The 4 CEO Time Buckets
Every hour of your work week falls into one of four categories. Knowing which bucket you are in at any moment is the first step to spending time well.
- Strategy: Thinking about where the business is going. Market positioning, service development, partnerships, long-term planning. This is work that shapes the next 6 to 18 months.
- Sales and Business Development: Bringing in new revenue. Prospecting, proposals, pitches, networking, content that generates leads. This is the engine.
- Team and Leadership: Managing people. Hiring, coaching, performance conversations, culture, team meetings. This scales your capacity.
- Admin and Operations: Keeping things running. Invoicing, emails, tools, processes, compliance. Necessary but should shrink over time.
Ideal Allocation at Different Revenue Stages
The right time split changes as your business grows. Here is a rough guide. Your situation may vary, but the direction should hold.
| Revenue Stage |
Strategy |
Sales/BD |
Team |
Admin |
| $0 to $100K |
10% |
50% |
10% |
30% |
| $100K to $300K |
15% |
40% |
20% |
25% |
| $300K to $500K |
20% |
35% |
25% |
20% |
| $500K to $1M |
25% |
30% |
30% |
15% |
| $1M+ |
30% |
25% |
35% |
10% |
How to Track Your Time for a Week
Before you can fix your time allocation, you need to see where it actually goes. For one full work week, track every block of 30 minutes. Label each block as Strategy, Sales/BD, Team, or Admin. Use a simple spreadsheet, a notebook, or a time-tracking app. Do not try to change your behaviour during the tracking week. Just observe.
Common Traps Founders Fall Into
Watch for these patterns. They are the most common ways founders end up spending 80% of their time on operational work.
- The "I will just do it myself" trap: It feels faster now, but every task you keep is a task that never gets delegated. The short-term speed costs you long-term freedom.
- The inbox trap: Spending the first 2 hours of every day in email means your best energy goes to other people's priorities.
- The client delivery trap: Staying hands-on with every project because "no one does it as well as I do." This caps your revenue at your personal capacity.
- The meeting trap: Saying yes to every meeting because it feels productive. Most meetings can be an email, a Loom, or a 15-minute standup.
- The "urgent" trap: Spending all day reacting to what feels urgent instead of doing what is actually important. Important work rarely screams for attention.
Your Personal Allocation Plan
Based on your current revenue stage and the traps you identified, write your target time allocation and the specific changes you will make this week to move towards it.