If you’re a business owner, you know that there’s a conventional 40 hour week. There’s approximately 2, 080 working hours in a year. But how you spend your 8,760 hours each year can change your business and your life.

Your Time Is Money

I’m sure you’ve heard, “We all have the same 24 hours in a day.” However, I don’t really buy into this philosophy. Millionaires, and even billionaires, use their time differently. While I don’t personally know any of these, I’m certain that they are protective of their time. Most importantly, it’s not the number of hours they spend, it is how they allocate their time. However, most of us don’t know how much time we even spend working or sleeping. So how could you possibly allocate your time well? This is an important question for any business owner.

How Much Time Did You Spend Working Last Year?

If you’re like me, you probably don’t know how much time you spent working last year. However, you can decide what you want that amount of time to be this year. Here is how I think you can do this.

First, begin to measure how much time you spend doing things. I recommend using the Time & Energy Audit from our BlueprintOS to not only track this, but to track the value of the time you spend. Then, set a limit on how much time you want to spend working. If you’re familiar with Parkinson’s Law, then you know the theory is that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion.

No matter what, the amount of time you decide to spend on something is at least how long it will take. So set your hours wisely.