What Would You Do If You Had More Time? – Just another WordPress site

Have you ever felt like you’re working nonstop, but somehow, the harder you work, the less you seem to get done? That was me a few years ago. I was putting in the hours—10, 12, sometimes 14 hours a day—pushing myself to get ahead. But no matter how much I worked, I wasn’t seeing the results I wanted. It felt like I was trapped in an endless cycle of effort with no real progress.

The truth was, I wasn’t valuing my time correctly. I was working hard, but not working smart. I needed a shift in perspective—one that would allow me to stop chasing time and start leveraging it.

So, I began to dive deep into understanding how to become time-rich. I spent countless hours reading, watching videos, and exploring productivity strategies that could help me maximize my time. Rich Schefren’s Internet Manifesto was a huge eye-opener—it challenged me to rethink how I was spending my hours. Then, I came across Cal Newport’s “Deep Work”, which completely changed the way I viewed focus and productivity. I spent hours on YouTube, reading eBooks, and consuming everything I could about habits, procrastination, and the art of not wasting time.

What I learned was life-changing. I realized that the key wasn’t working more—it was working with intention. The more I understood time management, the clearer it became: Not all hours are created equal. There’s a vast difference between productive time, where you focus on high-value tasks, and non-productive time, where you’re spinning your wheels.

When I started to focus on increasing the value of my productive hours, my income and freedom both grew. The more I optimized my productive time, the less I had to work to achieve the same (or even better) results. I went from being overwhelmed and stuck in the grind to having more time for the things that mattered to me: personal growth, family, and relaxation.

This wasn’t just a breakthrough for me—it’s something anyone can achieve. If you’re feeling overwhelmed or stuck in a cycle of endless work, it’s time to shift your focus to productive time—the time that truly moves the needle in your life. By learning to value your hours and make the most of your productive time, you can create a life with both financial success and freedom.

TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read) Version:

Time is your most valuable resource. If you’re working long hours but not seeing the results you want, it’s time to reframe how you approach time. Instead of pushing yourself to work harder, start focusing on increasing the value of your productive time—the time you spend on tasks that directly generate income or move you closer to your goals.

The key is understanding the difference between your total hourly rate (all hours worked) and your productive hourly rate (time spent on income-generating activities). By optimizing your productive hours and reducing non-productive time, you can achieve your income goals with fewer hours worked, creating more freedom in your life.

To help with this, use a simple calculation to find your current hourly rate based on total hours worked, then calculate what you need to earn per hour in your productive time. This shift will allow you to focus on high-value activities and eliminate distractions, giving you more time for personal pursuits or family, all while increasing your income.

You don’t need to work more to earn more—you need to work smarter. By valuing your time and focusing on the activities that drive results, you can achieve a lifestyle that offers both freedom and financial success.

Imagine this: You wake up tomorrow, and instead of diving into a never-ending to-do list, you have the freedom to spend your time exactly how you want. Maybe you’d start your day with your family, pursue a passion project, or simply relax without the weight of work hanging over you. Now, ask yourself: What’s stopping you from making this your reality?

For most of us, the answer is simple but hard to admit: We’ve tied our time directly to our income. The hours we work determine the money we make, and as a result, we feel like there’s no way to escape the grind. To earn more, we think we need to work more. But here’s the truth: That cycle doesn’t create freedom—it creates exhaustion.

The Problem: Trading Too Much Time for Too Little Value

Most people spend their weeks balancing between productive hours—the time spent directly earning money—and non-productive hours—time spent on tasks that don’t generate income but still need to be done.

For example:

You might work 50 hours a week, but only 20 of those are spent on truly income-generating activities.
The remaining 30 hours are spent on admin work, problem-solving, or distractions that don’t add much value.

The problem is that even with 50 hours of work, it often feels like there’s never enough time to achieve your goals or enjoy life. That’s because your hourly rate—the value of your time—is too low. The solution isn’t to work harder. It’s to increase your value per hour so that you can earn more in less time.

The Shift: From Trading Time for Money to Reclaiming Your Life

Here’s where everything changes: When you increase your hourly rate, you buy back your time.

Think about it. If you’re currently earning £20 an hour and working 50 hours a week, your weekly income is £1,000. But if you could raise your hourly rate to £50 an hour, you’d only need to work 20 hours a week to make the same amount. That means you’ve just freed up 30 hours a week—30 hours to spend with your family, pursue hobbies, or simply enjoy life.

This shift isn’t just about making more money—it’s about creating a life where you have the freedom to choose how you spend your time.

