The Productivity Power Hour: How to Get More Done in Less Time

Do you ever feel like there just aren’t enough hours in the day? As an entrepreneur, you wear all the hats—CEO, marketer, customer service rep, and everything in between. But what if you could accomplish more while working less?

In this episode, Tracey Watts Cirino shares game-changing productivity hacks that help entrepreneurs reclaim their time, reduce overwhelm, and skyrocket efficiency. You’ll learn:
✅ The #1 mistake keeping you stuck in the busy cycle
✅ How to identify and eliminate time-wasters in your business
✅ The 80/20 rule for maximum impact with minimal effort
✅ Smart automation and delegation strategies to free up hours every week
✅ The mindset shift that turns productivity into a superpower

If you’re ready to stop spinning your wheels and start making real progress, this episode is for you!

👉 Listen now and take back control of your time! 

Are you ready to say goodbye to fear, frustration, and overwhelm when it comes to growing and scaling your business? You’re in the right place. Welcome to  Beyond Common Business Secrets Podcast I’m your host, Tracey Watts Cirino

Transcript

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Tracey Watts Cirino: Hello, and welcome to beyond common business secrets.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: We are so so excited that you are here. So I'm your host, Tracey Watts Cirino. And today we're diving deep into the biggest challenges that every entrepreneur and business owner faces


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Tracey Watts Cirino: time management, of course. Right? So do you ever feel like there just are not enough hours in the day. I know I do. So


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Tracey Watts Cirino: if you feel like your to do list just keeps growing and growing, no matter how hard you work.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: If this is you, then you're not alone, my friend.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: I've got you. So today I'm sharing some game, changing productivity hacks to help you reclaim your time.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: work smarter, not harder. That's key, and grow your business without burnout. So let's dive in and remember to subscribe to our show and share this episode with a friend who would benefit from what I'm calling the productivity power hour how to get more done in less time. So first, st I want to start with the


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Tracey Watts Cirino: biggest mistake. The absolute biggest mistake that I continually see business owners making is that


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Tracey Watts Cirino: entrepreneurs are making this super confusing this super confusing note. And what what I see again and again is that confusing busyness with productivity? Now some people ask ask me, well, what do you mean I'm so busy because I have all this stuff going on.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And here's what I like to say. Let me ask you this, how much of your actual day. Your actual workday is spent on tasks that truly move your business forward right? Versus things that just keep you busy. Now I want to say this with all the love and respect in the world, and it might feel a bit like tough love.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: I feel you. I used to wear my busyness like a badge of honor. So know that this is no judgment. But this is the number one mistake that I see again and again and again, and this is that


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Tracey Watts Cirino: if, when you don't take a moment to really think through this, it really really just continues to perpetuate where every day is spent being busy and busy in it, and you start to wear it like a badge of honor. So I used to spend so much time checking emails, attending unnecessary meetings.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: allowing unnecessary meetings to even book on my calendar, or after I paid someone to completely rebuild a website, I'd spend hours tweaking it and fine tuning it, and then, at the end of the day, I felt exhausted, but not very accomplished, like I didn't really get anything done except to say, Oh, I was so busy. So if that is you, then you are amongst friends here. So


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Tracey Watts Cirino: when I started shifting all of this, this is when I learned about the 80 20 rule. And it is essentially just that 80% of your results


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Tracey Watts Cirino: are gonna come from just 20% of your efforts. And I've learned to apply this to everything this comes to how I structure my day. This is even in


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Tracey Watts Cirino: how you grow the most aligned clients, you know. So if you really hone in on the structure of the 80 20 rule, you will really really start to see a huge shift. So


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Tracey Watts Cirino: I challenge you today to just take 5 min. Take 5 min today and list all your tasks like you can do it on any notebook right? And then.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: after you list, all of them. I want you to highlight the top 3 things from the list that actually move your business forward, and then only focus on those. That is all you need to do, and then, of course, report back. Let me know. Let me know how it shifts. So that is like the 1st thing that you can do out of the gate. It will help so much.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And then


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Tracey Watts Cirino: that that is like the number one thing that will help you right away. So now I want to share with you a bunch of productivity hacks. So the number one


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Tracey Watts Cirino: productivity hack for how to overcome this perpetual need to just like feel busy and


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Tracey Watts Cirino: and and not feel like you accomplish anything at the end of the day. So that's the biggest mistake, and that's the one that I want to unpack for our productivity power hour here. So the 1st


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Tracey Watts Cirino: that you can use is what I like to call like time blocking. This is how you maximize your CEO schedule, and this is like owning your power and taking control of your day. So, instead of jumping from task to task.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: You want to block out specific times for deep work, specific times for meetings, and specific times for admin. Now, I have some clients that really really do well with


