🇬🇧 Reflect and Kill 5: How to Get 5 Hours Back Next Week

00:00:04: Nowadays, in many cases time is the scarce resource.

00:00:08: Nine out of ten leaders don't delegate enough.

00:00:14: Reflect and kill five.

00:00:17: Kill five hours off work next week!

00:00:27: Hello and welcome to today's Lightwolf Podcast episode.

00:00:31: My name is Stefan.

00:00:32: I'm your podcast host To Lightwolf Your podcast for leading with impact And Todays Episode Is called Reflect and kill five.

00:00:43: How to get five hours back next week?

00:00:48: I don't know how you perceive the world, The business world in a word of work these days.

00:00:55: What many our clients perceive as well is ever-increasing complexity meaning more things understand before making good decision More things interconnected with each other that we need to understand also in the way they influence each other before you can make a good decision.

00:01:17: More and more change happening simultaneously, In two thousand fifteen on average an employee in their business world perceived two transformations per year.

00:01:28: In twenty-twenty five so just ten years later They didn't perceive too but Ten parallel transformations throughout one business year.

00:01:37: The source here is McKinsey And I think it's plausible to reflect about these striking numbers.

00:01:44: Increasing geopolitical uncertainty, straight-off Hormuz open, straight off Hormu's closed.

00:01:53: Tariffs up tariffs down.

00:01:56: this influences businesses.

00:02:00: if you run a team If your on the brand of your run a company that depends in certain parts of your business and international exports.

00:02:09: maybe Export business to China, maybe you export business to the United States.

00:02:15: Then of course You are influenced by all these geopolitical Factors and it influences your profitability Your revenues your entire business line.

00:02:25: so this is Putting more pressure and stress on many people More and more uncertain factors you have to deal with as a leader creating the feeling that you have less and less time which is a very understandable feeling, although the fact is every day has twenty four hours and you can and must decide how to spend your time.

00:02:54: And in order to face this challenge I have brought some hot off-the-press experiences from wonderful young Woman doing a great job in one of our clients and three thoughts on top for you to consider, To find better solutions how to invest your time smartly In today's volatile times.

00:03:15: First Mindset Your Time Belongs to You And No One Else.

00:03:23: Take Full Responsibility.

00:03:26: How You Spend Your Time How You Invest Your Time Your Time belongs to YOU and to no one else.

00:03:34: Even if sometimes in the heat of the fire, at the heat off-the daily business pressures maybe you'll feel oh shit I'm losing control over my time.

00:03:45: i have to do this... No!

00:03:48: You don't.

00:03:50: You choose what you want to do rather than feeling that your whole day gets eaten up by things because others want them right?

00:04:02: So that's the first tip, really reflect what time is.

00:04:08: Time IS your most precious resource.

00:04:12: Time is only non-renewable resource!

00:04:16: If you invest money and think in innovation... well shit happens.

00:04:22: if you learn from failure or learning to sink some money You might be able to find out how to cure this, how to reinvest and how to return the money tenfold.

00:04:37: So money you invest in glues can gain back.

00:04:42: however time once you've invested it is gone for good.

00:04:49: When I was a young manager joining a marketing company now at standing company Now joined my first ever budget meeting for a very well-known baby care brand all around the world.

00:05:01: We spent the whole day preparing and discussing decisions on how to invest resources, A couple of times people talked about money not as single time that People talk about Time because at that time three decades ago Money was the scarce resource compared To time.

00:05:20: nowadays The balance in scarcity Of resources between money And time is tilting and shifting.

00:05:28: nowadays in many cases, Time is the scarce resource.

00:05:32: How else can you explain that?

00:05:35: thirty years ago probably every single IPO happened with companies who were already making money?

00:05:43: They are profitable before they went to the stock exchange.

00:05:47: Nowadays probably eighty percent of the IPOs happen when companies are still red.

00:05:55: They didn't even break through, they don't even breakeven yet.

