This exercise is helpful for founders when they’re in The Pinch - when there is simply too much for any single human to do under the constraints of physical time. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and garbagey about yourself, especially if you’re feeling this way consistently, do a Time Audit:

Step 1: Define the critical functions of your role this quarter.

In this step, you’ll define the scope of your role this quarter. (I like to use a quarter as the time horizon for a time audit because I’ve found that most founders’ roles change from quarter-to-quarter.) You are naming the categories of tasks that will kill your company if you don’t do them. The output of this step is a list of 3-5 ‘buckets’ of responsibilities - you’re not yet defining the tasks that go into them (that happens in the next step).

I have found that founders who define more than 5 critical functions at a time suffer from paralyzing overwhelm. In their anxiety-fueled ‘need to do it all,’ they end up unable to do anything. So I encourage founders to prioritize ruthlessly and to define no more than 5 critical functions at a time. Remember that you’ll repeat this exercise regularly, so you can always deprioritize one function now and pick it back up later. 5 is the absolute maximum number of functions allowed here - ideally, it’ll be more like 3-4.

For example, the critical functions of CEO and CTOs whose headcounts are between ~7-30 can usually expect to output a list that looks like:

Another common critical function is: Fundraising. But this should only be on the CEO’s list during the quarter you are preparing to fundraise, or during the quarter(s) that you actually are. ‘Investor relations’ is not a critical function of your role, and likely never will be as long as you’re properly focused on the other items in your list.

*Leadership & Management should be on every founder’s list of critical functions as soon as you hire your first employee. This aspect of your role will never leave your list (and ‘hiring’ usually sticks around too). This function of a founder’s role is often forgotten or neglected in the early stages because founders don’t usually know what tasks fall into this category, to the perpetual detriment (and potential confusion, misalignment, and inefficiency) of all of your employees.

**Garbage Collection is my phrasing for the random admin/back-of-house bits and bobs that most CEOs handle before operational or finance hires are made. I encourage early-stage CEOs to add this category to their list because if you don’t proactively anticipate these tasks, you are likely to become frustrated, overwhelmed, and possibly resentful of them. Which makes it even harder to do them! I have worked with hundreds of early-stage CEOs who allow their garbage collection duties to ruin their mood and self-esteem. These truly are the small tasks that will kill you papercut by papercut - but only if you let them. Remember that sanitation workers are the invisible heroes of our society! They keep our cities disease-free and uncluttered so that everyone else can go about the tasks and passions of their day. If you can, find dignity in this aspect of your role. While ‘firefighting’ will likely be a part of your role for a long time, ‘garbage collection’ won’t last forever.

I have also worked with founders who called this category “Entropy” or “Chaos Management.” I find this to be is less descriptive and therefore less helpful but to each their own!

Step 2: Define what % of your time you should allocate to each category.

Next, define what percent of your time you should be spending on each category based off its critical importance to the company’s success right now. This should help you prioritize your time.

For example:

Keep in mind (again) that this % will change quarter by quarter. So if you’ll be spending the brunt of your time hiring this quarter, then ideally next quarter you’ll lop some time off the ‘hiring’ category and (probably) put it into the ‘leadership & management’ bucket, since you’ll have more people to do 1:1s with, maybe you’ll begin doing All-Hands, etc. Or maybe you’re still so early that ALL of your time will be spent on sales (for the CEO) and product (for the CTO) until you’ve have a strong enough growth rate to begin making a few hires.

Keep this exercise dynamic. Tailor it to your own quarterly goals and needs. Remember that it will change, so don’t be afraid to make a decision here and go with it.

Step 3: List the tasks in each category that you have to achieve this quarter.

What are the tasks you’ll be doing that will take up the time you’ve allotted? These are essentially your OKRs - your top-line objectives - that you’ll need to execute in order to stay on-track and to not kill your company.

Below is an example from a company whose headcount was ~25 at the time that we ran through this exercise in a coaching session, so keep in mind that it might not be relevant for you. Use it to guide your own thinking on what tasks you need to accomplish in each of the categories you’ve defined.