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Tracey Watts Cirino: having certain segments of time blocks every day that spread across every day. Then I have other clients that are like myself, where we benefit from


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Tracey Watts Cirino: having what I call day type compartments. So that is where you work on specific tasks just for that day. And you're not pulling yourself in so many different, like what it's like switching, it just really messes with my creative brain. So


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Tracey Watts Cirino: you may be the same. And that is a really good area to 1st get started. So an example might look like your morning is like when you segment your morning. Maybe that's your deep work. You work on content, strategy and revenue generating activities. This could be like when you are meeting with your clients, when you're doing


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Tracey Watts Cirino: the services that you get paid money for this could be your highest level stuff, that you know with all certainty that this leads to revenue generating for me like I'll give you the example. So for me, my mornings, I work on writing the content for new books, new programs we're creating.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: I use this time to connect with my vip one to one clients. So whatever is your highest level where that's gonna affect your bottom line? That would be when you'd schedule like that deep work. And then


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Tracey Watts Cirino: afternoons you can look at it like this. Afternoon. Say, this is when you do meetings. This is when you do


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Your client says your client sessions networking this could be when you do your you know your team meetings, your personal development meetings for your staff.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: anything like that. And then in the afternoon, you could. You could segment it where this is your admin time. So when you're answering emails, when you're invoicing, when you're scheduling things that came up throughout your day. So IA pro tip that I would say, is schedule your toughest tasks during your peak energy hours.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: I know when my peak. Energy hours are, and for me that is the morning. But for you it could be that you come alive at 3 Pm. So that could be. You know where you put your highest level stuff. So this is like, not


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Tracey Watts Cirino: a moment that you're being told you have to do it this way. This is a moment where you take a look. What works best for you, hey? Try this little sample of how I just gave you the morning, midday, and late afternoon. If that works for you, great, if not, this can lead to you, finding, when your highest level productivity and energetic alignment hours are so just know that that's a really good place to start.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: The next thing is


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Tracey Watts Cirino: The second hack I have for you is to automate and delegate. So 1st and foremost, stop doing tasks that a system could do for you. We have so much amazing technology that can do this for you. There is no reward for burning yourself out on repetitive tasks.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Say it with me. There is no reward for burning yourself out on repetitive tasks. So know that you can use email templates for common responses. You can set up automations. You can automate scheduling in


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Tracey Watts Cirino: like using your calendar apps. I know. I recommend all the time that we use Fg funnels because it has our. It has our calendar app that's synced with our personal and professional calendars. That has the place for us to do all our email automations.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And it has a place that you can schedule your content so you can invest in automated services. Our Fg funnels happens to also be our Crm. So look into things that work for you. I have a lot of clients that use calendly, and and Kajabi and Mailchimp. There's so many different things. So


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Tracey Watts Cirino: if you


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Tracey Watts Cirino: want to really free up your time, get comfortable letting automations and advanced technology take care of the repetitive work that's just boring for you to do, and it wastes your energy.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: The next thing is delegate repetitive tasks to a virtual assistant or a team member that you've hired to do those type of tasks. You only want to keep on your schedule the stuff that only you can do so when you're in a position that


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Tracey Watts Cirino: you're honoring your true gifts and your true purpose. This is going to create space for you to really shine at what you are best at.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: So number 3 is the one thing.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Just focus on one thing. This multitasking is such a myth. So just pick one high impact


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Tracey Watts Cirino: task per day, and give it your full attention. One of the things I often get asked is, Oh, my goodness, Tracy, how do you get so much done in a day. And the honest truth is that I


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Tracey Watts Cirino: really


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Tracey Watts Cirino: do not work on multiple things at once. I pick one thing, and I really do my best to try to focus.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: to get focus time where I can complete it.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: or at least set it down like, if it's if I'm writing a new book. It's like, it's going to be a series of things. If we're creating a new program, it's going to be a series of things. So that would be considered more of a project, but I carve out and schedule out dedicated time to just that thing where nothing else can interrupt me, so the reason that it may look like I get a lot done is because I really work on focusing on the one thing.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: So one of the tricks I use is to ask yourself


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Tracey Watts Cirino: if you could only accomplish one thing today that would move your business forward.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: What would it be? I ask myself this all the time like, what is the one thing that I could do right now? That would help me move my business forward if I find myself getting overwhelmed, flustered, or I have all these open windows on my computer.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: I will pause and ask myself that. So know that that is available to you at any time. Like hack number 4 to help you through. This is batching in themed work days. This is, I sometimes will call this the seasonal model, where I know, I had said earlier, like, I work in day type compartments. But this is what that's about. So batching and theme days like what we do is we will batch similar tasks together,


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Tracey Watts Cirino: where it could be like a few days a month, where I will record all the podcasts and then another day.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: where we will work on breaking up the content, and how we want to share it on all of our social media platforms, so you can find what works best for you. What