Why This Matters: Your Time is Your Freedom

Every hour you spend working is an hour you can’t get back. The ultimate goal isn’t to fill your life with more work but to free up your time for the things that matter most. When you know what your time is worth, you can:

Stop Wasting Time: Eliminate low-value tasks that don’t align with your goals.
Focus on Growth: Spend your non-productive hours learning, building systems, or outsourcing.
Earn More in Less Time: Work smarter, not harder, by focusing on high-value activities.

This is the purpose of increasing your value per hour: to create a life where you work less but achieve more. A life where time isn’t just a resource—it’s a gift.

The Journey Starts Here

The first step to reclaiming your time is understanding its true value. By knowing what an hour of your time is worth today, you can start making intentional choices to increase that value and create more space for what matters most.

Imagine a future where you’ve increased your hourly rate so much that you no longer need to work 50 hours a week. Instead, you’ve reduced your working hours, eliminated distractions, and reclaimed your life. That future starts today—with a simple but powerful decision to value your time and use it wisely.

This introduction sets the tone, connects emotionally, and clearly lays out the reader’s problem, the desired transformation, and the ultimate purpose. Let me know if you’d like further refinements!

Step 1: Understand How You Spend Your Time

Before you can improve the value of your time, you need to understand how you’re currently spending it. Many of us go through our days working hard but not necessarily working smart. Hours pass by, and at the end of the week, we’re left wondering: Where did all my time go?

The truth is, there’s a difference between being busy and being productive. Most people confuse activity with achievement, and as a result, they get stuck in a cycle of doing more without earning more.

The Two Types of Time: Productive and Non-Productive

Every hour you spend can be divided into two categories:

Productive Time: These are the hours when you’re actively creating value. For example:
- Delivering a service or completing a project for a client.
- Generating revenue through sales or marketing activities.
- Designing or building something that directly contributes to your income.
Non-Productive Time: These are the hours that don’t directly generate income but are often necessary. Examples include:
- Administrative tasks, like emails and scheduling.
- Learning and research.
- Planning and organizing.

Here’s the catch: Non-productive time isn’t inherently bad. It becomes a problem when it dominates your schedule or when you don’t use it intentionally to improve your productive hours.

The Reality Check

Take a moment to think about your own week:

How many hours do you spend actively generating income?
How many hours are spent on things that feel busy but don’t really move the needle?

Most people are surprised when they do this calculation. You might find that, out of a 50-hour workweek, only 20 hours are truly productive. The rest—30 hours—is spent on tasks that don’t directly contribute to your financial goals.

This imbalance is one of the biggest reasons why so many people feel stuck. The key to breaking free isn’t to work more hours—it’s to increase the value of your productive hours and use your non-productive time more effectively.

The Power of Increasing Your Hourly Value

Let’s say you currently earn £20 per hour. If you work 20 productive hours a week, that’s £400. Now imagine doubling your hourly rate to £40. Suddenly, those same 20 hours generate £800.

The real power of this shift is what it gives you: more time.

You could keep working 20 hours a week and enjoy more income.
Or you could cut your work hours in half, earning the same amount while freeing up time for what matters most.

The goal isn’t just to make more money—it’s to create the freedom to choose how you spend your time.

What’s Holding You Back?

If this resonates with you, ask yourself:

Are you spending too much time on low-value tasks?
Are you stuck in a cycle of busyness without progress?
Do you know what an hour of your time is actually worth?

These are the questions that will open your eyes to where you are today—and where you want to be. The first step is to calculate your current hourly rate. From there, you can start making intentional choices to bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

Step 2: Track and Identify Your Non-Productive Tasks

To understand the value of your time, you need to know how you’re actually spending it. This involves taking a closer look at both your productive and non-productive hours. While productive time directly generates income, non-productive time includes everything else—and this is often where you can find hidden opportunities for growth.

How to Track Your Time

Over the next week (or longer if you can), track how you’re spending your hours. You don’t need to make it complicated—a simple system will work. Here’s how:

1. Use a Daily Time Log

Create a time log for each day with the following columns:

Time Block: Note the time period (e.g., 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM).
Activity: Write down what you were doing during that time.
Type: Categorize the activity as either productive or non-productive.

Example:

Time Block	Activity	Type
9:00 – 10:00 AM	Responding to emails	Non-Productive
10:00 – 11:00 AM	Working on client project	Productive

2. Review at the End of Each Day

At the end of each day, total the hours spent on productive vs. non-productive tasks. Don’t overthink it—the goal isn’t perfection but awareness.

3. Extend for a Week or More

Repeat this process for 7 days (or longer if possible). A week is often enough to see patterns and understand how your time is being used.

Common Non-Productive Tasks

To help you get started, here’s a list of activities that often fall into the non-productive category:

Responding to routine emails.
Scheduling meetings or managing calendars.
Attending meetings that don’t directly contribute to income.
Researching but not applying new information.
Organizing your workspace.
Checking analytics or stats without a clear goal.
Browsing social media or getting distracted online.

