From Chaos to Calm: My Personal ‘Time Management’ Turning Point,
and How to Invest Your Time Effectively

Want to get control and bring some calm to the craziness that is entrepreneurial life by understanding how to invest your time effectively…?
Read on to overcome ‘The Time Management Myth’ and discover the proven system for how to invest your time effectively and with purpose like a leader, rather than simply spending it in reaction mode.
The turning point was one of necessity. It was clear I could no longer just ‘wing it.’ I remember the moment because I was flooded with a sudden rush…A whirlpool of emotion really, with a healthy undercurrent of embarrassment thrown in for good measure.
I mean… I had already passed out in the first week of birthing class, and now I was the guy jumping out of his seat in the middle of class and running out of the room, leaving my wife to explain that the text I had just received from my sister Erika would change everything for our family.
It simply read: “We got the heart.”
I’m still not fully sure why I passed out the week prior, but it might have had something to do with everything that was going on that month. (Plus, I still maintain it was WAY too hot in that classroom)
Our house was half taken apart at this point because it turns out… ‘nesting’ is really a thing.
We were moving a bathroom, adding a laundry room on the main floor, and completely gutted our main bedroom so our moms could have a place to stay when they visited the new grandbaby. With just weeks to go, Kate was right in there prying things apart with a pry bar and literally hammering away to make the project happen before the big day. It was all hands on deck, pregnant or not!
I was also staring down the biggest work event of the year that was scheduled 3 weeks before our due date. We were coordinating with the Coast Guard, flying coaches in from all over the world, registering over a hundred eager paddlers, and wrangling sponsors for the biggest rough (or ‘Lumpy’ as it was called) water sea kayaking symposium in the world.
Now, amidst all of it, I knew I’d be making a big trip back to St. Louis to be bedside following our mom’s heart transplant.
The Call that Changed it All
She’d been on the list for just 2 weeks when she got the call. Now, in a matter of a few hours, she would be under the knife, and everything felt like it was hitting at once. The next time I would see her would hopefully be in the ICU… Hopefully.
The house still needed to be finished. Our baby was coming soon! The event my whole job revolved around was happening either way, but nothing was going to keep me out of that ICU.
The only way I could survive the next few weeks was to do two things…
- Accept the help of INCREDIBLE friends who are more like family.
- Figure out how to invest my precious time effectively.
Somehow, I needed to get twice as much done in half the time AND stay organized enough to tell willing friends how they could help us (and when!).
The Time Management Myth: “Why You Can’t ‘Make Time’—And What You Can Do Instead” to invest your time effectively
Psssst… I have a secret…

No matter what they claim, no one can improve your ‘time management’ because managing time isn’t actually a thing! (feel relieved yet?) 
I can assure you that this is especially true when you’re hurdling down the wormhole of YouTube clips explaining what time actually is when you should be writing this blog post. (Not recommended if you want to get anything done ever again)
At that point, time ceases to exist, except for maybe that handy 2X speed option and however long it takes to microwave that other frozen burrito you’re calling lunch because you’re “too busy” to stop and eat a proper meal. Hey, I’m still not perfect at this whole productivity thing, but bear with me…
You may find yourself in a similar ‘must make’ situation some day. Perhaps you are facing challenges that you’re not sure how you’re going to handle right now! Maybe you’re even fortunate enough to have people around you that want to help, if only you knew how to best utilize their generosity.
If only…

If only we could 2X speed button our big projects so we had more time to do the things we yearn for!
If only we were organized and clear enough about our needs to allow others in to help.
If only you could overcome the time management myth!
What would that mean if you could…??
Would it mean you could be done working when your kids get home?
Would it mean you could mentor and train leaders at work to take things off your plate?
Would it mean you could plan more date nights and be a better partner?
Would it mean you could train to finally run that marathon or paddle down that river?
Would it mean you could coach your kid’s team or volunteer in your community?