00:06:00: They lose money like SpaceX lost five billion in the quarter before they went IPO.

00:06:07: but hope and expectation is so high that it works right?

00:06:12: So the IPO was done despite a big loss in the Quarter Before And again I think one of underlying factors on this time has become the scarce resource.

00:06:25: Your time belongs to you.

00:06:27: Take full responsibility for how you invest it and don't invest your time.

00:06:32: Second, value your time.

00:06:36: It's precious!

00:06:37: It deserves your care, it deserves your awareness including saying no.

00:06:45: And here comes the example hot of the press from just yesterday.

00:06:49: Since a couple years we are supporting a company in the haircare industry also on strategy.

00:06:56: And the business we talk about now had maybe a two percent profit margin before we started this strategy work, not only the strategy but probably it helped as at least our client is convinced that it helps.

00:07:13: Two years later let the margin to quintuple more than ten percent in between Our partner, one of our partners.

00:07:22: One of the members Of The Business team went on maternity leave Returned full-time is back in charge and told us In the kind of catch up call yesterday.

00:07:35: Guys I'm not even sure i can share this But im working two hours less now every day And Im delivering these same positive results.

00:07:46: And i received those same positive feedback as before With Two Hours Less Every single day.

00:07:52: and of course that made us curious.

00:07:54: We wanted to understand how do you this?

00:07:57: And the response was three-fold.

00:07:59: first attend fewer meetings.

00:08:03: She explained it before her baby break.

00:08:06: she Attended almost every meeting that she was invited, too Where a topic was on the agenda that was related to the business.

00:08:15: now having returned She is declining some of those meetings Even though they are related to her business even though it might be interesting for her to attend, but despite this she assesses the value of being created.

00:08:31: Related with cost-of-her time and she says no much more than before break.

00:08:40: so you don't have to attend every meeting your invited too.

00:08:44: The idea is attend fewer meetings.

00:08:47: second she eliminated Reloops and reloops of well-intended controls over the functions.

00:08:58: Her own team members came to her handset, thank you!

00:09:02: And now I'm going back to function B & C. just check second or third time whether they understand... ...whether then have all their need for

00:09:11: contribution.".

00:09:12: She said.

00:09:13: no.. You don't stop that.

00:09:16: we've had our meetings We have taken clear decisions, we've given clear responsibility for results and quality in timings to others.

00:09:28: To other functions that didn't ask any questions so they are all fully equipped with what they need.

00:09:36: So you do not go and check anything without being asked.

00:09:41: Save That Time Invest That Time into Other More Value Adding Work So much more consistent on keeping accountability where it is and then investing time into other things.

00:09:53: And the third thing she does now, more frequently as using AI.

00:09:58: before the break She still did quite a number of presentations herself putting it together Formating editing analyzing Now?

00:10:07: She uses the same kind of information charges it in to an AI and back she receives a formatted, analyzed proper and straight full-deck presentation as nowadays is the norm.

00:10:20: And again of course that saves time probably half an hour or an hour every single day.

00:10:26: so two hours a day.

00:10:27: well done few meetings.

00:10:29: keep responsibility where it belongs.

00:10:32: use AI to really save your time.

00:10:36: three is own new habit mine.

00:10:40: months ago I started Something that is now a routine.

00:10:46: I call it reflect and kill five, kill five hours of work next week.

00:10:52: It happens every Friday morning at seven o'clock.

00:10:55: i am an early bird so have an early biorhythm.

00:10:58: typically go to bed between ten and ten thirty p.m.. At night?

00:11:03: I typically wake up at Five.

00:11:06: forty-five six fish in the morning And on Friday morning The first thing I do Every Friday is reflect and kill five.

00:11:14: What does that mean?

00:11:15: First, I reflect how was last week... How productive was I last week...?

00:11:22: ...What did i do well as a

00:11:23: leader?...

