - Update CRM with latest sales call notes. Best Practices: - Build playbooks so your team executes without confusion. - Delegate with deadlines to avoid wasting time. 4. Eliminate It (Not Urgent + Not Important) Examples: - Tweak logo colour palette again for fun. - Attend generic networking events with no ICP fit. - Review endless “best productivity tools” articles. Best Practices: - Audit weekly. Cut anything that doesn’t compound long-term. - Replace low-value busywork with rest, thinking, or selling. If you are always reacting to what feels urgent,   You'll never focus on what matters. Attend to the tasks in quadrant 1 efficiently,  Then spend 60-70% of your time in quadrant 2.    That's work that actually builds your business. Which quadrant are you spending too much time in right now?  Drop your thoughts in the comments. My newsletter, Step By Step, breaks down more frameworks like this. It's designed to help you build smarter without burning out. 200k+ builders use it to develop better systems. Join them here:  https://lnkd.in/eUTCQTWb ♻️ Repost this to help other founders manage their time.  And follow Chris Donnelly for more on building and running businesses. 

A founder I worked with cut their meetings by 80% in two weeks. Here are the 7 rules that made it happen: → Rule 1: Do a time audit Assign a dollar value to every hour on your calendar. Most executives spend hours in $10 meetings when they should be focused on $1,000 work. If a meeting is worth less than your hourly rate, delegate it or delete it. → Rule 2: Ask one question before every meeting "Is this the highest, best use of my time right now?" Most people don't ask this. They just show up because the meeting was on the calendar. Break the pattern. If you can't answer yes to that question, you shouldn't be there. → Rule 3: Kill your open-door policy Being "always available" destroys your ability to do deep work. One founder went from letting people drop by anytime to establishing office hours, freeing up 60% of his week for strategic thinking. His team learned to solve problems themselves. Everyone won. → Rule 4: Batch your interruptions Check email twice a day, not ten times. Every time you switch tasks, you lose momentum. Your brain needs recovery time to get back to peak performance. → Rule 5: Schedule recovery between meetings Your brain after 4 back-to-back meetings? Absolute fried! 10 minutes is enough to reset you back to baseline. Walk around, do some squats, get water. Research backs it up: Your attention span improves, and the ROI is immediate. → Rule 6: Build bookends around your workday Start each morning with 3 questions: 1. What are my top 3 priorities today? 2. Where will I spend my $1,000/hour time? 3. What can I eliminate or delegate? Then end each evening with a 10-minute debrief. This lets you fully detach from work. → Rule 7: Simplify your to-do list Go through your calendar: Cancel what you can, and delegate the rest. Spend 60 days focused exclusively on tasks in your zone of genius. Ultimately, winning back your calendar comes down to deciding what's worth your time in the first place. Most founders think they need to be in every meeting, on every call, available to everyone. The best founders know: If you're spending 80% of your time on anything other than your highest-value work, something is wrong. Start with one rule, and build from there. Save this post and keep coming back to it. If you’re a founder and executive currently feeling stuck DM me “Clarity” for an audit of your situation.

You don't need more time. You need fewer meetings. How to reclaim your calendar: We have fallen into bad habits - Weeks that vanish in virtual rooms - The auto-pilot "accept" to every invite - Wasting hours on email-worthy updates A harsh truth: You have the time. You just need to manage it. Start here: 1. Change the Cadence ↳ Question the default 30-minute block ↳ Challenge weekly meeting rhythms 2. Capture the Cost ↳ Calculate total hours × participants ↳ Make the data impossible to ignore 3. Clean the Slate ↳ Question large recurring sessions ↳ Reset the reasons for why we meet 4. Send a Delegate ↳ Trust your team to represent you ↳ Welcome fresh perspectives 5. Shift to Async ↳ Default to writing, not meeting ↳ Ask: "Could this be an email?" 6. Suggest Async Solutions ↳ Invite decision-makers only ↳ Share transcripts with others 7. Meet Half as Often, Twice as Well ↳ Protect your 1:1s ↳ Guard against decision fatigue Remember: Everyone craves more time. Few have the courage to reclaim it. ♻️ Share to help someone 🔔 Follow Marsden Kline for more

