Kazakis recommends thinking of three things at the end of each day which need to be achieved the following day, rather than writing a long list of 50 tasks.
“The classic to-do list is always going to be long and ugly,” he says.
“Finish each day with the confirmation of the three most important things to be achieved on tomorrow’s list… resist the temptation to do this at the start of the day. The better you get at this the more productive you will be in the AM hours when the energy and momentum is ripe.
A constant flood of emails throughout the day is a major distraction. Kazakis and Gleeson recommend setting aside time to answer emails, and then avoiding them for the remainder of the day.
Kazakis recommends making time for emails in your default diary.
“Avoid reading and replying to your emails/calls as a first activity syndrome,” he says.
Another major time waster is unproductive meetings, but Kazakis says this can be easily avoided if the meeting is properly planned and run to a strict timeline.
“I get someone to write down the three most relevant things to discuss. There needs to be an agenda by minutes,” he says.
“On Wednesdays I used to have a management meeting with a team which drove an hour and a half to get here, but each week we started at 4:30pm sharp. It proved to them that they could manage their time better and be punctual even with a 90 minute drive. We now run this meeting online. There also should be an action plan distributed at the end of each meeting.”
Being a business owner it’s easy to forget about maintaining a balanced life and exercise often falls by the wayside, but Gleeson says it’s important to maintain some balance and perspective.
“You’ve got to have a work-life balance. Business owners don’t need to be there 24/7 if they have the right management structures in place,” he says.
“My brother is a business owner and he works seven days a week and I tell him ‘why not take Wednesday morning or afternoon off’, but he’s always saying ‘I’ve got to be hands on, I’ve got to be there’, but you need a structure which allows you to incorporate balance.”
