The 3 Biggest Secrets of the Greatest Time Masters

You get 168 hours every week.

Sleep takes about 50.
Work takes about 40.

That leaves 78 discretionary hours.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Your life is not determined by your intentions. It’s determined by how you use those 78 hours.

Two people can have the same talent, same opportunity, same intelligence. The one who uses time better will win — every time.

And quite frankly, most people don’t use their time very well.  Three types of people in particular.  

Yet most people fall into one of three traps:

1. The Procrastinator

“Procrastination is like a credit card. It’s fun… until you get the bill.”
And the bill always comes due — in stress, missed opportunities, and regret.

2. The Workaholic

They brag about 4 a.m. wakeups and midnight shutdowns.
But here’s the danger: you can succeed professionally and still fail personally.
If your success costs you your health, your marriage, or your peace of mind — that’s not success. That’s misalignment.

3. The Time Drifter

They live in constant distraction.
Slack pings.
Email notifications.
“Got a minute?” conversations that turn into 25.
They don’t run their day — their day runs them.

But there’s a fourth type.

4. The Time Master.

And it comes down to three letters:

A.C.T.

Align. Communicate. Tackle.

1.  ALIGN

Line up your calendar with what you say matters most.

Here’s a hard question:

If someone studied your calendar for the past 30 days…
Would they know what matters to you? Or would they be confused because you say one thing and do another?

If you say, for example, that your health is important but you “don’t have time” to exercise… you’re not aligned.
If you say your marriage matters but you scroll at night instead of connecting… you’re not aligned.
If you say growth matters but you don’t invest time in learning… you’re not aligned.

Practical Step:

Take 15 minutes this week and write what matters most in these areas:

• Physical
• Financial
• Occupational
• Relational
• Emotional
• Mental
• Spiritual
• Recreational

Then ask yourself daily:

“Is what I’m doing right now aligned with what I said matters?” If it doesn’t, then DON’T DO IT.

You need to stay on track if you’re going to be a Time Master. And that’s not always easy. Research shows we get interrupted about every 11 minutes.

So before saying yes to the next interruption, ask: “Is this more important than what I’m already doing?”

If yes — pivot.
If no — protect your time.

Alignment is a discipline. Not a feeling.

2.  COMMUNICATE

You cannot expect people to respect your time if you don’t teach them how.

Teaching them how starts with setting boundaries.

Example: When someone says, “Got a minute?”
Instead of automatically surrendering your time, say:

“I’ve got three minutes right now — let’s focus.”

That small sentence sets a boundary and changes everything.

Teaching people how to respect your time also means saying no.  

As Mary Kay Ash, the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, said, “You can’t manage your time if you give it to everyone who asks for it.”  

But “no” is not an easy word to use.

So practice saying “no” in a friendly but matter-of-fact manner … without over explaining. No guilt. No apology for having other priorities.

Your “no” could be as simple as “Thanks for asking, but that doesn’t work for me right now.” 

Because if you give your time to everyone who asks, you’re not generous — you’re disorganized.

Boundaries aren’t selfish. They’re strategic.

3.  TACKLE

Time masters don’t hope distractions disappear.
They confront them.

Modern Time Wasters:

• Endless scrolling
• “Research” that turns into YouTube rabbit holes
• Checking email 40 times a day
• Avoiding hard conversations
• Thinking about a dreaded task instead of doing it

Here are four powerful habits:

1. Time-box your digital life.
   Before you open a browser, decide how long you’ll be there.

If you don’t set limits in advance, you will spend twice as much time as you thought you would.  Guaranteed!    

1. Turn off notifications.
   Every ping fractures your focus. Fragmented attention destroys productivity.

Limit your email checks to three specific times of the day. Period!

1. Do one unpleasant task early on.
   Most people waste more time thinking about dreaded tasks than actually doing them.  As someone said, “If you have to eat a fly, don’t look at it too long.”

When you get one or more of your most disliked jobs out of the way, you’ll build confidence and momentum for the rest of the day.  

1. Have stand-up meetings.
   If you’re still coming into the office with other people, meet people at the entrance to your cubicle, standing up. You get two benefits.  First, your conversation is guaranteed to be shorter, and second, you present a more personable image than that of a person behind a desk.
2. Have shorter meetings. 

Welcome people. Set up expectations. Start with, “We have 15 minutes — what outcome do we need?”

Time Masters are proactive, not reactive.

Here’s the Big Idea

Time is neutral.

It doesn’t reward intentions.
It rewards decisions.

And the quality of your next five years will be determined by how you manage your next five hours.

Your Challenge This Week

1. Block 30 minutes to define what truly matters.
2. Remove one major distraction.
3. Say “no” once where you would normally say “yes.”
4. Do one dreaded task before 10 a.m. tomorrow.

Don’t read this tip and move on.
ACT on it.

A Personal Invitation

In just a few weeks, I’ll be launching NEXT-LEVEL YOU: Communication, Confidence, and Leadership for Everyday Success.

We’ll go far deeper into Personal Peak Performance and Thriving Relationships — including:

• Meaningful purpose
• Relationship enhancers
• Positive mindset
• Trust building
• High-impact communication
• And the conflict skills of consistent achievers

This isn’t theory. It’s application.

And here’s the exciting part:

The pricing will be a complete no-brainer — typically programs like this sell for 10–20 times more.

Even if you attend only 20% of the live sessions, you’ll still receive:

• Access to all recordings
• All downloadable handouts
• Searchable access to decades of all books and Tuesday Tips
• Tools you can use for the rest of your life

This is not a short-term event. It’s long-term transformation.

If you want to register your interest (no commitment, no payment required), click here:

👉 https://join.drzimmerman.com/

Because mastering time isn’t about squeezing more into your life, it’s about building a life worth squeezing into.

Now go ACT.