Episode 321
Why More Time is Killing Your Productivity [Ep 321]
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If you’ve ever said, “I just need more time to get everything done”...this episode will shift your perspective. The truth is, your productivity problem isn’t too little time, it’s too much of it. Long days invite distraction, procrastination, and busywork. But when your hours are limited, like the day before vacation or during nap time, you suddenly become laser-focused and insanely productive.
In this episode of The Real Truth About Business, Michelle DeNio shares why constraint creates clarity, how boundaries fuel better results, and why limiting your work hours can actually help you grow faster. You’ll hear real client stories, practical strategies, and simple experiments you can try right now to cut the fluff and focus on what really moves the needle.
Whether you’re a coach, consultant, or service-based entrepreneur working toward consistent $10K months and beyond, these strategies will help you reclaim your time, increase profitability, and finally stop spinning your wheels.
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About the Host:
Michelle DeNio is a business strategist and growth advisor for service-based entrepreneurs, especially neurodivergent and ADHD business owners. Creator of the Focused Visionary Accelerator and host of The Real Truth About Business podcast, she helps clients simplify, focus, and grow sustainably. With 15+ years in business operations, she’s known for turning big ideas into simple, profitable action plans.
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Transcript
Have you ever noticed how the day before vacation, you suddenly, like, literally become the most productive version of yourself?
Speaker A:Like, you can get so much done.
Speaker A:You can have a to do list a mile long, and it all gets done, right?
Speaker A:Well, that's not magic, right?
Speaker A:It's constraint.
Speaker A:It's because you don't have a lot of time to get it done, and so you make it happen, right?
Speaker A:And so I see this all the time.
Speaker A:I was having several conversations lately with clients around.
Speaker A:They were feeling not very productive, and they said, I feel like I need more time.
Speaker A:And I kind of gave them a little bit of a pushback, and I said, no, actually, I think what the problem is is that you have too much time on your hands, okay?
Speaker A:And so that's really the truth of it, and that's what we're talking about today, is that your productivity problem probably isn't too little time.
Speaker A:It's too much of it.
Speaker A:And hear me out.
Speaker A:I know you're probably thinking, that's crazy, Michelle.
Speaker A:Like, I'm buried.
Speaker A:I don't have enough time.
Speaker A:There will never be more hours in the day.
Speaker A:But I want to chat about this, okay?
Speaker A:So we're diving in.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:Welcome back to the real truth about business.
Speaker A:If you are new here, my name is Michelle Denayo.
Speaker A:I am a business growth strategist, and I am here to be your guide, your missing piece, the missing piece in your business.
Speaker A:That's what I want to be known for.
Speaker A:That's what I'm talking about lately.
Speaker A:But today, we're talking about productivity, okay?
Speaker A:And so this myth of more time equals more productivity.
Speaker A:And, you know, I hear it all the time.
Speaker A:If I just had more hours in the day, I'd finally get caught up, okay?
Speaker A:And here's what's happening for a lot of people.
Speaker A:And now, again, there are certain days that I really feel like, man, I wish I had more, more hours.
Speaker A:Like, I definitely feel like sometimes I am buried.
Speaker A:So I don't want again always.
Speaker A:This is not a 100% be all, end all, but extra time often doesn't really create focus, right?
Speaker A:It creates this space for distraction.
Speaker A:And when your workday has no boundaries, procrastination fills the gaps.
Speaker A:Or what I find is what fills the gaps for a lot of my clients is, you know, these creative tasks, this, you know, getting stuck in canva, the scrolling, the creation, the doing the busy work, all these things, right?
Speaker A:It's this creation mode versus action mode, okay?
Speaker A:And so because you have all the time in the world, right?
Speaker A:Like, for the most part, you have time.
Speaker A:And so when we have time, we.
Speaker A:We have the opportunity to get distracted.
Speaker A:We have the opportunity to go down rabbit holes.
Speaker A:We have the opportunity to get into all of these different things and research and all the things.
Speaker A:Like, these are things that happen on a regular basis.
Speaker A:And whether it's.
Speaker A:It's not always social media.
