Stop Chasing Efficiency: Why Your Time Management Strategy is Failing You
By Derek — Money isn't complicated. People just make it complicated. ·
It’s Not About the Calendar
I spent five years at Goldman. If there’s one thing that place teaches you, it’s that people are obsessed with the aesthetics of being busy. Everyone is running around with a color-coded Google Calendar, back-to-back meetings, and a to-do list that looks like a scroll from a medieval epic.
Here’s the truth: Most people aren't "bad at time management." They’re just managing their time based on a lie. They think that if they pack every 15-minute slot with a task, they’re winning. They’re not. They’re just accelerating their own burnout.
Money isn’t complicated. People make it complicated. The same applies to your day. You don’t need a new productivity app, a complex Notion template, or a fancy habit tracker. You need to stop treating your time like a budget and start treating it like a high-stakes investment portfolio.
The “F1 Approach” to Your Schedule
I’ve been watching F1 religiously for years. If you watch a race, you’ll notice something interesting: it’s not the car that’s moving the fastest for the longest amount of time that wins. It’s the team that executes the pit stops with surgical precision and knows exactly when to push the engine to its limit versus when to conserve tires.
Most of you are redlining your engine in the first five laps. You show up on Monday morning and try to sprint through a pile of emails. By Wednesday, you’re hitting the wall. By Friday, you’re coasting and calling it “admin day.”
Stop trying to be high-performance 24/7. It’s physically impossible. Instead, identify your “Performance Windows.” For me, that’s 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM. That’s when I do my deep work—building financial models, writing strategy for clients, or working on my own business growth. Everything else? That happens after. If I try to do technical work at 4:00 PM, I’m just wasting my own time.
The Art of the 'Strategic No'
At my practice, I tell my clients the same thing: if you say 'yes' to everything, you’re saying 'no' to the things that actually move the needle.
Early in my career, I felt like I had to be in every meeting, every networking breakfast, and every after-work drink. I thought that was being a “team player.” Looking back, it was just vanity. I was filling time to feel important. When I left the firm, I realized that nobody cared if I was at the 4:00 PM update meeting. They cared about the quality of the insights I delivered when I was actually working.
Audit your week. Look at your calendar. How many of those meetings could have been a three-sentence email? How many of those “syncs” were just people talking to hear their own voices? If it doesn’t directly contribute to your bottom line or your personal growth, cut it. Your time is an asset. Stop spending it like it’s a bottomless bank account.
Ruthless Prioritization (The 80/20 Rule)
You’ve heard of the Pareto Principle before—80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. But do you actually live by it?
Most people know it, but they ignore it because the 80% is easier. Answering emails is easier than closing a high-value client. Organizing your desktop folders is easier than drafting a new service offering. We hide in the easy tasks to avoid the uncomfortable ones.
Here’s how you fix this: 1. The Daily Three: Every morning, write down the three things that, if completed, would make the day a win. Not ten things. Three. 2. Eat the Frog: Do the hardest, most uncomfortable thing first. Period. If you start your day by clearing the biggest obstacle, the rest of the day is just clearing the deck. 3. Protect the Boundary: If you’re in a deep work block and someone tries to pull you into a “quick chat,” you have to be comfortable saying, “I’m focused on a priority project right now, can we touch base at 2:00 PM?” You aren’t being rude; you’re being professional.
Don't Forget to Live
Look, I love the grind. I love the business I’ve built since leaving Goldman. But I also love Charlotte, I love my downtime, and I love catching a race on Sunday. If you manage your time effectively, you don’t have to sacrifice your life for your work.
Efficiency isn't about doing more things; it’s about doing the right things so you can finish your day and actually disconnect. When you leave the office—or close your laptop—do it with a clear conscience. You finished your 'Daily Three.' You did the work that mattered. The rest is just noise.
Stop complicating your schedule. Audit your inputs, protect your focus, and be ruthless about what gets a seat at your table. It’s your life, not a race where the person with the most laps wins. It’s about the quality of your performance on the track.
Got a calendar that’s driving you crazy? Shoot me a message. Let’s look at where the leaks are and get your time back. It’s easier than you think.