Highlights from her Training Program, 7 Time Management Best Practices of Highly Productive Leaders

Like most executives, professionals and business owners, you probably believe you don’t have enough time; however, did you know that within the last Century, we’ve actually gained extra time? The emergence of many new technologies in all industries has created vast efficiencies in our productivity and reduced the amount of time and effort it takes to do many of our tasks and jobs. Add to this, advances in healthcare that have increased our life expectancy to roughly 85 years, and the fact that it’s estimated that 1 in 9 baby boomers will live to be 100. So, if you’re near retirement age, you may have another 30 years of productive life ahead of you!

The reality is we’re gaining more time, not less. The issue is not whether we have enough time. The real issue is how we choose to spend the time we have.

Whether or not you believe you have enough time to get it all done, the simple truth is no one was born knowing how to manage time; Time management is a skill anyone can learn and is developed over time shaped by outside influences, our mindset and habits .

You have sales, operational and financial systems. Why don’t you have a time management system to monitor your productivity and measure the results you get with your time?

Highly Productive Leaders incorporate Time Management Best Practices into their daily schedule to create an effective and repeatable Time Management System that serves them every day. If you want to gain more productive time, follow these Time Management Best Practices to create a Time Management System that works for you.

1. Develop a Mindset for Success with Your Time

Highly Productive Leaders understand their thinking has an influence on their ability to get the best results with their time. When you allow your mind to be consumed with worry, doubt, fear, anger, guilt, petty grievances or resentment, you take your focus off your goals and don’t achieve as much as you want.

You control your thoughts and how you spend your time. Focus on your goals, what you intend to accomplish and your success, versus your worries and potential failure. You’ll reach your goals faster and gain control over your time.

2. Plan Your Day and Measure the Results You Achieve with Your Time

Highly productive leaders are committed to making the most of every moment. They create a game plan to know where they’re going. They start each day the night before knowing their priorities for the following day. During the day, they pay attention to what’s stopping them from reaching their goals and what they need to do to take action and move the needle forward. They monitor the results they achieve with their time. By keeping track of how they spend their time, they determine when they’re off course and take steps to get back on track.

3. Set Yourself Up for Easy Wins Every Day

Highly productive leaders review their daily priorities, choose the most urgent that will take the least amount of time and spend some time doing the fastest tasks on their priority list—a quick email response or phone call. They also stack meetings and activities to prevent wasted time and to increase their productivity . These leaders don’t live in their in-box. They do email following my 6-12-6 Rule, scheduling blocks of time to manage email.

One of my clients was spending 4 hours a day on email and couldn’t get his most important work done. After analyzing how he was spending his time, we discovered 60% of the email he was working on wasn’t even related to his highest priorities! I taught him my Triple Your Time Today Signature System incorporating the 6-12-6 Rule to help him to manage his email, focus on his highest priorities and accomplish his most important work. This simple change in his routine gained him 2 hours of productive time each day!

Now it’s time to take action.

If you commit to using one of these 3 Time Management Best Practices for at least 30 days, you’ll begin to create your own Time Management System and create new, productive habits. You’ll increase your productivity , solve your time management challenges and gain more time for your highest priorities and goals. 


Make these Time Management Best Practices your new Time Management System to achieve the best results with your time. If you change the way you spend your time, you will change your life.

Author's Bio: 

Kathryn McKinnon is a Harvard Business School executive coach, time management expert, bestselling author of Triple Your Time Today on Amazon, speaker and CEO of McKinnon & Company dedicated to helping executives, professionals and business owners achieve the best results with their time. More time management best practices are found in her Executive Coaching, Keynote and Signature Training Program 7 Time Management Best Practices of Highly Productive Leaders and her free training 20 Ways to Save Time at https://www.Kathryn-McKinnon.com . Contact Kathryn if you’re ready to reduce chaos and stress, add order to your day, boost your energy, improve your efficiency and explode your productivity!