I don’t consider myself a great manager at all, and I’m not really a planner. In fact, I’ve never written a true business plan. Yet, I know I’m productive. Many people ask me, “Grant, where do you find the time?” I strive to make the most of my time, and I learned and decided early on that instead of "managing" time, which implies there's a shortage of it, I would create time. This change in the way I perceive time, my day, and what I want to achieve every day, has given me more time to pursue my goal of success.

How do I create more time every day?

1. Take control of your time. Do not allow others to control your time. Doing more actually creates more time. This is especially important when considering family and friends. When I was expecting my first child, everyone warned me a baby would take up all of my time. This wasn’t the case at all. Instead, the arrival of my daughter fueled my fire to succeed even more.

I created more time by formulating a schedule that accounted for family time but didn't negatively affect the work schedule. I decided to wake up an hour earlier and have one-on-one time with my daughter before being consumed by the work tasks that awaited me. (My wife didn't mind gaining an extra hour of sleep, either.)

2. Set distinct and definitive priorities. If creating success is your top priority, I suggest spending most of your time doing things that will create success. Now, success means different things to all of us. Make a list of what’s important to you. Then you can start to see clearly where your time must be applied.

3. Strive for abundance—not balance. Most of us want success in all aspects of life. That’s great! Get the notion of balance out of your mind. When the focus is balance, you're sacrificing one thing for another. That limits you. When abundance is the goal, you're giving full energy and attention to whatever is in front of you, because you want as much as possible.

Successful people think in terms of all, not either/or, and they take massive action in all areas of their lives and approach success as their duty, responsibility and obligation. When you shift the way you think about success, you’ll create time. People will admire how much you are able to accomplish.

4. Do the math. Every person has 168 hours in a week. Get honest about how you spend your time. Keep a log of how you spend the next few hours—be honest. You’ll quickly see how checking social media, banking, news sites, lunchtime, quick errands, and watching TV eats up time. Start operating in 15-minute increments. Challenge yourself and see how much you can do in 15 minutes. Tackle the things that are most challenging first. Handle them fast, and you’ll notice you created more time.

5. Don’t buy into “taking it slow.” In our culture, we’re often encouraged to slow down, relax, and just be happy with where we are and what we have. This mentality will definitely not lead to greatness or stellar success. Never, ever allow yourself to be satisfied. Always strive for a higher level, higher purpose, bigger goal. When you work with intense purpose to create a financially secure future where true freedom is achieved, you will want to do the most you can with the time you have. Your time spent with family and friends or doing things to better yourself, such as exercise or reading, will be more enjoyable because of it.

We all have 24 hours in a day. Really think about what you will do to achieve greatness each day. Get as much done as possible and watch how you begin to control and create time, rather than struggle with never having enough of it.

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