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Tracey Watts Cirino: I recommend as the starter for almost all of my clients is this simple framework. So if you are new to batching, and you're new to themed work days here. Here is a very simple, simple 3 step. So Monday you would do your content. Creation. Tuesday. Client calls


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Tracey Watts Cirino: 3 marketing.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Simple. Start there and see what happens.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: and this will save you hours and hours of content switching. Now, if you see clients in person, then obviously Tuesday is client, you know, is client day. Now, if you see clients every day great, then break your day into the theme quadrants. But this is a very simple, easy way to get started. Then, as you start to know your energy and how you work best.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: all of this will start to fall together where you're like, okay, I can tweak this. And this is the day I work on this. So


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Tracey Watts Cirino: that is the easiest way to get started.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: So Number 5 would be setting boundaries and saying, No, yes and no is a complete sentence. Right? So I say this all the time. But remember, friend, your time is so valuable. You don't. You don't waste it on distractions and things that are not going to move your the needle forward. So


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Tracey Watts Cirino: when it comes to like setting clear boundaries and saying no.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: What what I see is the overlap to this problem is that when you're somebody that doesn't have set clear work hours, or you don't know how to say no to these low priority requests


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Tracey Watts Cirino: on


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Tracey Watts Cirino: you might also limit social, you know you may not. You might not be limiting your social media scrolling and find that you've wasted hours scrolling when you've said, oh, if I could only find 1 h to get this project done where you just wasted 3, and you didn't even know it. So yes, friend, you've got to get real. You've got to get Super honest with yourself.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: If that involves you starting to track where your time is being spent, so that you can make the necessary adjustments and shifts. I strongly urge you to do that, because the thing is is that


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Tracey Watts Cirino: you don't need to allow any person to schedule on your calendar.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: that that is not a right and privilege that I give to everybody. I believe that that is not a right and privilege that you should give to everybody. So you want to get really clear. On? What are your priorities? What are the boundaries you have around your work schedule? What are the boundaries you have around your life schedule and your personal goals and habits like this is all one right. Our business is designed to serve our life. It does not.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: It's not the other way around.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: We did not go into business because we wanted to be a slave to our business like that was no one's goal ever of anybody I've ever interviewed talked to or asked this question. The number one thing that you want to do with your business is impact. The world, change people's lives, solve a specific problem.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: You did not want to be a slave to serving your business right like it could become the perpetual monster. That is not what we're here to do so really get clear on what those boundaries are and what that looks like for you.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: So I hope that you found this super super helpful.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: and I want to recap today's top productivity hacks. So number one is.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: stop confusing, being busy with actually being productive, get really clear on what it looks like to be productive and move the needle in your business. This is Step One. You cannot outsource this. You could not delegate. This. You have to decide what it looks like to be successful and move the needle forward in your business.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: You were the only one that. So it starts with you. That's how you'll know when you're really productive. Number 2 is use time blocking. Use time blocking and take control of your day.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Only you can do this, and once you have this, then, once you have it down, then you can teach your team and your staff how to do this for themselves as well, so you can get everyone on board with being more productive. And how exciting is that so? Number 3 would be to automate and delegate, automate and delegate everything that you can. That


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Tracey Watts Cirino: isn't designed just for you, you as the business leader.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: You have specific tasks that only you can do.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: and everything else that is not of high value or of high importance, is where you can figure out a way to automate or delegate. This is an area that I work with. A lot of my clients. So if you need even more help with this, we have a free guide on our website. That is the 5 like, it's the checklist for the 5 strategies that you need to set up right away, and this will help you eliminate so much of that repetitive work. So


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Tracey Watts Cirino: check out that guide, I'll actually put the link to grab it here in the show notes as well. The number 4 is to focus on your one high impact task at a time. So just focus on one thing at a time like, if I was here right now, recording this podcast and having 12 side conversations and checking my email and fiddling with my phone. Would anyone care about what we were delivering today? I am here with you.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: a hundred percent present, giving you everything I've got. That's how we record a podcast episode. It's a schedule. It's an appointment.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Do that. What's the one high impact thing that you're working on today. Do that. Then


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Number 5 was set boundaries and protect your energy. So


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Tracey Watts Cirino: I hope this is helpful. I would love to hear from you, so I want to hear from you, screenshot this episode wherever you're listening. I love to know where you're listening. So then share it on Instagram or Facebook and tag me at Tracy Watt. Sereno. Don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review wherever you are tuning in. I would love to hear from you, and


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Tracey Watts Cirino: as always. Remember that you are already beyond amazing, and I cannot wait to see you on the next one. Take care, take care and share with us what were your biggest insights? What were your takeaways? We cannot wait to hear from you, and I will see you soon.