Would it mean you could start that new business you’ve been dreaming of?
Time is a constant (and a constantly dwindling resource if you’re a business leader).
You can’t ‘make time,’ but we certainly all waste some of it each day.
I often hear my coaching clients say they don’t have enough, but I wonder…
What if instead of ‘managing time’ (or worse, just spending it without thought), we focused on properly allocating and INVESTING it instead…?
I wonder what would happen if, instead of a to-do list, you had an easy-to-implement system for getting more done in less time and with less stress!
For now, you don’t feel like you have enough as it is, so let’s get into the goods quick to learn how to invest your time effectively and, as a result gain control of your life!
The 46-Hour Challenge: “Where Does Your Time Go? A Breakdown” showing it is possible to invest your time effectively
How much time we actually have:
- Total Weekly Hours: Each week gives us 168 hours to play with (24 hours per day times 7 days).
- Sleep Takes Its Share: If you aim for a healthy sleep pattern of 8 hours a night, that’s 56 hours a week spent snoozing. Now, we’re down to 112 waking hours.
- Daily Living Activities: Consider the time needed for essentials like eating, grooming, and general self-care. It’s not uncommon to spend about 2 hours per day on these activities, which sums up to 14 hours a week. Now, we’re left with 98 hours.
- Work Commitments: For those with a full-time job (say, 40 hours a week), that brings our available time down to 58 hours.
- Errands and Chores: The average person spends about 1-2 hours a day managing life—grocery shopping, cleaning, or running errands. Let’s estimate 12 hours a week here, reducing your time to 46 hours.
The Remaining Hours To Invest With Purpose:
Common Pitfalls: “The Silent Productivity Killers: Multitasking, Indecision, and Social Media”

That’s 46 hours left in your week. It might sound like a lot, but those hours are often the ones we mismanage or let slip away. The real culprit is usually time leakage: scrolling endlessly on social media, battling indecision, or inefficiently switching between tasks. This is key to learning how to invest your time effectively. When you realize how precious and finite your usable hours are, it puts into perspective the importance of making intentional choices. It’s about being proactive, knowing where your time goes, and designing your days to align with your priorities.
The distractions of modern life are a massive drain. Studies suggest that decision fatigue and multitasking make us significantly less effective. The American Psychological Association reports that task-switching can cost as much as 40% of your productivity. We also spend an average of 2 hours and 31 minutes daily on social media, adding up to over 900 hours a year lost to scrolling.
The Solution: “A Hybrid Digital and Analog Approach to Reclaiming Your Day and
overcome the time management myth”
But it doesn’t have to be this way. By being more intentional, you can reclaim your wasted time and reinvest it in activities that bring you joy and fulfillment. It’s about making conscious, meaningful decisions that serve your life’s bigger purpose.
The Digital vs. Analog Conundrum: A Battle of Dopamine, Distraction, and the REAL reason most productivity planners and tools don’t work.
Why not just use an app, you ask? Well, digital productivity tools have a dark side. Research shows our phones are distraction factories. Social media notifications, emails, and the black hole of the internet are just a swipe away. You open your calendar app, and suddenly, you’re watching yet another hilarious dog video. Oops.
Meanwhile, an only-analogue approach has its limitations too. Ever tried scheduling a meeting with a paper-based planner when everyone else is digital? It’s like trying to write a letter in Morse code during a Zoom call—unnecessarily complicated and there is no way to truly coordinate with you in real-time. Plus, who wants to cart around a clunky planner book everywhere they go?
The science: Our brains engage differently when we write things down by hand. Kinesthetic activity, like taking notes, has been shown to improve memory retention. That’s why old-school note-taking in class remains effective. Then there is the satisfying joy of crossing things off (Thank You, Dopamine)**
Let’s face it: there’s a primal thrill in drawing a line through a completed task. That simple physical action triggers a dopamine hit, rewarding your brain and making you want to do more. James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, emphasizes the power of this feedback loop. It’s a concept rooted in neuroscience: when we associate actions with rewards, we naturally reinforce those behaviors. You’re literally training yourself to be more motivated. (maybe those dog training videos were on to something 😉
Apps can’t replicate that. Sure, you might tick a box, but it doesn’t carry the same punch as a pen scrawling a triumphant line across a task. That physical connection fosters intrinsic motivation, making you feel accomplished.