Is your calendar too full, starting to look like a game of Tetris where you’re losing? People may equate meetings to effectiveness...please don't. Have you been in this situation: a day packed with back-to-back calls, leaving you at 5:00 PM wondering, "What did I actually accomplish today?" If you don't know, it may be time to start saying no to meetings. There may be a dangerous trap in modern business: confusing busyness with effectiveness. When we fill our days with meetings, it may create a comforting illusion of productivity. We’re talking, we’re "synching," we’re visible. But how often is it we’re just trading deep work for surface-level chatter? High-performing teams don't meet because it's Tuesday; they meet because there may be a specific hurdle or outcome that a human interaction can clear. If you want to reclaim your time and your team’s sanity, it’s time to simplify. How to move from "Busy" to "Effective" 1. The "No Agenda, No Attendance" Rule: If the person calling the meeting hasn’t defined the goal, don’t show up. A meeting without a clear objective may be a group of people hoping a miracle happens in the next 30 minutes. 2. Audit the Attendee List: Does every person in the room need to be there? If someone is there "just for awareness," send them a summary email instead. Respect their time so they can focus on the work that actually moves the needle. 3. Shorten the Default: Parkinson’s Law says work expands to fill the time available. Stop booking 60-minute blocks. Try 20 or 45 minutes. The artificial time pressure forces people to get to the point faster. 4. The "Decision-First" Approach: Start the meeting by stating the decision that needs to be made by the end of the call. If you reach that decision in 10 minutes, end the meeting. You don't get bonus points for using the remaining 20. 5. Post-Meeting "Next Steps" Only: If a meeting doesn't result in assigned tasks with deadlines, it wasn't a meeting—it was a social hour. (And social hours are fine, just don't call them "Strategy Sessions.") The Bottom Line: Culture isn't built in a conference room; it’s built by people who have the time and autonomy to do their best work. Let’s stop rewarding the packed calendar and start rewarding the impactful output. Stay nerdy and don't cause headaches, my friends. #data #AI #dataliteracy #AILiteracy #meetings

I interviewed 50 CEOs about time management. None of them use to-do lists Because that’s not what actually works. We know the cost of time management that fails. ↳ You work long hours, yet your list keeps growing. ↳ You miss family time. Your health takes a backseat. ↳ And deep down, you still feel like you haven’t arrived. Top leaders do it differently. They don’t just manage time, they master it. Here are 15 time mastery habits they use that you can apply to stay ahead without staying late: 1. Pomodoro Technique ↳ Set a 25-minute timer and focus on just one task ↳ Take a 5-minute break after each round ↳ After 4 rounds, step away for 15–30 minutes to reset 2. Eisenhower Matrix ↳ Separate tasks into urgent vs. important ↳ Do what’s urgent and important right away ↳ Delegate, defer, or drop the rest 3. ABCDE Method ↳ Tag tasks A to E based on priority ↳ ‘A’ tasks drive your goals - do them first ↳ ‘D’ and ‘E’ tasks? Delegate or delete 4. 80/20 Pareto Method ↳ Identify the few tasks that create the biggest impact ↳ Focus 80% of your time on that top 20% ↳ Cut the rest without guilt 5. 3-3-3 Method ↳ Block 3 hours for your most focused work ↳ Complete 3 quick wins to build momentum ↳ Handle 3 small upkeep tasks to stay on track 6. 2-Minute Rule ↳ If something takes less than 2 minutes, do it now ↳ Bigger tasks? Schedule or delegate ↳ Keeps your mental and digital clutter low 7. Eat the Frog ↳ Do your hardest task first thing in the morning ↳ It sets the tone for a productive day 8. Getting Things Done (GTD) ↳ Get every task out of your head and onto paper ↳ Organize them by next actions ↳ Review regularly and take focused steps forward 9. Kanban Board ↳ Use three columns: To Do, Doing, Done ↳ Move tasks across as you make progress ↳ Visual clarity = less overwhelm 10. Task Batching ↳ Group similar tasks (like emails or calls) ↳ Do them in one focused block ↳ Saves energy by reducing context-switching 11. Warren Buffett 5/25 Rule ↳ List your top 25 goals or tasks ↳ Circle the 5 that matter most ↳ Say no to the other 20 until those 5 are done 12. Time Blocking ↳ Block specific time for important tasks ↳ Treat it like a non-negotiable meeting 13. 1-3-5 Method ↳ Plan 1 big, 3 medium, and 5 small tasks for the day ↳ Keeps your workload realistic and motivating 14. MSCW Method ↳ Sort tasks into: Must, Should, Could, Won’t ↳ Prioritize the Musts during peak focus time ↳ Everything else can wait or be delegated 15. Pickle Jar Method ↳ Start with the big, meaningful tasks first ↳ Fit in smaller ones around them ↳ Make space for what truly matters You don't need all 15. You need the 2-3 that resonate with your biggest struggles. Which one speaks to you? Drop the number in the comments, I'd love to know. ♻ Repost to help your network trade burnout for focus. ➕ Follow me (Meera Remani) for tools that fuel your growth. Image courtesy and post inspiration: Justin Mecham.