Tip:

If you find yourself thinking, “I’m busy, but I’m not really getting anything done,” it’s likely you’re spending too much time on non-productive tasks.

Calculate Your Hours

Once you’ve tracked your time for a week (or more), calculate:

Total Hours Worked: Add up all the hours you worked during the week.
Total Productive Hours: Add up the hours spent on income-generating tasks.
Total Non-Productive Hours: Subtract your productive hours from your total hours worked.

For example:

Total Hours Worked: 50
Total Productive Hours: 20
Non-Productive Hours: 50−20=3050 – 20 = 3050−20=30

Why This Matters

When you see your non-productive hours clearly laid out, you’ll start to notice patterns:

Are there tasks you could eliminate, delegate, or automate?
How much time could you free up if you focused only on high-value work?
What opportunities are hidden in your non-productive time?

This exercise isn’t about judgment—it’s about awareness. By understanding where your time goes, you’ll be in a much stronger position to improve your hourly rate and reclaim your time.

What is Productive Time?

Productive time is the engine of your financial and personal growth. It’s the time you spend directly contributing to your income or moving closer to your goals. Unlike busy work or maintenance tasks, productive time is intentional, focused, and impactful.

Why Productive Time Matters

If you’re serious about increasing your hourly value, understanding productive time is non-negotiable. Productive time is where you generate real value. It’s where you:

Earn Your Income: Whether it’s completing client projects, closing deals, or selling a product, this is the time that directly contributes to your financial goals.
Grow Your Potential: Productive time isn’t just about what you’re doing today—it’s also about creating opportunities for tomorrow, like building skills or designing scalable systems.
Focus on What Matters: By prioritizing productive time, you can eliminate distractions, reduce wasted effort, and ensure that every hour counts.

Examples of Productive Time

Here are some common activities that fall under productive time:

1. Working on Client Projects

Delivering services or completing tasks for clients that directly result in income.
Examples: Writing, designing, consulting, coding, or creating products.

2. Closing Business Deals

Sales calls, negotiations, or pitches that bring in new clients or revenue streams.
Building and nurturing relationships that lead to profitable opportunities.

3. Upskilling and Gaining Knowledge

Learning new skills or improving existing ones to increase the value of your work.
Taking courses, attending workshops, or reading books directly related to your career or business goals.

4. Creating and Developing Products

Designing products or services that you can sell, especially those that generate passive income or scale without your ongoing involvement.
Examples: Writing an eBook, creating an online course, or developing a tool.

5. Strategic Marketing

Activities that bring in leads or generate awareness for your business.
Examples: Running ad campaigns, optimizing a website for sales, or creating high-value content.

6. Building Scalable Systems

Developing processes that allow your work to be replicated or automated.
Examples: Automating repetitive tasks, creating workflows for teams, or building systems that handle income-generating activities without your constant input.

7. Networking and Collaboration

Building relationships with people who can help grow your business or career.
Examples: Attending industry events, collaborating on projects, or connecting with mentors.

What Productive Time is NOT

It’s equally important to recognize what doesn’t count as productive time. These activities may feel like work, but they don’t directly generate income or contribute to long-term goals:

Responding to routine emails or messages.
Organizing your desk or workspace.
Attending meetings that aren’t tied to actionable outcomes.
Consuming content without applying it (e.g., reading a business book but not implementing the strategies).
Checking analytics or stats without using them to improve results.

How to Maximize Your Productive Time

Now that you know what productive time is, the next step is to maximize it. Here’s how:

Set Clear Goals: Identify the high-impact activities that contribute most to your income or growth.
Protect Your Time: Block out dedicated hours for productive work and minimize distractions.
Track Your Progress: Keep a record of how much time you’re spending on productive tasks and adjust as needed.
Reflect and Improve: Regularly evaluate whether your productive time is aligned with your goals and making a difference.

The Impact of Focusing on Productive Time

The more you focus on productive time, the faster you’ll see results. By eliminating distractions and concentrating on high-value activities, you’ll not only increase your hourly rate but also create more opportunities for growth and freedom.

Productive time isn’t just about working harder—it’s about working smarter to achieve your goals with less effort.

Finding the Balance Between Productive and Non-Productive Time

When it comes to maximizing the value of your time, it’s not about working every hour of the day. It’s about creating a healthy balance between productive time (where you actively generate income) and non-productive time (where you prepare, learn, or recover). Both types of time are essential, but the key is to use them intentionally.

