Reclaim Your Freedom of Time with an Audit

The biggest mistake I made when I first started out?  Losing hours every week to low-value tasks. 

Do you do this? Maybe you think you know where your time goes, but without a proper time audit, you’re just guessing.

And let me tell you: guessing is bad for business.

Why you need a time audit (yes, you!)

Time is your most valuable resource, but most entrepreneurs spend it haphazardly. We get stuck in a loop of admin work, decision fatigue, and constant firefighting. You get stuck in the business instead of working on it.

This is where a time audit comes in. It forces you to confront the truth and ask:

Are you designing and growing your business?
Or,  are you drowning in tasks you shouldn’t be doing?

The audit gives you the data you need to eliminate, automate, and delegate so you can finally focus on designing an efficient, sustainable business?.

How to do a time audit (Clockwork style)

1. Track every task for a full week: 

Write down everything you do during your work hours. Be relentless – every meeting, email, and coffee refill counts. 

Pro tip: Use your calendar to log activities in real-time. If you miss anything, review your sent emails and call logs to fill in the gaps

2. Categorize your time using the 4Ds:
Inspired by Clockwork, you’ll group your tasks into four categories:

Doing: The hands-on, daily grind (emails, admin, tasks you should delegate).

Deciding: When you’re pulled into decisions but still the bottleneck (approving, reviewing).

Delegating: When you assign tasks to others but still oversee them.

Designing: The gold standard. Designing is strategic, creative work that scales your business.

Goal: Maximize your time spent in Designing and Delegating. Minimize Doing and Deciding.

3. Eliminate, Automate, and Delegate:

Once you categorize your week, it’s time to:

Automate repetitive processes (think: payment reminders, scheduling, email sequences).

Delegate tasks to employees, contractors, or automation tools.

Reallocate your reclaimed hours to high-impact activities.

What not to do

Don’t assume you already know where your time goes. You don’t until you see it on paper

Don’t track only the big stuff. Small, repetitive tasks (like checking Slack every 15 minutes) are the hidden time killers.

Don’t skip the elimination phase. Cutting out unnecessary work is just as powerful as delegating.

Why this matters for your business

When you run your business with intentionality, you unlock freedom and scalability. Here’s why:

Time audits = data-driven decisions. You’ll stop making choices based on gut feelings and start optimizing based on facts.

More design time = more growth. The less you do, the more you can design systems that scale.

Clockwork principles in action. This is exactly what Clockwork teaches: how to build a business that runs itself—so you can finally step away and enjoy the freedom you started this whole thing for.

If this process hits home, you need to read Clockwork. It’s your complete playbook for transforming your business into a self-sustaining machine. You’ll learn:

• How to run a time audit that reveals exactly where you’re wasting hours.
  

• Strategies to delegate effectively without micromanaging
  

• The art of “Design Time”? Freeing yourself up for high-level, creative, and strategic work.
  

Final thought:

As Stephen R. Covey said, “The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.”

A time audit is your first step toward freedom and efficiency. It’s not about working harder, it’s about working smarter. And when you master your time, you master your business.

Keep scaling – You’ve got this.

-Mike

PS – You asked, and I listened. My new book on personal finance is in the works! Get on the list for The Money Habit and get the inside scoop on life-changing cash systems! CLICK HERE

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