Speaker A:I know a lot of people think that they get super sidetracked by social media, but I mean, for a lot of people, it's not even social media.
Speaker A:It's that they're getting distracted by getting too deep into research or trying to figure out a tech tool or.
Speaker A:I mean, even for myself, I find this all the time.
Speaker A:It's like I get wrapped up trying to figure out how to create something inside of Zapier.
Speaker A:And I think, okay, this is going to take me a few minutes, and it ends up taking me hours, right?
Speaker A:So it's that when you have all of this time, it allows you to go down these different rabbit holes, okay?
Speaker A:But I want you to really think about, and this is what I'm trying to say today in this episode is like, think about these short bursts, right?
Speaker A:Think about when you're getting ready to go on vacation, right?
Speaker A:I know we've all been there.
Speaker A:I call it the vacation mode hustle.
Speaker A:Or like planning a vacation.
Speaker A:You know, you.
Speaker A:You have a list, and like, suddenly you're the most productive person in the world because you just don't want to leave any of it undone, right?
Speaker A:That's because you have a limited amount of time to get it done.
Speaker A:And when you have a limited amount of time to get something done, you.
Speaker A:You get it done, right?
Speaker A:And so you turn off all the distractions.
Speaker A:You're not on social media, you're not trying new things, you're not researching anything new.
Speaker A:You're not on your phone.
Speaker A:You're just banging this list out, right?
Speaker A:And so think about all of that.
Speaker A:Think about those days if you've got little ones.
Speaker A:You know, when I nanny and I have nap time, I call it the nap time hustle.
Speaker A:Like, think about how much you can get done, whether it's in your business or around your house, like, during nap time, when you just know, like, I only have, like, two hours to get this, you know, to get this shit done, and I got to get it done, right?
Speaker A:And so you just become this, like, insanely productive person because you know that baby's going to wake up and need all your attention, right?
Speaker A:So whether you're in, like, carpool line, you know, I know so many people that are ridiculously productive in the carpool line because they're sitting and waiting and they know they only have whatever it is, 45 minutes to an hour.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:So in short windows, you're forced to prioritize and cut the fluff, right?
Speaker A:And that's what I'm saying about productivity.
Speaker A:More time is not necessarily your answer.
Speaker A:What is really the answer is cutting the fluff, cutting the, cutting, all these other things that are really not what you need to be focused on right now.
Speaker A:I was having a conversation with a client the other day and she was like, I'm just so behind.
Speaker A:I need to hire help.
Speaker A:I gotta have, I have all this list.
Speaker A:And I was like, send me your list of to do's.
Speaker A:Now, my clients, if you're a client of mine listening to this, you know this, My clients don't love sending me their list of to do's.
Speaker A:And it's not because I'm going to hold them accountable to it because 90% of the time I'm going to take this crap off.
Speaker A:And so when I had this client, I was talking to her the other day, I was telling her like, well, tell me what's on your list?
Speaker A:Like, where are you feeling behind?
Speaker A:What are you feeling like?
Speaker A:She's like, well, like all these little things.
Speaker A:Like, I got to look this up and I got to do this and I got to create this new landing page.
Speaker A:And you know, I got to create a landing page because I got to be able to sell from this and I got to have.
Speaker A:In order to create the landing page, I have to have the venue and I have to have this, and I have to have this.
Speaker A:She sells events, right?
Speaker A:And I was like, no, you don't.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like, first of all, she's done these events a million times.
Speaker A:This is like her seventh event.
Speaker A:So she's got a landing page created.
Speaker A:There's nothing.
Speaker A:She doesn't need to create a new landing page, she needs to duplicate one and change the freaking date, right?
Speaker A:Second is that you don't have to have a venue, right?
Speaker A:You don't have to have a venue because all they're doing is purchasing a location.
Speaker A:Like when you go to an event, think about it, you're buying into the event and as long as you know where you're flying into, especially if you're having to travel, like what restaurant it's at or what event center it's at or, or what hotel it's at, doesn't matter.
Speaker A:Especially if it's six to eight months.
Speaker A:And you know what I mean?
Speaker A:You're pre selling.