The Role of Non-Productive Time

Non-productive time is often misunderstood. It’s easy to dismiss it as “wasted time,” but that’s not true. Non-productive time can be incredibly valuable when used strategically. Here’s why:

It Prepares You for Success: Learning new skills, planning, and organizing help you perform better during your productive hours.
It Sustains Your Energy: Rest, relaxation, and hobbies are vital for maintaining focus and avoiding burnout.
It Creates Opportunities: Tasks like networking, brainstorming, and self-reflection often lead to breakthroughs that increase your overall impact.

What is the Ideal Balance?

The “ideal” balance depends on your goals, workload, and personal circumstances, but here’s a general guideline:

Productive Time: Aim for focused, high-impact hours where you directly contribute to your income or long-term goals. This might be 4–6 hours a day for many people.
Non-Productive Time: Use the remaining time to support your productive hours or recharge.

For example, if you work 50 hours a week:

20–30 hours might be productive (e.g., working on client projects, sales, or creating products).
20–30 hours might be non-productive but still valuable (e.g., learning, networking, or planning).

How to Use Non-Productive Time Intentionally

The secret to balance isn’t just about the amount of time—it’s about the quality of how you use it. Here are some ways to make your non-productive time work for you:

1. Skill Building

Invest in learning new tools, techniques, or knowledge that will enhance your productive time. For example:

Taking a course on a skill that helps you charge more.
Reading books or articles that offer new perspectives or strategies.

2. Planning and Strategizing

Use this time to reflect on what’s working and what’s not. Plan your productive time to focus on high-value tasks.

3. Building Relationships

Networking and collaboration are essential for long-term growth. Even if they don’t generate immediate income, they often lead to new opportunities.

4. Rest and Recovery

Taking breaks, spending time with loved ones, or pursuing hobbies isn’t just “non-productive”—it’s essential for maintaining your focus and creativity.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Ignoring Non-Productive Time: If you don’t account for it, you may end up spending it on activities that don’t serve your goals.
Overworking in Productive Hours: Productivity drops when you’re burned out. Focus on quality over quantity.
Not Reflecting on Your Use of Time: Regularly review how you’re spending both productive and non-productive hours to ensure alignment with your goals.

The Bigger Picture

The balance between productive and non-productive time isn’t static—it evolves as you grow. In the beginning, you may spend more non-productive hours learning or building systems. Over time, as your productive time becomes more valuable, you’ll find yourself working fewer hours overall while achieving greater results.

The ultimate goal? To create a life where both your productive and non-productive time work together to support your freedom, income, and happiness.

Reflecting on Your Own Balance

Understanding the balance between your productive and non-productive time starts with awareness. It’s about identifying how you currently spend your time and recognizing opportunities for improvement. Reflection isn’t just about numbers—it’s about aligning your time with your values, goals, and priorities.

Step 1: Take Inventory of Your Time

To start, you’ll need to evaluate how you’re currently spending your time. Ask yourself:

What does my average week look like?
- How many hours do I work each day?
- How many of those hours are spent directly earning income or progressing toward my goals?
What are my non-productive activities?
- Are these tasks necessary, like learning or planning?
- Or are they distractions, like excessive email checking or social media scrolling?
What feels like a waste of time?
- Are there tasks I’m doing that could be delegated or eliminated entirely?

Step 2: Create a Simple Breakdown

Once you’ve taken inventory, break your time into two categories: productive and non-productive. For example:

Category	Activity	Hours per Week
Productive Time	Client work, sales calls, closing deals	20 hours
Non-Productive	Learning new tools	5 hours
Non-Productive	Responding to emails	8 hours
Non-Productive	Browsing social media	6 hours
Non-Productive	Planning and strategizing	3 hours

Step 3: Reflect on the Balance

Look at your breakdown and ask yourself:

Am I spending enough time on high-value, productive tasks?
- If your productive time feels low, consider whether distractions or unnecessary tasks are eating into it.
Am I using my non-productive time wisely?
- For example, learning and planning are great uses of non-productive time, but excessive distractions or repetitive low-value tasks aren’t.
What opportunities am I missing?
- Could I dedicate more non-productive time to skill-building or system creation?
- Could I reclaim productive time by delegating or automating tasks?

Example Reflection

Let’s look at an example:

Maria’s Current Breakdown

Total Weekly Hours Worked: 50
Productive Hours: 20 (client work, sales, and marketing).
Non-Productive Hours: 30 (10 hours on emails, 10 hours on admin work, 5 hours on learning, 5 hours on social media).

Key Insights:

Maria is spending 10 hours a week on admin tasks that could likely be delegated or automated.
Her 5 hours of learning are a good investment, but her 5 hours on social media offer little return.
By reclaiming even half of her admin and social media time, she could add 7.5 hours to her productive time—potentially increasing her income or freeing up time for herself.

