The Power of Yellow Time: Why Every Business Owner
Needs It
If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ve likely heard me talk about Yellow Time. My clients know exactly what it is – they live by it.
But for those of you who aren’t familiar, I want to take a moment to break it down and explain why it’s essential for every business owner to embrace Yellow Time as a routine habit.
Yellow Time is all about dedicating focused time each week to work on your business, not just in it.
It’s about building the foundation for long-term success by tackling the activities that drive growth, stability, and profitability – things like strategic planning, marketing, margin analysis, forecasting, and process improvements.
Understanding the Model
The concept of Yellow Time builds on Stephen Covey’s time management matrix. Imagine a grid with four quadrants:
Top Left (Urgent & Important): This is where business-critical decisions happen… the day-to-day tasks that keep your business running. These are unavoidable and often demand immediate attention.
Top Right (Not Urgent but Important): This is the magic quadrant, where Yellow Time lives. It’s the space for strategic thinking and future-focused activities.
Bottom Left (Urgent but Not Important): Covey calls this the deception quadrant. These tasks feel urgent – think endless emails, trivial phone calls, or busywork – but they don’t truly move the needle.
Bottom Right (Not Urgent & Not Important): Welcome to the distraction zone – think mindless scrolling, unnecessary meetings, or getting sucked into YouTube videos. It’s easy to lose hours here if we’re not careful.
Why Yellow Time Matters
The problem many business owners face is that the most important tasks – the ones in the not urgent but important quadrant – get postponed. They’re not screaming for attention, so we put them off:
- “I’ll do it tomorrow.”
- “It’s a big job; I’ll tackle it next week.”
- “I’ll get to it after this urgent thing is done.”
But the truth is, tomorrow rarely comes. And when we neglect these high-value activities, we risk stagnation and missed opportunities for growth.
Yellow Time is about prioritising those activities. It’s about carving out one to two hours every week – same time, same day – to focus on the strategies that will propel your business forward.
How to make yellow time work...
Yellow Time isn’t just about blocking out your calendar – it’s about making it a habit.
Here’s how you can get started:
Commit to a Routine: Choose a time slot that works for you and make it non-negotiable. Treat it like the most important meeting of the week – because it is.
Focus on High-Value Tasks: Use this time to work on your business’s future. Dive into your margins, optimise your processes, or refine your marketing strategy.
Eliminate Distractions: During Yellow Time, ignore emails, skip the inbox, and avoid the deception and distraction quadrants altogether.
