If your days and weeks feel like a constant firefight, if you’re getting pulled from pillar to post, running around like a headless chicken, I want to help you understand how you can structure your week like a pro.
The Many Hats of a Business Owner
As a business owner, you wear multiple hats. Your hats change on a minute-by-minute basis, sometimes during the day from one meeting to the next.
One day you’re recruiting, the next day you’re problem-solving, the next day you’re trying to raise finance with the bank. The following day, you might be having an important meeting with a potential prospect.
That is the nature of the role. But the tricky thing can sometimes be getting clear on what hats you should be wearing, what hats you should not be wearing, and how long you should be wearing those hats.
Why You Need Clarity
So, how do you get clarity? How do you ensure that you are actually taking control of your week instead of letting your week be dictated by team members, suppliers, and problems?
Well, I’ve got a system that I want you to try. It’s called a default diary.
What is a Default Diary?
A default diary is essentially a system for helping you design your ideal week.
If you had a magic wand and could just wave it away, what would your perfect week look like? What would you do on a Monday morning, Monday afternoon, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and how would you chill on Sunday?
How would you distribute the various hats that you need to wear, and how much time would you want to spend wearing each of those hats?
That is what a default diary is. It’s a massively important tool because it allows you to:
A) regain control of your time
B) spend time on the things you know you are neglecting
When you’re firefighting, you are constantly dealing with urgent tasks. But the important and not urgent things—like strategy and leadership development—are the things that prevent future issues.
Regaining Control of Your Time
People often say they don’t have time for proactive work, yet they always find time to put out fires. I don’t want that for you. I want you to regain control of your time so that you can focus on the medium to long-term, while staying organised on the daily responsibilities that matter.
Step One: Do a Time Audit
Where do you start? The first thing is to gain a crystal-clear understanding of where your time is going. Do a time audit.
Look at what you have done over the last week and be really honest with yourself. If you need to, you might have to do a time in motion study to gain clarity. If not, simply write out a list of all the tasks you have done over the last week and how much time each took.
Then, identify which of those things you know deep down you shouldn’t be doing—because you are paying others to do them—and remove them from your list.
Chunking and Consolidating Tasks
Next, divide the remaining tasks into two camps.
- Tasks you need to do, but in a more structured way.
These can be chunked together. For example, instead of checking sales progress here and there, set one or two fixed blocks each week for sales management. - Tasks you aren’t doing consistently enough.
These need more focus. Once you know what they are, you can decide how much time should be allocated to them.
This process gives you the starting point to create your default diary.
Building Your Default Diary
Once you have your time audit, move to your digital diary. Program in the recurring activities that matter—like an ideal school timetable.
Ask yourself:
- When is the best time for thinking?
- When is the best time for strategy work?
- When should meetings, one-to-ones, and KPI reviews happen?
- When should you do recruitment?
By structuring your week this way, you replace reactive jumping around with intentional focus. If you want to dig deeper into managing time effectively, Marco has also shared his top 10 time hacks that can help you improve daily productivity.
Sticking to the System
Once it’s built, stick to it. Test it for a week or two, make adjustments, and refine it. It usually takes two or three attempts to build the perfect default diary as your self-awareness grows.
This system helps you:
- Take control of what you do and when
- Identify what should not be on your plate
- Improve productivity on the tasks that matter most
If it helps, sit with your team and explain the diary, asking them to respect your blocks of time.
Roll It Out Carefully
At this stage, many business owners get excited and want to roll out default diaries to their whole team. My advice—put your own gas mask on first.
Get it working for you. Build the discipline and the habit. Once it’s ingrained in your routine, then consider rolling it out across the business.
The Challenge
The process is simple:
- Do your time audit.
- Build your default diary.
- Stick to it with discipline.
It’s easy to set up but hard to stick to—and this is where discipline matters. Discipline equals freedom.
Get this in place, and you will achieve more than you ever thought possible.
If you feel this will help you, don’t wait until next week or two weeks. Start now. My challenge to you is: get it in place over the next couple of days.
And I promise, you’ll thank me for it.
See you next time on Mind Your Own Business.
Want More Support?
If you’ve found this useful, visit Marco Soares’ website for more business growth insights. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel for weekly advice.
If you struggle to stay focused on the right priorities, you may also want to read why focus is a superpower when it comes to leadership and business growth.
Please click the link to our latest video on: How To Structure Your Week Like A PRO: https://youtu.be/2lPHlaBeU-Q