Step 4: Visualize Your Ideal Balance

Now, imagine your ideal week:

How many productive hours would you like to work?
How would you use your non-productive time to support those productive hours?
How much free time do you want to create for yourself?

For example, Maria might aim for:

25 productive hours (focused on high-value tasks).
15 non-productive hours (dedicated to learning, planning, and necessary admin).
10 hours freed up for personal time.

This shift helps her focus on high-impact work while reclaiming time for herself.

Step 5: Set a Realistic Goal

Use your reflection to set a goal for the coming week. Start small:

Identify 1–2 non-productive tasks you can eliminate or reallocate.
Dedicate specific blocks of time to high-value productive tasks.
Track your time to see how the changes feel and what impact they have.

The Importance of Continuous Reflection

Your balance between productive and non-productive time will change as you grow. What matters is regularly revisiting these reflections and making adjustments to ensure your time is always working for you, not against you.

Strategies for Transitioning Non-Productive Time into Productive Time

Once you’ve identified where your non-productive time is going, the next step is to transform that time into high-value, productive hours. This doesn’t mean eliminating all non-productive time—it’s about making intentional choices to increase the time you spend on activities that truly move the needle.

Step 1: Eliminate or Reduce Low-Value Activities

Start by identifying tasks or habits that don’t contribute to your goals. These are the biggest drains on your non-productive time.

Examples of Low-Value Activities:

Mindless Scrolling: Spending hours on social media or browsing unrelated websites.
Unnecessary Admin Work: Tasks like repeatedly checking emails, reorganizing files, or updating spreadsheets without clear goals.
Procrastination Disguised as Work: Activities that feel productive but aren’t—like reading endless articles without applying the knowledge.

Action Steps:

Batch Similar Tasks: Instead of checking emails throughout the day, set specific times to review and respond.
Set Boundaries: Use tools to limit distractions, like app blockers or timers.
Ask “Does This Add Value?”: Before starting a task, ask if it aligns with your priorities. If not, skip it.

Step 2: Delegate or Automate

Some tasks may be necessary but don’t require your direct involvement. By delegating or automating these tasks, you can free up time for higher-value work.

Examples of Delegatable Tasks:

Data entry, invoicing, or scheduling.
Managing routine emails or customer inquiries.
Simple research or repetitive processes.

Examples of Automatable Tasks:

Sending invoices or payment reminders (use tools like QuickBooks or Xero).
Scheduling social media posts (use tools like Buffer or Hootsuite).
Setting up email templates for common responses.

Action Steps:

Identify Tasks Below Your Hourly Value: If your time is worth £50/hour, delegate tasks that cost less than this to complete.
Train or Hire Help: Invest time in training a virtual assistant or freelancer to handle repetitive work.
Leverage Technology: Use automation tools to streamline workflows.

Step 3: Prioritize High-Value Activities

Once you’ve eliminated or delegated low-value tasks, the next step is to allocate more time to activities that directly generate income or move you closer to your goals.

High-Value Activities Include:

Revenue-Generating Work: Completing projects, sales calls, or creating new products.
Skill Development: Learning something new that increases your earning potential.
Strategic Thinking: Planning long-term goals, business strategies, or scalable systems.

Action Steps:

Block Time for Productive Work: Use your calendar to schedule uninterrupted blocks for high-value tasks.
Start with the Hardest Tasks: Tackle the most critical or challenging work first when your energy is highest.
Set Clear Goals: At the start of each day, define 1–3 productive tasks to complete.

Step 4: Use Non-Productive Time Strategically

Not all non-productive time should be eliminated. Instead, use it as an opportunity to support your productive hours.

Examples of Strategic Non-Productive Time:

Learning: Take courses, read books, or attend workshops that directly impact your work.
Building Systems: Create workflows or automations to make future tasks easier.
Networking: Attend events or build relationships that lead to new opportunities.

Action Steps:

Dedicate Time to Growth: Set aside 2–3 hours a week for learning or building systems.
Focus on Implementation: Ensure that what you learn is applied directly to your work.
Track the Impact: Reflect on how these activities contribute to your productive hours.

Step 5: Reflect and Adjust

Transitioning non-productive time into productive time isn’t a one-time fix—it’s an ongoing process. Regular reflection helps you refine your approach and identify new opportunities for growth.

Questions to Ask:

What’s working? What’s not?
Have I freed up more time for productive work?
Are there still tasks I could eliminate, delegate, or automate?

Action Steps:

Track Your Progress: Use a time-tracking tool or journal to monitor your productive and non-productive hours.
Celebrate Wins: Acknowledge improvements, no matter how small—they build momentum.
Revisit Your Goals: Regularly check if your time aligns with your priorities and adjust as needed.