By combining the benefits of both digital and analog systems—and embracing the power of physical rewards—you create a more balanced, effective method for managing your time and attention.
The best part? You’re more likely to keep it up because your brain loves a good reward. So, go on and soak in those little wins!
The Proven Plan: “How I Plan My Day to overcome the time management myth (and Teach Others to Do the Same)”

Ready to master your time and focus? Let’s turn those ‘must-make’ moves into a lifestyle of success and enjoyment by learning how to invest your time effectively.
Truthfully, I didn’t just come up with all this that day in birthing class when I got that text about my mom’s heart transplant. It was something that had been evolving over the years as my kayaking and coaching career was ramping up. This was an evolution over about a decade as I moved from a life of just drifting downstream to one I took seriously enough to put real intention behind.
Perhaps you currently find yourself where I was or somewhere along a similar progression.

Here’s how it’s evolved over the years for me:
- Floating thoughts – I used to do my best to just remember the important stuff, but inevitably, things would get missed, and it just got too overwhelming to remember it all.
- Random to-do reminders – The next obvious step was to write down the really important stuff on random to-do reminders or sticky notes, but it was sporadic at best, and soon, I had a mosaic of pink and yellow scattered across my computer, wall, and calendar.
- A full to-do list (brain dump) – At some point, I knew I had to just get it all down in one place, so I would do periodic brain dumps onto long unorganized lists loosely categorized as either “work” or “personal”
- Pulling from the to-do list for a daily to-do list – Once everything was braindumped out, I could pull things to form daily to-do lists, most of which I’d only finish a fraction of, leaving a sense of failure even when I had accomplished most of my list for the day.
- Numbering the to-do list items in the order I would do them – To be sure I didn’t waste time deciding which to-do to do next, I started numbering the daily list in the order I would complete the tasks. Of course, I’d tend to start with the easy stuff, leaving little time to actually dig into the most important (and usually most challenging) tasks.
- Putting the top tasks first (eat the frog, as they say) – Realizing the importance of starting with the most important things, I started getting wiser about how I’d order my to-dos, creating a fairly effective action plan that helped me get the keystone items moving first, but with very little structure or organization based on the realities and demands of the day, I often ended up feeling cramped for time still.
- Putting my daily plan to a time based system (every 30 mins) – This was a BIG step that really changed things for me. I remember my coach, Rob Yates, sharing his daily worksheet that included plotting actions in 30-minute chunks throughout the day. Suddenly, I knew exactly what I needed to be doing all day, and it forced me to be realistic about how long things actually take. Game changer…. But still not enough.
- Starting to make tomorrow’s plan the prior day – Once I had the habit of planning out my days in 30-minute intervals, it only made sense to put some thought into the plan for tomorrow so I could start my day already knowing what I needed to do (and when!)
- Projecting out a full week on Monday morning – I started to realize how much calm and peace having the daily plan already organized brought to my days. I was able to better visualize the day ahead, so why not look just a little further out? This was the step I knew needed to happen when we got that faithful text about my mom’s heart.
- Setting a meeting with myself at the end of the week – It wasn’t until years after that I started having my weekly planning meeting with myself on Friday evenings, so I could feel at ease over the weekend knowing I didn’t have to worry about the next week. I had a plan. So long for good Sunday Scaries!
For the last 5 years,
I’ve been using this time planning system to teach Tributary Coaching clients ranging from executives of billion-dollar companies to solopreneurs looking to make a leap from corporate to self-employment, to busy professional athletes, to leaders of elite first responder units, how to invest their time effectively.
