Take Back Your Time: How One Whiteboard Changed My Business

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Is your business running you ragged? Constantly busy, yet nothing truly moves forward? I’ve been there. A few years ago, I was buried in work—exhausted, reactive, and convinced that if I just worked harder, things would get better. They didn’t. But one whiteboard session changed everything.

It didn’t just clear my calendar—it helped unlock real business growth. If you’re a founder who feels stretched too thin, this might be exactly what you need.

The 3-Step Reset That Changed Everything

Step 1: The Two-Week Deep Dive – Document Everything

For two straight weeks, I tracked every single thing I did. Every email. Every meeting. Every “quick” task. Everything. The goal? Brutal honesty. No editing, no excuses. Just raw data on how I was actually spending my time. This was the foundation. Without it, I’d just be guessing.

Step 2: The Whiteboard Dump – Make It Visual

After two weeks, I transferred every task from the spreadsheet to a whiteboard. Seeing it all laid out in front of me was sobering. It wasn’t just a long list—it was chaos. It was the truth. No filters. Just the full scope of my workload in plain sight.

Step 3: The Great Categorization – Cut the Noise

With the whiteboard full, we started sorting. Every task went into one of three buckets:

• Mission Critical – If this doesn’t get done, the business breaks. Think revenue, product, and core delivery.
• Needs Doing (But Not Right Now) – Important, but not urgent. Strategy, ops, back-burner initiatives.
• The Ruthless Cut: Time Sucks & Energy Vampires (Delegate, Automate, Obliterate) – Low-impact tasks that drain you. Delegate, automate, or delete.

We eliminated over 25% of what I was doing—instantly. Meetings. Admin work. Tasks I never should have owned in the first place.

The Second Cut – Play to Your Strengths

Then we took it further. We looked at everything left and sorted again—this time through a personal lens:

• Zone of Genius – Where I bring the most value
• Passion Projects – What energizes me
• The Delegation Station – What someone else should be doing

Another 30% of my task list got reassigned, delegated, or phased out. Not just to free up time—but to get better outcomes. Because when someone loves the thing you dread? That’s a win for everyone.

The Hockey Stick Effect – What Happened Next

Once I focused almost exclusively on my Zone of Genius and Passion Projects, things started moving. The team grew stronger. Our output improved. And the business started compounding. We finally saw the hockey stick.

What’s Next: Time Blocking (Teaser)

This clarity made one more shift possible: time blocking. I built my week around the high-impact work I was meant to be doing. That’s a post for another day—but the key is this: None of that would’ve worked if I hadn’t started with the whiteboard.

The Takeaway: Clarity Creates Capacity

This wasn’t magic. It took honesty, discipline, and the willingness to let go. But once I stopped being buried by the business and started acting like a true owner of the business—everything changed. You don’t need a bigger to-do list. You need to know which things you should be doing—and eliminate the rest.

Try it yourself: Track your next two weeks. Dump it all on a whiteboard. Categorize with ruthless honesty. And watch what happens.

By Travis Janko, CEO of GSD Coach & Recruiting, helping SaaS founders build the top 5% of talent, FAST!