Example Transformation

Before:

50 total hours per week.
20 productive hours (client work, sales, and marketing).
30 non-productive hours (15 hours on emails/admin, 5 hours on social media, 10 hours on learning).

After Transition:

Delegate 10 hours of admin tasks.
Eliminate 5 hours of social media distractions.
Reallocate 15 hours to high-value work, increasing productive hours to 35.

Impact:

Increased productivity.
Higher income or more free time.
Greater focus on meaningful work.

The Power of Small Changes

Even small shifts in how you use your non-productive time can have a massive impact over weeks and months. Every hour you reclaim and reallocate to high-value activities brings you closer to your goals, whether that’s earning more or creating more freedom in your life.

Tools and Methods to Help Track and Implement These Strategies

To make the transition from non-productive to productive time smoother and more effective, you need the right tools and methods. These will help you track how you’re spending your time, identify areas for improvement, and stay focused on high-value activities.

Step 1: Track Your Time

Time tracking is the foundation of understanding where your hours go. It helps you identify patterns, measure progress, and make informed decisions.

Recommended Tools:

Toggl Track (Free & Paid)
- Simple time-tracking tool with reports to analyze how you spend your day.
- Categorize tasks as productive or non-productive.
Clockify (Free)
- Tracks hours and generates reports for personal or team use.
- Visual charts for weekly and daily breakdowns.
RescueTime (Free & Paid)
- Monitors your activity on devices to show where your time goes.
- Helps you identify distractions, like excessive time on social media.

Method:

Start by tracking a normal week without changing your habits. Be honest—this isn’t about judgment but understanding.
Categorize each activity into productive or non-productive tasks.
At the end of the week, review the data. Look for patterns and opportunities to reallocate time.

Step 2: Manage Your Tasks and Priorities

Once you understand how you’re spending your time, the next step is organizing your tasks and prioritizing high-value work.

Recommended Tools:

Trello (Free & Paid)
- A visual project management tool to organize tasks.
- Create boards for productive and non-productive tasks, and track progress.
Asana (Free & Paid)
- Helps you organize tasks with deadlines and priorities.
- Great for breaking down big goals into smaller, actionable steps.
Notion (Free & Paid)
- Combines task management, note-taking, and database features.
- Customize templates to track your productive and non-productive time.

Method:

Create a list of all your tasks for the week.
Identify which ones are high-value (productive) and which ones are low-value (non-productive).
Prioritize tasks that align with your goals and delegate or eliminate the rest.

Step 3: Automate Low-Value Tasks

Automation is one of the easiest ways to free up non-productive time. It allows you to complete repetitive tasks with minimal effort.

Recommended Tools:

Zapier (Free & Paid)
- Connects different apps to automate workflows (e.g., send invoices, schedule reminders).
Calendly (Free & Paid)
- Automates meeting scheduling to save time on back-and-forth emails.
IFTTT (If This Then That) (Free)
- Automates simple tasks like syncing files, sending notifications, or managing social media.

Method:

Identify repetitive tasks that take up your time (e.g., sending follow-up emails, data entry).
Use automation tools to create workflows that handle these tasks for you.
Regularly review your workflows to ensure they’re still effective.

Step 4: Stay Focused During Productive Hours

To maximize productive time, you need to eliminate distractions and maintain focus.

Recommended Tools:

Focus@Will (Paid)
- Music designed to improve concentration and productivity.
Forest (Paid)
- A gamified app that grows virtual trees as you stay focused, encouraging you to avoid distractions.
Cold Turkey (Free & Paid)
- Blocks distracting websites and apps during focused work sessions.

Method:

Use the Pomodoro Technique:
- Work for 25 minutes, take a 5-minute break, and repeat.
- After 4 cycles, take a longer break (15–30 minutes).
Block out specific time slots for high-value work.
Turn off notifications or use focus apps to minimize interruptions.

Step 5: Review and Reflect Regularly

Reflection ensures that your efforts are paying off and helps you adjust as needed.

Recommended Tools:

Excel or Google Sheets (Free)
- Create a simple spreadsheet to track productive and non-productive hours weekly.
- Analyze trends over time.
Daylio (Free & Paid)
- A mood and activity tracker to reflect on how you spend your time and how it affects your well-being.
Evernote (Free & Paid)
- Take notes on what worked well and what needs improvement.

Method:

Schedule a weekly review to assess how well you’ve transitioned non-productive hours into productive ones.
Reflect on questions like:
- Did I achieve my goals for the week?
- What tasks could I delegate or eliminate next week?
- How can I make my productive hours even more impactful?