Too busy to get anything done? If that sounds familiar, it's time to make some changes to your system. Start with fewer meetings and focus more on what's most valuable. Try implementing these two adjustments to regain focus: 1. Stop scheduling meetings by default. Before you hit “invite,” ask the four simple questions that weed out the time-wasters: Do we have the info we need? Are we collaborating, or are we just delegating? Must everyone be on the same page right now? And for each attendee, will this meeting support their Most Valuable Activities (MVAs)? If the answer leans “no” to any of these questions, skip the meeting and handle it asynchronously. 2. Protect "Most Valuable Activity" time on your calendar. Treat high-impact work like a meeting: block it, label it (MVA), and don’t let it be moved unless absolutely necessary. Make processing and deep-work appointments recurring. If you can’t keep those blocks, it's time to start saying no more often. A tiny experiment to try this week: Say "no" to two meetings that failed the time-waster test, and replace those with MVA-focused time instead. See how much gets done! What's ONE MVA you need to focus on more this week? ♻️ Share this post if you think it could help someone else.

You're trapped in the management time vortex. Here’s how better time management could save you: Most professionals spend 80% of their day on emails and meetings, leaving almost no time for the work that actually moves the needle. Ideally, your workday should be split into four distinct types of time: 1. Management time (meetings, emails) is necessary but rarely produces meaningful output. 2. Creation time is where the real magic happens, when you're building, writing, or advancing your most critical work. 3. Consumption time lets you absorb new knowledge that fuels future innovation. 4. Ideation time, perhaps the most neglected, is where breakthrough thinking happens. Try this: Audit your calendar for the past week. How much time did you actually spend creating versus managing? Most people are shocked by the imbalance. The solution here is to redesign your day to protect your most valuable work. Timeboxing specific periods for each category is the simplest way to escape the busyness trap and start making real progress again. Ready to take action? This article lays out exactly what to do and how to redesign your day: https://lnkd.in/ewig-Mnr

Ever end a day feeling exhausted… even though you didn’t do that much? Not physically tired. Mentally drained. I’ve noticed something interesting about a lot of founders and operators. It’s not always the workload that burns them out. It’s the constant decision making. All day long your brain is quietly processing things like: Should I reply to this now or later Do I approve this Is this meeting necessary What should I prioritize next Did I forget something important None of these decisions are huge. But hundreds of them every day quietly drain your mental energy. Eventually your brain pushes back. Focus drops. Procrastination creeps in. Even simple work feels heavier. The calmest leaders I know didn’t eliminate decisions. They reduced how many decisions they personally carry.. A few things that make a huge difference: 1. Create Defaults ↳ Simplify recurring decisions: what to wear, when to work out, how to start your day. ↳ Less brainpower on the basics means more focus for what really matters. 2. Batch Similar Tasks ↳ Group approvals, feedback, and communications into dedicated blocks. ↳ Context switching drains energy fast. Batching protects your focus. 3. Make Fewer, Better Decisions ↳ Instead of entertaining 7 options, narrow down to 2–3. ↳ More choices = more stress. Reduce options, reduce fatigue. 4. Time Your Toughest Calls ↳ Tackle high-stakes decisions before noon when your mental energy is highest. ↳ It’s not just time management—it’s energy management. 5. Pre-Decide with a Checklist ↳ Before any big call: → What’s the goal? → What are the trade-offs? → What’s the cost of delay? A pre-decision filter brings clarity fast. 6. Set Tomorrow’s Top 3 Today ↳ Wrap up each day by listing your top 3 priorities for tomorrow. ↳ You’ll sleep better and start faster. 7. Delegate What Drains You ↳ If someone else can decide it, let them. ↳ Don’t let small decisions clog your leadership pipeline. ↳ That’s where a trusted Virtual Executive Assistant becomes a game-changer, they filter noise, and free your mind for what only you can do. 8. Protect Your Cognitive Bandwidth ↳ Guard your energy like a limited resource because it is. ↳ Say no more. Take short mental breaks. Choose silence over clutter. Bottom Line: You don’t need more time. You need fewer decisions and more support. Because sometimes, the smartest thing you can do… is decide less. P.S. What decision drains your energy the most each week?  — ♻️ Repost this to help someone else break free from mental burnout. ➕ Follow Sandra Pellumbi for more.🦉 👋 I’m Sandra. I help founders and CEOs buy back their time and mental clarity through structure, clear delegation, and a world-class Virtual Executive Assistant who operates as their execution partner. If the operational weight of the business is sitting on your shoulders, message me "Delegate" or book a free strategy call to explore how it works: https://lnkd.in/dxR3Ht67