Where do you find yourself along this progression? Now, you can finally skip some or all of those steps I had to take and instead jump right to what has been proven to actually work!
It’s easy…
- First, get the planning tool AND the proven process below…
- Set a 30-minute meeting with yourself this week
- Complete the Planning Sheet so you can take back your time (and your life)
It’s that easy!
Get the Time Planning sheet
and start investing your time effectively!

In the end, thanks to those incredible friends willing to pitch in to help when we needed them most, an unwavering commitment to making it all happen, and some focused energy backed by the planning system I share with you today, we pulled it all off!
Mom got her new heart, and I was able to be there with her in the ICU every single day. The house project came together JUST in time. We pulled off a wildly successful international event and got to greet our first baby boy (who happened to arrive right on his Halloween due date, as if it was scheduled to be all along!)
Imagine, just for a moment, that instead of your days slipping through your fingers like sand, you had a firm grip on how you invest your time. What could that mean for you?
Picture this:
A life where those 46 extra hours aren’t just “survival hours” spent treading water. Instead, they become your time to thrive. It’s about more than just ticking boxes; it’s about savoring sunsets, coaching your kid’s team, or launching that dream business.
No, you can’t hit a magical “2X” button to speed things up like in those guilty pleasures YouTube binges we all love. But you can hit pause, recalibrate, and decide what really deserves your precious time here and now.
Ready to turn the scattered chaos into strategic calm? It won’t happen in a day (or even a weekend). But, armed with your newfound understanding and the right approach, you can transform how you live, a half hour at a time.
Because in the end, investing time wisely isn’t about getting more done; it’s about making more room for what truly matters. Now, go on—take back your hours and make every moment count.
Download the Time Planning Sheet and start investing in life today!
Remember, you’ve got this.
It’s time to eliminate excuses and embrace the flow. It’s time to finally move past the Time Management Myth but instead invest your time effectively!
Give it a go, and let me know how it works!
-Paul Kuthe
Elite Performance Coach
From Chaos to Calm: My Personal ‘Time Management’ Turning Point,
and How to Invest Your Time Effectively
Want to get control and bring some calm to the craziness that is entrepreneurial life by understanding how to invest your time effectively…?
Read on to overcome ‘The Time Management Myth’ and discover the proven system for how to invest your time effectively and with purpose like a leader, rather than simply spending it in reaction mode.
I mean… I had already passed out in the first week of birthing class, and now I was the guy jumping out of his seat in the middle of class and running out of the room, leaving my wife to explain that the text I had just received from my sister Erika would change everything for our family.
It simply read: “We got the heart.”
I’m still not fully sure why I passed out the week prior, but it might have had something to do with everything that was going on that month. (Plus, I still maintain it was WAY too hot in that classroom)
Our house was half taken apart at this point because it turns out… ‘nesting’ is really a thing.
I was also staring down the biggest work event of the year that was scheduled 3 weeks before our due date. We were coordinating with the Coast Guard, flying coaches in from all over the world, registering over a hundred eager paddlers, and wrangling sponsors for the biggest rough (or ‘Lumpy’ as it was called) water sea kayaking symposium in the world.
Now, amidst all of it, I knew I’d be making a big trip back to St. Louis to be bedside following our mom’s heart transplant.
The Call that Changed it All
She’d been on the list for just 2 weeks when she got the call. Now, in a matter of a few hours, she would be under the knife, and everything felt like it was hitting at once. The next time I would see her would hopefully be in the ICU… Hopefully.
The house still needed to be finished. Our baby was coming soon! The event my whole job revolved around was happening either way, but nothing was going to keep me out of that ICU.
The only way I could survive the next few weeks was to do two things…
Somehow, I needed to get twice as much done in half the time AND stay organized enough to tell willing friends how they could help us (and when!).