The Long-Term Benefits

When you consistently track, manage, and optimize your time:

You gain control over your schedule, creating a more balanced and fulfilling life.

Your hourly value increases, allowing you to work fewer hours for the same (or greater) income.

You free up time for personal growth, hobbies, or relaxation.

The Long-Term Vision: Achieving Freedom and Control Over Your Time

As you start implementing these tools and strategies, the long-term benefits become more apparent. It’s not just about improving your hourly rate—it’s about reclaiming your time and using it more intentionally to create a life that’s both fulfilling and aligned with your true goals.

The True Power of Time Management

At the core of this process is creating more freedom in your life. When you start managing your time more effectively—focusing on productive hours and leveraging non-productive hours for growth and improvement—you break free from the trap of endlessly working harder without seeing proportional results. Here’s how it all ties together:

1. More Time for What Matters Most

When you’re working smarter, not harder, you open up space for the things that matter most to you:

Family and Relationships: You have more time to spend with loved ones without worrying about work constantly creeping into your free time.
Personal Fulfillment: With extra time, you can explore new hobbies, passions, or experiences that enrich your life.
Rest and Rejuvenation: More time for rest allows you to recharge, ensuring that when you are working, you’re at your best—focused, energized, and ready to tackle your tasks.

2. Increased Income with Less Effort

By increasing your value per hour, you begin to earn more in less time. Here’s the powerful shift:

More Income in Fewer Hours: When you raise your hourly rate and focus on high-value work, you reduce the need to work long hours just to meet your income goals.
Scaling Your Impact: By focusing on building systems, outsourcing, and creating scalable solutions, you can generate more revenue with less hands-on work. This could mean launching a course, writing a book, or building an automated business model.

3. The Freedom to Choose How You Spend Your Time

Achieving a higher hourly rate and mastering time management ultimately allows you to take control of your schedule. Instead of feeling tied to a desk or a never-ending to-do list, you get to decide how your time is spent. Here’s the vision:

Work on Your Terms: Whether you want to work 10 hours a week or take a vacation whenever you please, you’ve created a business or career that gives you that flexibility.
Delegate and Automate: With time freed up from non-productive tasks, you can delegate low-value work and automate repetitive processes, allowing you to scale without sacrificing your lifestyle.

Building Systems for Long-Term Success

One of the most effective ways to achieve long-term freedom is by building systems and processes that support your goals without needing constant input. These systems can scale your efforts and provide recurring value with minimal effort.

Examples of Systems to Build:

Marketing Automation: Use tools like email marketing platforms or social media schedulers to ensure that you’re consistently attracting new customers without having to do everything manually.
Productivity Systems: Build workflows for your business, project management tools, and delegating routines that reduce the time you spend on everyday tasks.
Financial Systems: Automate invoicing, budgeting, and tracking your expenses to keep your finances organized and stress-free.

Visualizing Your Future: More Time, More Freedom

Think of the future you want to create:

How would you spend your day if time wasn’t a constraint?
What could you do with an extra 10, 20, or 30 hours a week?

By continuously optimizing how you spend your time and increasing your hourly rate, you can turn your vision into reality. Here’s what you might see:

Working 20 hours a week to make the same income you’re currently earning in 40.
Spending afternoons with your family instead of staying glued to your computer screen.
Exploring new business opportunities or personal passions without feeling overwhelmed.

This is the freedom that comes from valuing your time and using it wisely. It’s about more than just improving your finances—it’s about creating a lifestyle that aligns with your personal goals and passions.

Taking Action for the Long-Term

As you continue on this journey of mastering your time, remember that small steps lead to big changes. Each hour you reclaim, each non-productive task you delegate or automate, is a step closer to the freedom and success you want to create.

Long-Term Steps to Maintain This Growth:

Regularly Review Your Time: Every few weeks, look back at how you’ve spent your time and see where you can improve. This helps you stay on track.
Continue Learning: As your business or career evolves, so should your skills. Invest in growth opportunities that make your time even more valuable.
Set Big, Bold Goals: Don’t just focus on today—think about where you want to be in 5 or 10 years. Your time is the vehicle that will get you there.

The Final Thought: You Control Your Time

The truth is, your time is the most powerful resource you have. By taking control of how you spend it, you can change the trajectory of your life. You don’t have to be stuck in the cycle of endless hours of work. Instead, you can master the balance of productive and non-productive time, increase your hourly rate, and create a life that gives you more of what you truly want.

It all starts with one simple choice: to value your time as the powerful asset it truly is. And once you do that, everything else will follow.

How the Spreadsheet Calculates Your Hourly Value: Total vs. Productive Time

The spreadsheet provides two key calculations to help you understand the value of your time in both total working hours and productive hours. These two perspectives are essential for making intentional decisions about how to use your time more effectively, and ultimately, for increasing your freedom.