Step 4: Define how many hours per week you want to work.

Simply decide how many hours you’d like your workweek to be. 40? 60? 80? Try to think holistically and realistically here. Call to mind the needs of your self, your family, and/or your partner - they’ll need some of your time each week too. You are a person who is bigger than your startup, and your workweek should reflect this.

For the purposes of this exercise, I’m going to choose: 60.

Step 5: Do the math to define the number of hours your work week affords each category.

A 60-hour workweek affords the following number of hours in each category:

Before you move onto the next step, stop to do a quick gut check on the number of hours you spend on each of these categories now vs. the number of hours you’ve allotted to your priorities in this exercise. Can you honestly say you’re currently spending [x] hours a week actively working on growing and selling your product? Are you spending [x] hours per week working to resource, unblock, align, and support your team? And for CTOs - are you spending [x] hours per week hiring and not just shipping code?

If there’s a big difference between the output of this exercise so far and your lived reality - awesome. It’s great you caught yourself. Now it’s time to get back on track.

Step 6: Pull up your calendar - and start adjusting.

Now is the time to make some outward changes. Your calendar should literally reflect the number of hours you’ve dedicated to each category each week. And now that you’ve defined the tasks you need to complete within in each category, you know how to fill your time.

Take a look at your calendar: What do you need to do more of? What do you need to do less of? What meetings do you need to decline? What meetings do you need to add? What are you doing now that you need to delegate in order to focus on your priorities?

Keep in mind though that your calendar will always only reflect your scheduled time - usually the time you’ve already committed to others in the form of recurring or project-based meetings. However, it’s also likely that you’ll require unscheduled time to do deep, creative work, or that you’ll need to dedicate time for you to focus in on other priorities outside of your scheduled meetings.

So - clean up your calendar. Make it reflective of your priorities instead of other people’s need of you. Ruthlessly prioritize your calendar against your list. And know that making changes might require you to develop new skills as a manager. Here are a few of the tools in every founder’s toolbox that will make this step possible (future posts incoming):

Time Blocking: Creating blocks on your calendar that afford you time to accomplish your work. You will need to protect and defend these time blocks. Saying “no” to others allows you to say “yes” to your priorities. Keep in mind that your work (as we’ve defined it here) will make or break your company. It’s not that others’ needs aren’t important. It’s that your needs are just as important, and worth protecting. Many founders also create time blocks for their own personal time each week (i.e. ‘cook dinner with [hubs]’ or ‘Exercise.’). This is very good because you are a person who is more than your startup and making sure that your calendar reflects this is a way to maintain longevity and protect against burnout.
Delegating: As you remove meetings and obligations from your calendar, you may need to delegate ownership of the associated projects to someone else. Delegating is a trust exercise and a necessary skill for every founder. You may need to let some tasks be done less-well than they would if you were doing them yourself. Yes. Other people will do the work differently. At least the work will get done.
Deprioritizing: Deprioritizing work that isn’t in your top 5 list (when you don’t have anyone to delegate it to) is a necessary evil. It will often feel uncomfy. Remember that you’ll have an opportunity next quarter to pick this work back up if it’s important. Deprioritizing work maintains your focus on what’s most important for the future of your company this quarter.
Saying “No.”: Saying “no” is difficult for lots of founders. It’s a skill that takes practice. Remember that saying “no” is another way of saying “yes” to your own priorities. You may need to lean into your fear of disappointing others here - that’s okay. Remember you’re doing your best. If you feel afraid of disappointing others, or if you feel afraid that others may become angry at you when you say “no” to them - come to group office hours and talk this (very common!) psychological blocker through.

Step 7: Repeat every quarter.

... or at a major inflection point (like a fundraise), or whenever the critical functions of your role have changed. In my experience, the critical functions of most founders’ roles change every quarter as they make key hires and/or hit new growth or fundraising milestones. Even if nothing has changed, revisiting this exercise each quarter to make sure you’re proactively addressing your own priorities - while ruthlessly deprioritizing all others - is good practice.

Time Audit