By Ali Ansari
People often ask me how I manage my time.
They want to know how I attend all my kids’ activities, go on dates with the Mrs, show up at friends’ events, stay late at parties, pursue hobbies, write thought-leadership articles and still perform strongly in a job or the business I am building, while providing help and advice to other.
I always give the same answer: I still have more time available.
That usually earns me a confused look, so the follow-up question is inevitable: How does that work?
To me, it’s simple. I am time-efficient. And this is not some innate superpower; it is a discipline that can be learned. Below are the six principles that have worked consistently for me and may help those who feel they are constantly running out of time.
1. Early to Bed, Early to Rise
“Early to bed, early to rise, makes a person healthy, wealthy, and wise.” I was told this as a child, and I took it seriously. People who know me well know that I go to bed early and slip out of it quietly in the morning. Those early hours are sacred to me; they’re when I do my planning and most of my creative work. The world is quieter, interruptions are minimal, and mental clarity is at its peak. That alone creates a disproportionate advantage in how the rest of the day unfolds.
2. Unwind Properly, Don’t Sleep on Stress
You cannot create more time, but you can expand it by working at pace. Pace requires energy and focus. And a prerequisite is deep, restorative sleep. I am deliberate about how I wind down:
- I bring a cup of herbal tea to bed
- Slip into nightwear
- Play soothing music or read a book until I start feeling sleepy.
It may not sound scientific, but I am confident that anyone who looks into this will find ample evidence that going to sleep with a head full of noise is worse than going to bed after unwinding. Better sleep leads to sharper days and sharper days feel longer.
3. I Don’t Multitask, I Sequence
I do many things, but never at the same time. I create a to-do list and move through it like a bullet train. The kids often find me running around the house, but there’s a method to the madness. If I need to fix a leaky tap, I fix the tap. If I need a washer, I drive to the shop, buy the washer, and come straight back; no detours, no side quests. Same goes for writing an article or preparing a presentation for board.
One thing at a time. For me, doing things sequentially is far more efficient and consistently produces higher-quality results than trying to juggle three tasks in parallel. It may look slower from the outside, but it is anything but slow.
4. Planning Is Non-Negotiable
My calendar runs my life and I mean that in the best possible way. Everything goes in there: guitar practice, calling my mum, the dog’s vaccinations. I even send myself calendar invites so that time is explicitly blocked and unavailable for other things. Planning removes decision fatigue and prevents important but non-urgent things from being pushed aside. When something has a time slot, it gets done.
5. Trust Instincts, Don’t Overthink
I am borderline obsessive about some things; you can tell from how neatly I do my bedsheets. But when it comes to work and decision-making, I trust my instincts and intuition. I don’t overthink. That approach has saved me an enormous amount of time. On the rare occasions when I get something wrong, I simply fix it and move on. No drama, no wasted energy agonizing over mistakes. A few hiccups along the journey are a small price to pay for sustained momentum.
6. I Control My Availability
I make myself available when I am available. My phone is often on silent and, at times, not even physically accessible to me. I always call back but I don’t allow constant interruptions to derail my momentum while I’m moving through tasks at pace.
Yes, some people find it difficult to reach me. And yes, there is a non-zero chance that one day I might be marginally late responding to something urgent. But I don’t let those “ifs” and “buts” dictate how I use my time. Uninterrupted focus is fragile; once broken, it takes time to rebuild. I protect it deliberately.
The same principle applies to meetings. I won’t sit in a meeting if I don’t see clear value, that I can add or value I will receive. Those “zombie hours,” filled with passive attendance and vague objectives, can drain time from your life like nothing else. Being busy is easy. Being intentional with your availability is what gives you time back.
Final Thought
Time is not about cramming more into your day. It’s about operating with clarity, energy, and intent. When you do that consistently, time stops feeling scarce and starts feeling abundant.