1. Total Hourly Rate Calculation (All Hours Worked)

The first calculation looks at how much you earn based on all the hours you work—whether they’re productive or not. This is the starting point.

How It Works:

Current Reality: How much you are currently earning (e.g., £48,000/year).
Desired Income: Your income goal for the next 12 months (e.g., £75,000/year).
Total Hours Worked: The total number of hours you plan to work, combining both productive and non-productive hours (e.g., 50 hours a week for 50 weeks a year).

The formula for Total Hourly Rate is:Total Hourly Rate=Desired IncomeTotal Hours Worked in a Year\text{Total Hourly Rate} = \frac{\text{Desired Income}}{\text{Total Hours Worked in a Year}}Total Hourly Rate=Total Hours Worked in a YearDesired Income

Example:

Desired Income = £75,000
Total Hours Worked (50 hours per week x 50 weeks) = 2500 hours
Total Hourly Rate = £75,000 ÷ 2500 = £30/hour.

This means that, to reach your desired income of £75,000, you’d need to earn £30 per hour across all the hours you work, including non-productive ones. The issue with this calculation is that it includes all time spent working, regardless of how valuable that time is.

2. Productive Hourly Rate Calculation

The second calculation focuses only on the time you spend actively generating income—this is the productive time. It’s crucial for understanding how much more you need to earn per hour to reach your goals, without relying on low-value tasks or distractions.

How It Works:

Productive Hours: These are the hours when you’re focused on income-generating activities, like working with clients, closing deals, or creating products. For example, if you work 10 hours a day, but only 4 of those hours are truly productive, you need to focus on those 4 hours.

The formula for Productive Hourly Rate is:Productive Hourly Rate=Desired IncomeProductive Hours Worked in a Year\text{Productive Hourly Rate} = \frac{\text{Desired Income}}{\text{Productive Hours Worked in a Year}}Productive Hourly Rate=Productive Hours Worked in a YearDesired Income

Example:

Desired Income = £75,000
Productive Hours (4 hours a day x 5 days a week x 50 weeks) = 1000 hours.
Productive Hourly Rate = £75,000 ÷ 1000 = £75/hour.

This means that for the hours you are actively working on income-generating tasks, you need to earn £75 per hour to meet your income goal. This is significantly higher than your total hourly rate, which makes sense because you’re only working on the tasks that directly contribute to your earnings.

Why These Calculations Matter

By comparing your total hourly rate with your productive hourly rate, you get a clear picture of:

The true value of your productive time: You’ll see that your hourly rate for productive time is likely higher than what you earn when you account for non-productive hours.
The difference between current reality and the future you want: By focusing on increasing your productive hours, you’ll work fewer hours while earning the same (or more).

The goal is to shift the balance so that you spend more time on high-value activities (productive hours) and less time on non-productive work. As your productive hourly rate increases, you’ll need to spend fewer hours working to meet your income goals, and you can gradually remove yourself from the daily grind.

Practical Example:

Let’s say your current reality is earning £48,000 per year, working 50 hours a week. You want to get to £75,000/year, but you don’t want to work more hours. Instead, you want to increase your productive hourly rate.

Current Reality:
- Total Hours Worked (50 hours/week x 50 weeks) = 2500 hours.
- Current Total Hourly Rate: £48,000 ÷ 2500 = £19.20/hour.
Desired Reality:
- You want to make £75,000 with only 20 productive hours per week (4 hours per day, 5 days a week).
- Productive Hours Worked (20 hours/week x 50 weeks) = 1000 hours.
- Productive Hourly Rate: £75,000 ÷ 1000 = £75/hour.

Key Insight:
By shifting from 50 total hours per week to just 20 productive hours (focused, income-generating time), you increase your hourly rate from £19.20 to £75. This means you’ll still meet your £75,000 income goal, but in only 1000 hours of productive work, not 2500 hours. You free up more time for yourself, increase your earnings, and get closer to your ideal lifestyle.

The Real Benefit:

By understanding these two rates—Total Hourly Rate and Productive Hourly Rate—you can make smarter decisions:

Delegate non-productive tasks.
Automate repetitive work.
Focus more on high-value activities like client projects, sales, and skill-building.

The more you focus on increasing your productive hourly rate, the fewer total hours you’ll need to work to meet your financial goals. This means you’ll be able to spend more time on personal growth, family, or leisure—ultimately creating the life you want, without sacrificing your income.

This approach makes it clear that you don’t need to work more to reach your financial goals. You just need to work smarter—by increasing the value of your productive time.

Here is a link to the spreadsheet.