Effective time management is a crucial skill for success in today’s fast-paced world. This article presents valuable strategies from industry-leading experts on how to maximize productivity and achieve better results. Discover practical techniques to protect your energy, improve strategic thinking, and focus on high-impact work that can transform your approach to time management.
- Protect Energy for High-Impact Leadership
- Build White Space for Strategic Thinking
- Prioritize High-Leverage Work for Maximum Impact
- Narrow Focus with the 10/3 Rule
- Apply the 80/20 Rule to Maximize Results
Protect Energy for High-Impact Leadership
Visionary leaders are not just managing time. They are managing energy, focus, and who they are becoming in the process.
The truth is, your calendar can be packed with priorities, but if your energy is scattered or depleted, even your best efforts will fall flat.
The most impactful leaders I have worked with and coached are not the ones who say yes to everything. They are the ones who protect the right yeses.
They understand that their greatest ROI does not come from hustling harder. It comes from aligning their energy with their mission and clearing the distractions that dilute their brilliance.
One of my favorite examples? A former mentor of mine who built an eight-figure company without ever working past 3 PM. Her secret? She structured her days around her energy peaks. She delegated everything that drained her focus. And she left space in her week for creative thinking, spiritual alignment, and relationships that fueled her, not drained her.
That is the kind of leadership I help my clients create. Inside the Clear to Create™ Method, we do not just organize your to-do list. We clear the inner clutter, emotional residue, and subconscious patterns that create burnout in the first place.
Because time management without energy alignment is like driving a Ferrari with the parking brake on. It looks good, but you are still burning out.
If you are a leader, ask yourself:
Where am I spending time out of obligation instead of alignment?
Where is my energy leaking through people-pleasing, perfectionism, or outdated patterns?
And what would be possible if I cleared all of that, so I could lead from clarity, not chaos?
Riana Malia
CEO | Founder, Clear to Create ~ Your Very Best Life
Build White Space for Strategic Thinking
One of the most powerful ways visionary leaders can manage their time and energy is by building and protecting white space — literal time blocks for strategic thinking, creative ideation, and recalibration. In fast-paced, high-output environments, it’s easy to stay stuck in reactive mode. But the leaders I admire most are intentional about slowing down just enough to see the big picture and move with clarity.
I once worked with a founder who built non-negotiable CEO time into her weekly calendar — no calls, no emails, no Slack. She used that window to think long-term, make key decisions, and keep the business aligned with its deeper mission.
Her team was more confident, her messaging was razor-sharp, and her launches consistently exceeded projections. Watching her operate taught me that time management isn’t just about being efficient — it’s about being protective of your energy. I’ve built that principle into my own business and teach my clients to do the same.
Kristin Marquet
Founder & Creative Director, Marquet Media
Prioritize High-Leverage Work for Maximum Impact
Being busy is easy — being effective takes discipline.
One strategy that I almost always rely on is relentless prioritization of high-leverage work. I block time weekly to identify the 2-3 most high-impact decisions that will move the needle most for our investors and team. I ensure that I am at my peak performance for those decisions before anything else.
I once worked with a leader who set this standard brilliantly. He would ask himself one thing every morning: “What would make today a win, even if I got nothing else done?” Watching him ignore unnecessary noise in favor of strategic partnerships and deal underwriting taught me that leadership is not about doing more but about choosing better.
My advice to all will be to treat your calendar like prime real estate. Don’t let trivial tasks squat on the space meant for the most impactful thinking.
Lon Welsh
Founder, Ironton Capital
Narrow Focus with the 10/3 Rule
One effective way leaders can manage their time and energy effectively is by significantly narrowing their focus, such as through the “10/3 Rule.” I learned about this strategy and witnessed it firsthand from a CEO and client. This strategy involves listing ten goals for a given period, identifying the top three, and deferring the rest so that only the greatest goals will receive all of the attention and resources during the given period of time.
My client made a list of ten initiatives for her company and then identified her three priorities for the financial quarter:
1. Renegotiating vendor agreements to reduce expenses
2. Focusing on targeted marketing campaigns in key markets
3. Enhancing product quality through stronger testing
By dedicating her time to only three initiatives for the quarter, she greatly improved the company’s financial performance quarter after quarter.
Sapana Grossi
Partner, Shah Grossi Law Firm
Apply the 80/20 Rule to Maximize Results
The goal isn’t to check off more boxes — it’s to make the right boxes really count.
Effective time management is all about focusing on things that truly move the needle. I have learned to balance long-term strategic thinking with what matters on a daily basis while being a wealth manager. The 80/20 rule is one of the key strategies that I rely on, where 80 percent of your results come from just 20 percent of your efforts. I make sure that I dedicate time each week to identify that critical 20 percent, whether it is client calls, important investments, or strategic meetings, and block out time for those regardless of all the emails or distractions that come along the way.
I once worked with a CEO who had mastered this strategy. He had a simple rule: he would jot down the top three things in the morning that would make his day a success, and everything else after that was secondary. He was laser-focused and never let his calendar get hijacked by trivial tasks. It was really impressive how much he could accomplish in a short time just because his priorities were crystal clear.
What I advise all the other leaders is that they should guard their time like it’s their most valuable asset, and don’t let other things steal their energy. Time is the only thing that you can never get back, so make sure you spend it on things that truly advance your goals. Prioritize, delegate, and sometimes, just say “no” to distractions. It’s not about being busy 24/7; it’s more about being smart with how you spend your time.
Harold Wenger Jr.
Partner, Wealth Manager, Kingsview Partner