Speaker A:So, like, these are the little things that I'm saying.
Speaker A:Like, they.
Speaker A:They distract you and they take you down rabbit holes of, like, trying to find this venue all the while where now she can't sell the event in advance.
Speaker A:She can't pre sell the event.
Speaker A:The event, because she feels like she's got to get all these other things done, when in reality, it's like, just sell the freaking event and then figure out the details, you know, in a month from now or whatever.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:And so it's about cutting all the fluff, cutting all this stuff.
Speaker A:I was talking with another client.
Speaker A:I actually just signed on a new client who.
Speaker A:Same thing.
Speaker A:This is what she's struggling with.
Speaker A:She's like, I just find myself getting down these rabbit holes of doing and doing and doing and researching this and researching this.
Speaker A:All the while, she's not selling.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:And so you have to be selling.
Speaker A:You need to be bringing in revenue into your business.
Speaker A:And yes, there are seasons.
Speaker A:We talked about this in the episode around seasons where there's seasons where you' really in the operation side and you're really working on the back end of your business.
Speaker A:And I get all of that.
Speaker A:But for the most part, even that during those seasons of operations, you need to be productive.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And so giving yourself these short bursts prove that focus, not time, is the productivity driver.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:It doesn't if you can get just as much done in one day before you go on vacation.
Speaker A:It's not a time issue.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:It's simply a focus issue, which we all struggle with because there's so much noise, there's so many distractions, there's so many things.
Speaker A:And so this is where I'm.
Speaker A:I challenged a client the other day, a different client.
Speaker A:You could tell I've had this conversation a lot.
Speaker A:Anytime I've had a conversation a lot, it becomes a podcast episode, of course, because these are the conversations.
Speaker A:Like, if I'm having the conversation, more people are thinking about this, right?
Speaker A:And so one of the things that I encourage one of my clients to do is cut her hours.
Speaker A:Cut her hours.
Speaker A:Actually, a client of mine did this because she wanted to spend more time with her kids this summer.
Speaker A:And so she cut her hours, and she's like, you know what?
Speaker A:I've actually been so much more productive because during those hours, because I knew I wanted to get to my kids during those hours, I just, like, sat down, got focused, got my work done, and got out.
Speaker A:And that is so beneficial.
Speaker A:So, like, there's this, like, undisclosed.
Speaker A:I don't know, it's like I'm not, I can't even think of the word that I'm trying to say right now.
Speaker A:But it's like this unspoken, I guess is what I'm trying to say.
Speaker A:Unspoken rule that like as a business owner you need to be working all day long, right?
Speaker A:Like the 8 to 5, 9 to 5, whatever.
Speaker A:Not really.
Speaker A:Like, I think part of the problem for most entrepreneurs is that you're working too much.
Speaker A:You have too many hours available, cut your hours back, right?
Speaker A:So for me I only really work like Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Monday is a complete admin day for me.
Speaker A:And so, and I babysit on Mondays.
Speaker A:So I really only have until 2 o' clock on Mondays.
Speaker A:So because of that, like when I had all day on Monday, my, like I used to procrastinate and not get started until like noon.
Speaker A:You know, I could find all kinds of things to do on Monday morning.
Speaker A:Like or I'd scroll social media or I'd be engaging or I'd be creating new content or all these different things.
Speaker A:But like none of it was terribly productive, right?
Speaker A:But now because I only have until two, it's like I gotta get in and get done and I get in this, you know, I usually don't get into my office until 9 or 10 o', clock, typically 10, but like from 10 to 2 I can get so much done because I want to get it done.
Speaker A:Even like right now I'm recording this episode and I want to go, it's beautiful outside and I want to get to the pool.
Speaker A:So it's like I turned off my phone, I turned off everything else because I know that if I just turn everything off, I can, I can get what I need to get done in this little two hour window so that I can get to the pool, right?
Speaker A:And so that's the other thing is like put something on the other end of it, like if you need a little reward or so like for my client it was being able to spend time with her kids during the summer.
Speaker A:For me right now it's the pool or you know, going and cooking.
Speaker A:I want to go make something like a soup and stuff like that.
