Lessons From A Failed Founder #10: Time As Your Most Valuable Asset
How I wasted hours on absolutely nothing, and how I learnt to manage time like a pro. A quick guide for the modern founder.
Money comes, money goes. The same can be said for employees, investors and even co-founders. But life’s biggest caveat is that time doesn’t come back. Time spent is time gone. It doesn’t matter how much money you make; you can never buy back time. All of us mere mortals should be very aware of this inconvenience, so how come we keep wasting time?
I don’t even want to imagine how many hours, if not days, I wasted on petty arguments. On browsing Skyscanner whenever I felt like I deserved a break. On the most mundane tasks, things that I should have delegated to someone who would do it faster for less. I spent time like I spent money: Too much, with very little ROI.
I spent time like I spent money: Too much, with very little Return On Investment.
My co-founder was, and still is, this laser-focused guy who can keep his head low for hours, working at a complicated spreadsheet. Earbuds in, face on don’t disturb, door closed. He would lay his phone with its display down in the far corner of his desk, instantly creating an environment that promoted output. I would mock him, but it was just thinly-veiled jealousy.
One day he came to my desk, which was positioned smack in the middle of “the big room”, and asked me if I managed to put together our go-to-market strategy. I shrugged and told him I needed a few more days. He nodded and went back to work, back to his world of sums and v-lookups. I felt like an idiot. What have I done? Where did the time go?
Going through my browsing history, I learnt I spent about two out of ten hours a day on nothing. Facebook. Skyscanner. Facebook. Browsing apartments even though I didn’t need one. Facebook. A funny video. Online dating. Facebook. Twenty per cent of my time went up in smoke, with absolutely nothing to show for. What a waste.
Social media at work: Just imagine the loss of productivity across the entire company!
I set a terrible example for all of our colleagues. If the boss spends this much time on Facebook, imagine the loss of productivity across the entire company! Think of how much further I could’ve taken the startup had I spent 9,5 out of 10 hours on things that mattered. I asked my co-founder how he gets himself to focus, day in day out.
He taught me two very important things:
- Keep a task tracker for everything you need to do
- Block time in your calendar and stick with it!
As for his first rule, I would like to add that you should also keep track of every single little thing that comes in-between. You know, that quick phone call you have to make, that investor email that needs your immediate response. Don’t omit a single task, as this will helps you to keep a tab on the time you spent at things that matter.
Keep track of every single little thing that you need to do. From e-mails to elaborate reports: Write ’em down!
There are many good to-do tools out there, but my all-time favourite is todoist. The app allows you to quickly pencil in new ideas and task on the move. But, you don’t need to use a digital solution. My co-founder stuck to a simple piece of paper. Every day, he puts all of his thoughts, designs and to-do’s on a single sheet of A4.
As for blocking time in your calendar, I find it useful to limit meetings to 25 or 55 minutes. Don’t use your calendar as a task manager, that’s where software or old-fashioned paper come in. Instead, fill up your agenda with constructive meetings, phone calls with prospects, and -of course- valuable one-on-one’s with your beloved employees.
Every single person will try to take time from you. Be it an investor, employee, a journalist or a customer — you can spend a day doing nothing but helping out others. Or watching cat videos. Keep in mind the cost of lost opportunity, and the example you want to set for the entire company. Time is money. Time is everything. Time waits for nobody.
Time is your most valuable asset: Don’t let a minute go to waste.
Lessons From A Failed Founder is a series of blog posts by a thirty-something entrepreneur who made all the mistakes in the big startup playbook, and then some. My posts are no pearls of wisdom: Consider them the cautionary tales of a young founder who wants you to avoid making the same mistakes.
Feel free to reach out to me at failedfounder{AT}gmail.com
