poquillo™

¿Ever catch yourself saying “I don’t have time for my business” while somehow finding three hours to scroll through TikTok? Yeah, amiga, we need to talk.

The truth is, most of us aren’t actually short on time – we’re just accidentally throwing it away without realizing it. And honestly? That’s completely fixable once you know what to look for.

Why “I Don’t Have Time” Is Usually a Lie We Tell Ourselves

Here’s what I discovered when I started tracking my time (and trust me, it was eye-opening): I wasn’t lacking hours in my day. I was just using them on things that didn’t actually move my business forward.

The real problem isn’t time shortage – it’s time leakage.

Think about it like this: if your water bill was sky-high, you wouldn’t just complain about expensive water. You’d check for leaks, right? Same thing with your time. Most entrepreneurs have plenty of hours; they’re just leaking out through activities that feel productive but aren’t actually growing their business.

The Simple Truth About Where Your Time Really Goes

I learned this framework from Paul Holbrook’s book “What Are You Doing?” and it completely changed how I see my daily activities. Every single thing you do falls into one of these categories:

🔴 Doing (Red Activities)

You’re producing something or completing tasks. This is necessary work, but it’s not strategic. Examples: writing social media posts, sending emails, creating invoices, updating your website.

🟡 Monitoring & Directing (Amber Activities)

You’re checking progress or giving instructions. Examples: reviewing your monthly analytics, having check-in calls with your virtual assistant, directing a team member on how to handle customer service.

⚫ Floating (Grey Activities)

This is where your time disappears, amiga. You’re not adding value or you’re not sure why you’re doing it. Examples: attending networking events where you don’t connect with your ideal clients, endless “research” that never leads to action, scrolling social media “for business inspiration.”

🟢 Growing (Green Activities)

This is the gold, amiga. You’re thinking strategically, sharing ideas, or learning things that directly grow your business. Examples: planning your business strategy, having meaningful conversations with potential clients, learning a skill that will help you serve clients better, brainstorming solutions to business challenges.

The Reality Check That Shocked Me

Here’s the thing that blew my mind: As an entrepreneur, you should be spending 80% of your time on GREEN activities and only 20% on AMBER.

When I first tracked my time, I was doing the complete opposite. I was spending maybe 20% of my time on strategic, growth-focused work and 80% just… doing stuff. Busy work that felt important but wasn’t actually building my business.

The Quick Exercise That Shows You the Truth

Want to see exactly where your time is going? Try this for just one week:

Step 1: At the end of each day, look at your calendar and assign a color to every activity.

Step 2: Be brutally honest. That content creation session? That’s RED (doing), not GREEN, unless you were strategically planning your content strategy. That “market research” that turned into competitor stalking? That’s GREY.

Step 3: Add up your colors at the end of the week.

Most entrepreneurs discover they’re spending way too much time in RED (doing tasks) and GREY (wasting time) instead of GREEN (strategic growth work).

The Game-Changing Question That Stops Time Waste

Before you say yes to any activity, ask yourself:

“Is this strategic work that grows my business (GREEN), necessary task work (RED), or am I just keeping busy (GREY)?”

This one question has saved me probably 15 hours a week. No exaggeration.

That webinar that sounds amazing but isn’t directly related to solving a current business challenge? Probably GREY time. That “quick” social media check that turns into an hour of scrolling? Definitely GREY. Creating your tenth lead magnet when you haven’t even promoted the first one? That’s RED work when you should be doing GREEN strategic thinking about why your current lead magnet isn’t working.

How to Flip Your Time to 80% Strategic Work

Here’s the secret sauce: You need to either eliminate, delegate, or batch your RED activities so you can focus on GREEN work.

Start with this: Pick three strategic goals for this month (GREEN thinking time). Write them down. Then look at your RED tasks and ask:

• Can I eliminate this completely?
• Can I delegate this to someone else?
• Can I batch this with similar tasks to do more efficiently?

For example: Instead of checking and responding to emails throughout the day (RED), batch it into two 30-minute sessions. Use the time you freed up for strategic client outreach or planning your next service offering (GREEN).

The Permission to Work ON Your Business, Not Just IN It

Amiga, here’s what nobody tells you: Doing more tasks doesn’t grow your business. Strategic thinking does.

You know what grows your business?

• Thinking deeply about your ideal client’s problems (GREEN)
• Having real conversations with potential clients (GREEN)
• Learning skills that help you serve clients better (GREEN)
• Planning systems that will scale your business (GREEN)

You know what just keeps you busy?

• Redesigning your website for the third time (RED)
• Creating more content without a strategy (RED)
• Attending every networking event in town (often GREY)

No tiene que ser complicado. The goal isn’t to work more hours. It’s to spend more of your existing hours on the strategic work that actually builds your business.

Your Tiny Action Step for This Week

Pick just ONE thing you do regularly that’s RED work and figure out how to eliminate, delegate, or batch it.

Then use that freed-up time for one GREEN activity that directly serves your business goals.

What’s one RED task you’re going to tackle this week? I’d love to hear about it – sometimes just saying it out loud makes it easier to follow through!

P.S. If you’re thinking “but I don’t know what strategic work I should be doing,” that’s exactly the kind of GREEN thinking time your business needs. Block two hours this week just to figure that out. That’s 80% of your time well spent right there.