The Time Management Myth: “Why You Can’t ‘Make Time’—And What You Can Do Instead” to invest your time effectively
Psssst… I have a secret…
No matter what they claim, no one can improve your ‘time management’ because managing time isn’t actually a thing! (feel relieved yet?)
I can assure you that this is especially true when you’re hurdling down the wormhole of YouTube clips explaining what time actually is when you should be writing this blog post. (Not recommended if you want to get anything done ever again)
At that point, time ceases to exist, except for maybe that handy 2X speed option and however long it takes to microwave that other frozen burrito you’re calling lunch because you’re “too busy” to stop and eat a proper meal. Hey, I’m still not perfect at this whole productivity thing, but bear with me…
You may find yourself in a similar ‘must make’ situation some day. Perhaps you are facing challenges that you’re not sure how you’re going to handle right now! Maybe you’re even fortunate enough to have people around you that want to help, if only you knew how to best utilize their generosity.
If only…
If only we could 2X speed button our big projects so we had more time to do the things we yearn for!
If only we were organized and clear enough about our needs to allow others in to help.
If only you could overcome the time management myth!
What would that mean if you could…??
Would it mean you could be done working when your kids get home?
Would it mean you could mentor and train leaders at work to take things off your plate?
Would it mean you could plan more date nights and be a better partner?
Would it mean you could train to finally run that marathon or paddle down that river?
Would it mean you could coach your kid’s team or volunteer in your community?
Would it mean you could start that new business you’ve been dreaming of?
Time is a constant (and a constantly dwindling resource if you’re a business leader).
You can’t ‘make time,’ but we certainly all waste some of it each day.
I often hear my coaching clients say they don’t have enough, but I wonder…
What if instead of ‘managing time’ (or worse, just spending it without thought), we focused on properly allocating and INVESTING it instead…?
I wonder what would happen if, instead of a to-do list, you had an easy-to-implement system for getting more done in less time and with less stress!
For now, you don’t feel like you have enough as it is, so let’s get into the goods quick to learn how to invest your time effectively and, as a result gain control of your life!
How much time we actually have:
The Remaining Hours To Invest With Purpose:
Common Pitfalls: “The Silent Productivity Killers: Multitasking, Indecision, and Social Media”
That’s 46 hours left in your week. It might sound like a lot, but those hours are often the ones we mismanage or let slip away. The real culprit is usually time leakage: scrolling endlessly on social media, battling indecision, or inefficiently switching between tasks. This is key to learning how to invest your time effectively. When you realize how precious and finite your usable hours are, it puts into perspective the importance of making intentional choices. It’s about being proactive, knowing where your time goes, and designing your days to align with your priorities.
The distractions of modern life are a massive drain. Studies suggest that decision fatigue and multitasking make us significantly less effective. The American Psychological Association reports that task-switching can cost as much as 40% of your productivity. We also spend an average of 2 hours and 31 minutes daily on social media, adding up to over 900 hours a year lost to scrolling.
The Solution: “A Hybrid Digital and Analog Approach to Reclaiming Your Day and
overcome the time management myth”
But it doesn’t have to be this way. By being more intentional, you can reclaim your wasted time and reinvest it in activities that bring you joy and fulfillment. It’s about making conscious, meaningful decisions that serve your life’s bigger purpose.
The Digital vs. Analog Conundrum: A Battle of Dopamine, Distraction, and the REAL reason most productivity planners and tools don’t work.
Why not just use an app, you ask? Well, digital productivity tools have a dark side. Research shows our phones are distraction factories. Social media notifications, emails, and the black hole of the internet are just a swipe away. You open your calendar app, and suddenly, you’re watching yet another hilarious dog video. Oops.
Meanwhile, an only-analogue approach has its limitations too. Ever tried scheduling a meeting with a paper-based planner when everyone else is digital? It’s like trying to write a letter in Morse code during a Zoom call—unnecessarily complicated and there is no way to truly coordinate with you in real-time. Plus, who wants to cart around a clunky planner book everywhere they go?
The science: Our brains engage differently when we write things down by hand. Kinesthetic activity, like taking notes, has been shown to improve memory retention. That’s why old-school note-taking in class remains effective. Then there is the satisfying joy of crossing things off (Thank You, Dopamine)**
Let’s face it: there’s a primal thrill in drawing a line through a completed task. That simple physical action triggers a dopamine hit, rewarding your brain and making you want to do more. James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, emphasizes the power of this feedback loop. It’s a concept rooted in neuroscience: when we associate actions with rewards, we naturally reinforce those behaviors. You’re literally training yourself to be more motivated. (maybe those dog training videos were on to something 😉
Apps can’t replicate that. Sure, you might tick a box, but it doesn’t carry the same punch as a pen scrawling a triumphant line across a task. That physical connection fosters intrinsic motivation, making you feel accomplished.
By combining the benefits of both digital and analog systems—and embracing the power of physical rewards—you create a more balanced, effective method for managing your time and attention.
The best part? You’re more likely to keep it up because your brain loves a good reward. So, go on and soak in those little wins!
The Proven Plan: “How I Plan My Day to overcome the time management myth (and Teach Others to Do the Same)”
Ready to master your time and focus? Let’s turn those ‘must-make’ moves into a lifestyle of success and enjoyment by learning how to invest your time effectively.
Truthfully, I didn’t just come up with all this that day in birthing class when I got that text about my mom’s heart transplant. It was something that had been evolving over the years as my kayaking and coaching career was ramping up. This was an evolution over about a decade as I moved from a life of just drifting downstream to one I took seriously enough to put real intention behind.
Perhaps you currently find yourself where I was or somewhere along a similar progression.
Here’s how it’s evolved over the years for me:
For the last 5 years,
I’ve been using this time planning system to teach Tributary Coaching clients ranging from executives of billion-dollar companies to solopreneurs looking to make a leap from corporate to self-employment, to busy professional athletes, to leaders of elite first responder units, how to invest their time effectively.
Where do you find yourself along this progression? Now, you can finally skip some or all of those steps I had to take and instead jump right to what has been proven to actually work!
It’s easy…
It’s that easy!
Get the Time Planning sheet
Call to Action: “Take Back Your Life Today: Download the Time Planning Sheet”
and start investing your time effectively!
In the end, thanks to those incredible friends willing to pitch in to help when we needed them most, an unwavering commitment to making it all happen, and some focused energy backed by the planning system I share with you today, we pulled it all off!
Mom got her new heart, and I was able to be there with her in the ICU every single day. The house project came together JUST in time. We pulled off a wildly successful international event and got to greet our first baby boy (who happened to arrive right on his Halloween due date, as if it was scheduled to be all along!)
Imagine, just for a moment, that instead of your days slipping through your fingers like sand, you had a firm grip on how you invest your time. What could that mean for you?
Picture this:
A life where those 46 extra hours aren’t just “survival hours” spent treading water. Instead, they become your time to thrive. It’s about more than just ticking boxes; it’s about savoring sunsets, coaching your kid’s team, or launching that dream business.
No, you can’t hit a magical “2X” button to speed things up like in those guilty pleasures YouTube binges we all love. But you can hit pause, recalibrate, and decide what really deserves your precious time here and now.
Ready to turn the scattered chaos into strategic calm? It won’t happen in a day (or even a weekend). But, armed with your newfound understanding and the right approach, you can transform how you live, a half hour at a time.
Because in the end, investing time wisely isn’t about getting more done; it’s about making more room for what truly matters. Now, go on—take back your hours and make every moment count.
Download the Time Planning Sheet and start investing in life today!
Remember, you’ve got this.
It’s time to eliminate excuses and embrace the flow. It’s time to finally move past the Time Management Myth but instead invest your time effectively!
Give it a go, and let me know how it works!
-Paul Kuthe
Elite Performance Coach