Speaker A:Like all kinds of different things, right?
Speaker A:So I just think that sometimes it's these long days invite busy work, right?
Speaker A:Let's tweak this graphic a little bit further.
Speaker A:Let me reorganize my Google Drive.
Speaker A:Like let me, you know, delete all my files in my download folder.
Speaker A:Let me do all, you know, you find stupid to do because you're just like you have these long days and if you're not busy on calls or you're not busy with client work, it's like you can find all this time to fill and it's like, what do you do?
Speaker A:And so you feel busy, right?
Speaker A:And so you're always constantly adding to that to do list into the things that you, you know, would be nice to get done, but you're not actually seeing results, right?
Speaker A:You're not getting new clients, you're not signing, you're not moving forward, right?
Speaker A:And you have to really be mindful of that.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:And so I would say limit your work hours.
Speaker A:Try cutting your day in half.
Speaker A:Try cutting the number of days you work in half or at least cutting out one day.
Speaker A:Instead of working five days, work four, right?
Speaker A:Take every Friday off and know that you got to have everything done by Thursday again.
Speaker A:It's like that vacation mode, like picture every single weekend, like a long weekend.
Speaker A:And so by the end of the day Thursday, you gotta have your, you gotta have it done because you're leaving, you're going out of town, right?
Speaker A:So try doing that or using timers or like done by two o'.
Speaker A:Clock, like right now everything is like, I gotta be done by 2 o' clock or I gotta be done by 4 o', clock, right?
Speaker A:Or gotta be done by, by the time you leave to go pick the kids up from school or like your day's gotta be finished by the time the kids, you, you pick the kids up or whatever.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:And I really think that if you limit your time and give yourself a little bit more boundaries, it will create the focus and focus creates more productivity.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Another one.
Speaker A:I'm a huge fan of having theme days, right?
Speaker A:So you have call days, you have non call days, you have CEO days, you have client days, you know those, figure out what those days are and give your days some themes around it.
Speaker A:And that will also help with productivity.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:So when you work less, you prioritize more, right?
Speaker A:That's just the reality of it.
Speaker A:When you work less, you prioritize more.
Speaker A:When you have a limited amount of time, your to do list, you start looking at it and going, what do I actually have to get done right now?
Speaker A:What is, what is, Somebody's waiting on this for me.
Speaker A:Or this is like I was just getting ready to launch a new offer, you know, I had to have the automations done, I had to have the checkout done because yes, that's busy work and those are things that I'd love to outsource, which right now I'm just not outsourcing.
Speaker A:But I had to get them done because I couldn't sell said product unless those things were done.
Speaker A:And I already had it pre sold.
Speaker A:I already had it pre sold to a couple people.
Speaker A:So I needed to get that done because I already had people waiting on it, right?
Speaker A:So, like, pre selling is also a great way to create for, like, focused productivity.
Speaker A:Because now, you know, like, if I create this, it's going to sell, right?
Speaker A:Like, I've already got it sold to two people.
Speaker A:So give yourself a little bit more constraint around that, and that will force clarity.
Speaker A:Clarity drives results, and that is what will bring the results faster than time ever will.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:So, and I just want you to, like, always remember this is that productivity is not about hours worked, okay?
Speaker A:Like, there's nobody.
Speaker A:I don't care how many hours you work.
Speaker A:I really don't.
Speaker A:Like, this is why even with outsourcing and hiring VAs for a lot of.
Speaker A:When I hire a VA or I hire like a service provider, I just want to pay like a set price.
Speaker A:And I'm like, I don't care how many hours it takes you, I don't care.
Speaker A:Like, I'm.
Speaker A:I pay based on deliverables and outcomes.
Speaker A:And I think a lot of service providers are switching to that because again, like, this is where you get to maximize your time, right?
Speaker A:If you.
Speaker A:The more productive you are in less amount of hours, the more profit you bring in, right?
Speaker A:So it's.
Speaker A:It's a profitability thing too.
Speaker A:Like, every hour that you're working cuts into your pro.
Speaker A:Your profitability.
