Article · 10 min read

The Founder's Time Audit: Where Your Hours Actually Go

Founder's Best Friend Free Beginner

This is the cleanest lightweight recipe to just start: track in 30-minute blocks against six named categories (revenue, delivery, operations, admin, strategy, reactive) in a plain spreadsheet or notebook. The move that makes it work is writing down your guess for each category first, then reading the gap between what you assumed and what the log says. Most founders guess 20 to 30 percent on revenue work and find they are at 10 to 15, and that gap is the whole diagnosis.

  • Estimate your split across the six categories before you log, the gap versus reality is where the insight is
  • A spreadsheet or notebook beats an app: the simpler the method, the more likely you finish the two weeks
  • Don't try to behave better during the audit, the point is accurate data, not a clean-looking week
Open on foundersbestfriend.com ↗

The question it answers

  1. How do I track where my hours actually go so I know what to cut, without turning tracking into another chore?

Read with it

  1. Trenchard has watched a lot of founders run their calendars, and his core move is the one that makes buffer-based planning... First Round Review Article · 15 min read 70% of Time Could Be Used Better: How the Best CEOs Get the Most Out of Every Day Bill Trenchard
  2. Sparks cofounded Mattermark and Holloway, so this is a founder's actual playbook, not a coach's theory. He gives you the whole... Andy Sparks (Hoo Boy) Essay · 12 min read Conducting a Time Audit Andy Sparks
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →