Use Your Time Like a CEO

article Nov 01, 2025

If you run a business, chances are your to-do list never ends. You’re spinning a dozen plates - finance, clients, sales, content, operations - and it feels like if you stop for even a second, everything will collapse.

Sound familiar?

I hear this from founders every week:

“I’m so overwhelmed I don’t even know where to start.”
“I’m busy all the time, but I’m not growing.”

The truth is, most business owners aren’t lazy or disorganised. They’re just focusing on the wrong things.

The Eisenhower Matrix is a deceptively simple framework that helps you decide what really deserves your time - and what doesn’t.

 

What Is the Eisenhower Matrix?

It divides your work into four categories based on importance and urgency:

  1. Do: Urgent and important tasks that only you can handle.
  2. Decide: Important but not urgent - the strategic work that drives growth.
  3. Delegate: Urgent, but not important - things that need doing, but not by you.
  4. Delete: Neither urgent nor important - the busywork that distracts you from growth.

When you map your daily tasks into these four boxes, clarity hits fast. You start to see how much of your energy is being drained by things that don’t actually move your business forward.

Let’s Apply It to Real Business Scenarios

DO - Business Critical

Handle within 24-48 hours.

  • Approving large expenses or vendor contracts
  • Managing client disputes or refunds
  • Solving tech issues that impact customers
  • Final prep for a major event or workshop

These protect your revenue, reputation, and relationships - they stay on your desk.

DECIDE - Growth Driving

Plan and protect time for these.

  • Reviewing your pricing or offers
  • Evaluating lead sources and conversions
  • Planning a 90-day marketing campaign
  • Assessing your brand positioning
  • Vision setting and growth planning

This is CEO work - not urgent, but the highest-value thing you can do.

DELEGATE - Operational

Create SOPs. Train once. Step out.

  • Researching leads or updating your CRM
  • Formatting proposals or scheduling posts
  • Creating client decks or chasing invoices

Holding onto these slows growth and drains energy. Your job is to empower others to take them off your plate.

DELETE - Distractions

Would anything break if you stopped doing it?

  • Attending low-value networking events
  • Saying yes to “visibility” with no ROI
  • Sitting in unnecessary meetings
  • Obsessing over analytics you never use

These are time fillers, not growth drivers. Be ruthless.

The Goal: Fewer Tasks, Bigger Impact

Smart founders grow faster because they spend their time in the top two boxes - Do and Decide. They protect time for strategic thinking, delegate operations confidently, and delete distractions without guilt.

Ask yourself: “Which of my daily tasks truly deserve me?”

Once you answer that, growth becomes much easier.

Try It This Week

Print out the Eisenhower Matrix or grab the free Female Fusion cheat sheet. List everything on your plate - and sort it into the four boxes. You’ll be shocked how many things you can delegate or delete immediately.

You don’t need more hours in the day. You just need to spend them in the right place.

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