Speaker A:And most people don't take that into consideration when they're thinking about their profit and their revenue and all of that.
Speaker A:They're just looking at, I brought in a thousand dollars, okay?
Speaker A:But if you took.
Speaker A:If that thousand dollars took you 20 hours to do versus 10, right?
Speaker A:Like, if you can make $1,000 in 10 hours, the same way you can make $1,000 In 20 hours, you just really doubled your money.
Speaker A:You doubled your product, your profitability, right?
Speaker A:And so that's what I'm saying, like, get it done.
Speaker A:Like, cut your hours and get more focus.
Speaker A:There's so many things that you don't need to be doing, right?
Speaker A:And that's why, like, that's the first thing that I always work on with clients is like, trying to cut out the busy work, trying to cut out the noise.
Speaker A:The amount myself included, the amount of things we spend our time on that don't have any bearing on the needle moving in our business is Insane, right?
Speaker A:We can find things to keep us busy all day long and research and tweaking and all these other little things just play such a massive role in that.
Speaker A:Okay, so cut your available work time in half for one day this week.
Speaker A:One day and just see what happens.
Speaker A:That's all.
Speaker A:Just try it.
Speaker A:Just start to see, like, okay, give yourself on Wednesdays, I'm only gonna work till noon or whatever, depending on like.
Speaker A:It's such a hard thing for me to say.
Speaker A:Cause like, if you're a morning person, then maybe you only work till 11 if you're.
Speaker A:I'm not really a big morning person.
Speaker A:Like, I'd much rather, you know, have a slow morning and work 10 to 2, right?
Speaker A:So it's like, okay, figure out what it is.
Speaker A:Work, be done by two, be done by four, whatever that is.
Speaker A:But like cut your time in half and get focused.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:And then also one of the other things that you can do, and I know a lot of people don't like to do this, is just identify where you're spending your time.
Speaker A:So like just keep a log of it every day, like at the end of every day, just kind of like look at where you're at.
Speaker A:Where did you spend your time?
Speaker A:What did you do today?
Speaker A:And really see, like, what did I spend my time on that actually moved the needle in my business?
Speaker A:And what did I spend my time on that just kind of didn't.
Speaker A:Was a distraction or brought me down a rabbit hole?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Like just kind of do a little time audit.
Speaker A:You don't have to do this for very long.
Speaker A:It's going to be very obvious within a few, you know, a short amount of time.
Speaker A:So like just identify where you're spending your time and then pick like one tool to help you.
Speaker A:Whether that's again, like we talked about the done by rule, whether that's having a timer saying like, I'm only going to work for an hour and in that hour what can I get done?
Speaker A:Like, you know that the Pomodoro method works very well for this.
Speaker A:But commit to it, commit to it and see if you start to notice results.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:Because I guarantee you, again, I guarantee.
Speaker A:I don't want to guarantee.
Speaker A:I hate saying guarantee.
Speaker A:I would be willing to bet, let me say it that way.
Speaker A:I'd be willing to bet that you really don't have a time issue.
Speaker A:And if you have a time issue, you're probably over committed, which again is not really a time issue.
Speaker A:That's a, that's a boundary and a commitment issue.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Most of us don't have a time issue.
Speaker A:We have boundary issues.
Speaker A:We have commitment issues, we have focus issues.
Speaker A:We have clarity issues.
Speaker A:Right, like, and all of that backs up and leads to time issues, but there's something underneath it, right?
Speaker A:The time is the surface level answer.
Speaker A:But when you dig deeper, it's not the root cause of what's happening.
Speaker A:So that's what you're trying to figure out is really what's the root cause.
Speaker A:And I think if you cut your time in half, a, you're going to increase your profitability, B, you're going to increase your productivity.
Speaker A:And see, you're going to increase your results.
Speaker A:Who doesn't want that?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Like, that's what entrepreneurship's all about.
Speaker A:So go do that, right?
Speaker A:Stop blaming time.
Speaker A:Go figure out the root, the root cause of it and put some boundaries in place to correct it.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:I love you.
Speaker A:I believe in you.
Speaker A:I know you can do it.
Speaker A:I'll talk to you soon.
