You don't need more hours in the day. You need one protected power hour. Most entrepreneurs work 10 hour days, but never actually find the time for strategic work. You are busy all day long, responding to emails, putting out fires, handling client issues, and by the end of the day, you haven't worked on your business, you've only worked in your business, and that's exactly why you need to learn how to create a productivity power hour. Hi, I'm Cindy Gordon, a self-made entrepreneur, busy mom and execution coach. I built and sold multiple digital businesses, ranging from five to six figure successes and one of the biggest productivity shifts I've made is protecting one daily power hour for the work that actually grows my business before we dive in. If you are not getting my weekly productivity tips yet, grab them using the link in the show notes. They are the behind the scenes systems I use to stay productive while running my businesses. I'm sharing the mindset shift that helped me go from constantly busy to actually being productive. And it starts with just one protected hour. I hear it a lot from clients. They tell me that they don't have time to work on business strategy, create new offers, or build the systems that they need. They know what they should be doing, but they just can't find time to actually do it. I get it. Your calendar is full of meetings. Your inbox is overflowing. You are managing clients, contractors, and a family if you have one. Juggling that too. It's a lot. And by the time you have a free moment, you're too exhausted to do strategic work. You stay stuck working in your business instead of on it. You're making money, but you're not really growing. You're busy but you're not really building and the strategic work that would actually transform your business keeps getting pushed to the, when I have some time pile we tend to prioritize what's urgent over what's important. Your brain sees an email come in or a client request, and it screams handle this now, but the strategic planning session, that new offer you want to create, your brain says. Mm, that can wait. The problem is important. Work never feels urgent until it's too late. Building systems doesn't feel urgent until you're drowning. In chaos, creating a new revenue stream doesn't feel urgent until you're panicking about cash flow. Working on your marketing doesn't feel urgent until your pipeline is drying up. This is why a Daily Power Hour changes everything. It's not about finding more time, it's about protecting the time for what's actually important before everything else tries to steal your attention. So let me show you how to create a productivity power hour. So this is about identifying one hour, just one where you are protecting your most important work. Very similar to our MIT or most important task episode that we shared recently. So here we are dedicating an entire hour. So you're gonna start with a reality check of your energy. You need to figure out when you are most focused. So unlike the MIT, that is the most important task done at the beginning of the day here, we're gonna look at your energy and figure out when you are the most focused. So not when a productivity guru says you should be, but when you actually are. Are you sharp first thing in the morning? Or do you hit your stride after lunch or maybe evenings are your sweet spot. Your power hour needs to work with your natural rhythm and not against it. Next, identify three types of work that belong in your power hour. Type one is strategic planning. So this is big picture thinking. Type two, creating revenue, generating assets like content offers or systems. Type three high value activities that only you can do and directly grow your business. Do you notice what's not on this list? Things like emails, meetings, admin work. Social media, scrolling or anything that doesn't move the needle forward. So here's the game changer. Protect your Power Hour like it's a client appointment that pays you$5,000. Block it on your calendar. Turn off notifications, close your email, put your phone in another room if you need to. This hour is non-negotiable because this hour is where your business growth actually happens. You might be thinking you don't have a free hour and you are probably right. That's why you need to create it and not find it. If you did the calendar audit from the last episode, you've already identified time wasters to eliminate use that freed up time for the power hour. So here's how to actually make your power hour stick when that resistance shows up. If the resistance shows up, just start with 30 minutes instead of a full hour, if it feels impossible. Protecting 30 focused minutes is better than zero minutes. You can build up to an hour. Once you see the results, then prepare for your power hour the night before. Don't waste your focus time figuring out what to work on. Decide tonight what tomorrow's Power Hour will accomplish. This removes the decision fatigue and lets you dive straight into that deep work and when everything feels urgent, and you're tempted to skip your power Hour. I speak from experience here. I want you to remember when everything on your calendar feels urgent, your Power Hour protects what actually is important. That client emergency, it can wait 60 minutes. That email can be answered at 2:00 PM instead of 9:00 AM Your business growth can't wait forever. Let me tell you what happened. When I committed to my own daily Power Hour, I was working full days, but never making progress on the projects that mattered. I get to Friday exhausted and wondered what I actually accomplished, so I blocked off nine to 10 every single day for my Power Hour. I turned off Slack. I put my phone on Do Not Disturb, and I closed my email. During that hour, I worked exclusively on CEO type activities. So strategic things like creating new programs, building systems, planning launches, writing content that would attract clients within the first month, I finished a program that I had been working on for several months, and I used the term working on with air quotes there. I created three months worth of content and I built a client onboarding system that saved me hours. Every single week, this approach is woven into how I run my companies because the protected hour creates more business growth than the nine other hours combined. And what shocked me was not one single client complained about the slightly delayed email responses because nobody cared that I wasn't instantly available between nine and 10. In fact, I believe my business got stronger because I was finally building instead of just maintaining. So your Power Hour isn't about cramming more work into your day. It's about protecting the time for work that actually grows your business. You can learn more tips and tricks just like this@exclusivelycindy.com, or follow me on Instagram at exclusively, Cindy. Now go look at your calendar. Find one hour tomorrow or even just 30 minutes if you need to baby, step into this and block it off. Write what you'll work on. Protect that time like your business growth depends upon it, because it does. And remember, you've got this.

Thanks for spending these few minutes with me today. Remember, overwhelm isn't permanent. It's simply your brain's way of saying pause and take a little reality check. If this was helpful, you'll love my weekly email tips where I share the systems that keep me and hundreds of other entrepreneurs on Track Link in the show notes. If you got value in today's episode, please share it with another entrepreneur who needs that reminder. If you're loving the show, I'd be so grateful if you could leave me a quick review. It helps other overwhelmed entrepreneurs find us. Make sure you hit subscribe so you never miss your weekly dose of clarity. For more resources and to connect with me, visit exclusively cindy.com. Until next time, remember you've got this.