I once saw a woman in a parking lot throw pennies on the ground. When I asked her what she was doing, she told me she’d just read about a multimillionaire who had calculated his worth, and based on the value of an hour of his time, he determined that it wasn’t worth the few seconds it’d take for him to pick up a dollar bill from the sidewalk. She, however, had decided that although it was worth her time to pick up a dollar, she could afford to part with a few pennies.

      I think she missed the point, but there’s a lesson in this experience: You’re always on the clock. Time is money, and yours has a value. Giving away your precious time without a sense of its value is like throwing money on the sidewalk. By knowing what your time is worth, you can prioritize those tasks that yield the greatest return, delegating or eliminating those tasks that provide little to no return on your time investment.

      About ten years ago, as I was evaluating my sales results, I puzzled over a drop in my numbers at the tenth week when I’d been working without a break. It didn’t take me long to realize that my lower results reflected my drop in focus. And it’s a pattern I could see in previous months. I realized the best course of action, rather than gutting it out, was to get out. I needed a vacation.

      I also found that I didn’t need a full week’s vacation to return to work revitalized and refreshed. I simply needed a mini‐break, about five days over the course of a long weekend to step away from the work routine and see the world through another lens, whether holing up with my family or making an escape to the beach. In the last few years, I’ve recognized again that span of time spent at work has been reduced from ten weeks to a nine‐week schedule. It could be attributed to age, increased responsibility, pre‐teen and teen children, or a couple of ongoing health issues. I have learned that getting out is still the best course of action.

      To this day, I lay out my whole year in advance, now based on the nine‐week rhythm. This ensures I use my time for maximum benefit. I’m either working at a high level, or I am out recharging myself for five days to come back strong.

      Too many people feel that all this structure is too restrictive. They think the freedom they seek with their schedules and their lives is contained in a more flexible environment. They’re afraid establishing a routine will keep them wrapped in the chains of time.

      However, most people waste too much time figuring out each individual day on the fly. They react to the day rather than respond. Reacting is a reflex action that turns over your agenda to others, and that can’t possibly lead to freedom. Responding is a disciplined act of planning that determines where and how you’ll invest your time.

      For example, suppose you have a set place in your schedule to respond to phone calls and problems. You’ve established the routine of dealing with these issues in predetermined time slots. You can hold off on your response until later – when you’re calmer, more focused, and in a problem‐solving mentality – instead of reacting because you’re dealing with the issue now.

      Planning how to spend your time, which at first glance seems opposed to freedom, is the only pathway to the true mastery of time. With the right routine come simplicity, productivity, and freedom. The “what am I going to work on today?” or “what’s my schedule today?” never happens. And when you get the important work out of the way, you free yourself to do what you really enjoy.

      If you’re a free spirit and what I’m suggesting just fried your circuits, start with a small amount of routine. Ask yourself, “Can I establish a daily routine to try it out? What can I do without having it send me into withdrawal?” Then implement a new routine every