Reclaim Your Time: Design Your Perfect Week

Inspired by Dan Martell’s “Buy Back Your Time”

As an entrepreneur, your days are often filled with meetings, emails, and endless to-do lists that keep you from focusing on the high-impact activities that will drive your business forward. Dan Martell’s book, Buy Back Your Time, offers a framework to help you reclaim control of your time and design a week that not only increases your productivity but also allows you to focus on what truly matters.

In this blog, we’ll explore how you can apply Martell’s strategy to design your perfect week, giving you the time and freedom to focus on what you love while ensuring your business thrives.

Step 1: Start with a Time Audit

Before you can design your ideal week, it’s crucial to understand where your time is currently going. According to Martell, a time audit is the best way to get a clear picture of how your day is divided. For a week, track everything you do in 15-minute increments. While this may seem tedious, it’s an eye-opener for spotting inefficiencies and time drains.

Many entrepreneurs discover they spend hours on tasks that could be automated or delegated. For instance, if you’re an interior designer, you might find you’re spending too much time responding to emails or coordinating with suppliers—tasks that could easily be handled by an assistant or project manager.

Step 2: Identify Your Zone of Genius

Martell emphasizes the importance of focusing on what he calls your zone of genius—the activities that align with your strengths, passion, and the areas where you add the most value. These are the tasks that light you up and push your business forward.

As an entrepreneur, this might be the creative work that only you can do, like developing new design concepts for clients, setting the strategic direction of your company, or fostering relationships with high-profile clients. Once you’ve identified your zone of genius, you can start planning your week around it, ensuring you dedicate the majority of your time to these high-impact activities.

Step 3: Create Time Blocks for Focused Work

Martell encourages entrepreneurs to adopt a time-blocking strategy to protect their most valuable work. Time blocking involves scheduling specific blocks of time for different activities, and then protecting that time with absolute discipline.

Here’s how to break it down:

1. Deep Work Blocks: Reserve uninterrupted time for your zone of genius. Whether it’s designing interiors, crafting a business strategy, or brainstorming new ideas, this time should be dedicated to activities that require focus and creativity.
2. Admin and Low-Impact Tasks: Schedule time for emails, administrative work, and meetings during less productive hours of the day. By containing these activities in time blocks, they don’t spill over into your creative or strategic time.
3. Buffer Time: Always include buffer time between meetings or projects to reset, catch your breath, or handle unexpected tasks. Without this, one task bleeding into the next can result in unnecessary stress.
4. Self-Care Time: Don’t forget to schedule time for personal activities that recharge you, whether it’s exercise, meditation, or simply unwinding. As Martell stresses, entrepreneurship is a marathon, not a sprint, and self-care is vital for long-term success.

Step 4: Delegate and Automate

One of Martell’s key lessons is to delegate or automate anything that’s outside your zone of genius. After your time audit, identify tasks that can be handed off to others or streamlined through technology. For instance, automating client appointment scheduling, outsourcing bookkeeping, or using project management software can free up hours every week.

For interior designers, tasks like coordinating with suppliers or tracking budgets can be delegated to assistants, while systems like automated client invoicing can be implemented to reduce the amount of hands-on admin work.

Step 5: Build Your Ideal Weekly Template

With all this information, it’s time to design your perfect week. Martell advises creating a weekly template that outlines your activities in a structured way. This template should be flexible, but it acts as your roadmap, ensuring that your time is spent intentionally.

For example, your week might look something like this:

• Monday:
  • Morning: Deep work on design projects or client strategy
  • Afternoon: Team meetings and project updates
  • Evening: Review financials and future planning
• Tuesday:
  • Morning: Client meetings and presentations
  • Afternoon: Personal time for exercise or self-care
  • Evening: Creative work (brainstorming or sketching new designs)
• Wednesday:
  • Morning: Admin tasks (emails, invoicing)
  • Afternoon: Buffer time for unforeseen tasks
  • Evening: Deep work on long-term projects or learning new design trends
• Thursday:
  • Morning: Business development (networking, client outreach)
  • Afternoon: Team meetings or delegating tasks
  • Evening: Personal time with family
• Friday:
  • Morning: Reflective time (review week’s performance, plan next week)
  • Afternoon: Open block for flexibility or deep work
  • Evening: Free time for rest and recharge

Step 6: Reflect and Adjust

Finally, designing your perfect week is an ongoing process. At the end of each week, review how well your time blocks and systems worked. Were there any distractions? Did you stick to your deep work time? What could be improved?

Martell suggests continuous reflection and adjustments to your schedule to refine your system. As your business evolves, so too will your needs, and it’s important to adapt your schedule to remain aligned with your goals and priorities.

Final Thoughts: Building a Week that Works for You

Designing your perfect week is not about cramming more tasks into your schedule; it’s about intentionally creating time for the things that matter most. As Dan Martell points out, buying back your time isn’t about simply being productive; it’s about freeing yourself from low-impact work so that you can focus on your passions, creativity, and well-being.

By auditing your time, focusing on your zone of genius, and creating systems that support your success, you can design a week that leads to both business growth and personal satisfaction. For interior designers and other creative entrepreneurs, this approach will not only increase your efficiency but also allow you to enjoy the process of running your business while focusing on what truly brings you joy.

So, how will you design your perfect week?