00:11:24: How can i do more of

00:11:25: it?..

00:11:26: what did i not do well this week as a

00:11:28: Leader?...

00:11:29: How will i fix

00:11:29: it?...How

00:11:30: would i improve

00:11:30: it?...

00:11:31: And looking at next week..how will i take five hours off work that are currently in my diary

00:11:38: out-of-my-diary?...

00:11:39: So if i look at the week And I ask myself, where can I delegate more?

00:11:45: Nine out of ten leaders don't delegate enough.

00:11:51: They could and they should delegate more than they do.

00:11:54: so the first thing i consider is who in my team are eighteen people in seven different countries or great People Who Could Take Some Of The Work Out Of My Diary That's Currently Planned To Be Done By Myself Delegate.

00:12:08: Second Diminish Sometimes I invest too much time into producing a level of quality that is more than needed.

00:12:17: Diminish the quality to good enough, not more then good enough and again it can shave off half an hour here It can shave often our there And it helps me save time diminish to the quality.

00:12:28: That Is Good.

00:12:29: Enough Delay.

00:12:31: i Then delay some work by An Hour or By A day Or By Week Or Maybe Even By A Month Without jeopardizing our annual results or any client satisfaction.

00:12:42: delay work and finally, finally deactivate this activate kill work.

00:12:50: Yeah maybe a month ago Maybe you week ago that project number three was still important enough to be on our project list.

00:12:59: but now having learned what we've learnt is weak.

00:13:01: yeah onboarding new clients these days.

00:13:04: We win new projects, I'm onboarding team members in the team.

00:13:08: now we just managed to convince and win someone on that team who has led eleven countries in Asia is currently living in Malaysia Kuala Lumpur.

00:13:18: so we strengthen our asia competence.

00:13:21: he's coming in And i spend time there rather than some small little administrative act.

00:13:27: That Is not really adding a lot of value To our company's future.

00:13:33: So it works.

00:13:35: And last week I managed to save a lot of time by turning a business trip that was planned by car, five hours there and five hours back into the business trip executed by train.

00:13:48: It took me an hour more every way but I was able to sit down and properly do some high quality work rather than just doing phone calls That were off lower importance in this high-quality Working on the system, working for my clients.

00:14:03: Working people to join our team.

00:14:07: So this is the idea and The mechanism I use Is where next week can i free up time?

00:14:15: Where Next Week Can I delegate?

00:14:18: Diminish Delay or destroy?

00:14:22: And since six months Every Friday morning I kill at least five hours.

00:14:29: If you are interested to see this hack, the tools.

00:14:34: To see four T powerful simple practical leadership tools that were collected by my team and myself over our careers And then help You become a more effective leader A more impactful leader Save costs save time and drive your business.

00:14:50: Then have look at Lightwolf Academy.

00:14:52: It's one year self-steered program where you See six different courses from leading people to leading yourself, to leading your boss all the way.

00:15:02: To leading strategically short compact learning videos our best tools tasks Learning controls and six times a year one hour of coaching with me virtually Zincron.

00:15:16: live With all members of Lightwolf Academy where you bombard me with your toughest questions.

00:15:22: if that sounds interesting If you, like so many others want to become a stronger leader then have a look in the show notes and join us at Lightwolf Academy looking forward to welcoming you.

00:15:34: So let's summarize!

00:15:36: In summary...in net three things you can do.

00:15:41: one attitude your time belongs to YOU and to no-one else.

00:15:48: take full responsibility for how you.

00:15:51: invested.

00:15:52: two Value your time, including by saying no.

00:15:58: And three, reflect and kill five hours of work next

00:16:04: week.".

00:16:05: If you do like this podcast then be so kind.

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00:16:28: Thank you so much for dialing in today, I hope you've enjoyed it!

00:16:32: I wish you a fantastic week... ...and i can't wait to welcome again here at the Lightwolf Podcast.

00:16:38: thankyou & take care.