You're the owner of your business, but if someone looked at your calendar, would they know it or would they think you're just another employee trying to get through your task list? The hard truth is that most entrepreneurs schedule like employees instead of thinking like the CEOs they are, and it's costing them their growth. Their sanity and their success. In this episode, I'm breaking down the fundamental mind shifts that you need to stop being your own employee in your own business and start thinking like the CEO you are about your calendar. Welcome back to Thrive in Five, where I give you a quick burst of motivation and productivity in five minutes or less. I'm Cindy, your host, a self-made entrepreneur, busy mom, and a business coach. I've built and sold several digital businesses ranging from five to six figure successes. So when it comes to managing time and priorities in both life and work, I get it. I've been there and I am here to help you thrive. Let's be real about what is happening here. Maybe you're filling in your calendar with busy work, responding to every single email immediately. Taking every meeting request, or spending hours on tasks that don't move your business forward. Or maybe you're waiting for permission to time block more important work, or you feel guilty about not being available for every moment of the. Or maybe you're focused on checking off the tasks that you never step back to ask whether those tasks actually matter. So here is what's going on. You are thinking like an employee instead of an owner. Employees fill time. They follow instructions and they react to whatever's loudest. But CEOs think strategically about every hour and make decisions based upon business impact, and they protect their time, like the valuable resource that it is. When you schedule like an employee, you always feel behind. Overwhelmed and like you're working in your business instead of leading it. This mindset shift changed everything for me. As I was building my businesses, I realized I was treating my calendar like I was working for someone else. Instead of recognizing that every hour I spent was either growing my business or keeping me. Once I started thinking like a CEO about my time, I went from feeling scattered and reactive to making strategic decisions that actually moved the needle. This shift is what separates entrepreneurs who scale from those who stay overwhelmed. So here's how to think like a CEO about your calendar instead of scheduling it like an employee. This isn't about time management tactics. It's about fundamentally changing how you make decisions about your time. First shift from task focus to outcome focused thinking. Employees ask, what do I need to do today? CEOs ask, what outcome do I need to create this week? Instead of filling your calendar with activities, start with the result you want and work backwards. If your goal is to increase revenue, your calendar should reflect revenue generating activities, not just busy work that feels productive before you say yes to any meeting, task or commitment. Ask yourself, will this directly contribute to my business goals, or am I just staying busy? Next, I want you to think ownership and not permission. Employees ask for permission to block time for important work CEOs. Protect their strategic time, like it's non-negotiable. Stop apologizing for boundaries you have about your calendar. You don't need anyone's permission to block two hours for business development or two decline meetings that don't serve your goals. When you own your calendar decisions, instead of defaulting to what everyone else wants from you, you start acting like the leader that your business needs. And finally prioritize like an investor and not a worker. CEOs. Think about ROI on everything, including their time. They ask, what's the highest value use for this hour? Workers, just do what's in front of them. Start evaluating every activity in your calendar through this lens. Is this a$10 an hour task? A hundred dollars an hour task, or a thousand dollars an hour task? That$10 task can get delegated, automated, or even eliminated that a thousand dollars task, it gets your prime time and full focus. This isn't about being cold and calculating. It's about being strategic with the resource that will make or break your business. The transformation happens when you realize how you spend your time is your business strategy. Every calendar decision is a leadership decision about where your company is headed. After having a discussion with a follower on Instagram, she shared with me that she stopped taking every pick your brain type of coffee meeting and started protecting that time for strategic planning. Her business, clarity and growth exploded. This type of executive level, thinking about your calendar is actually the foundation of everything I teach in my Overwhelm care program, because you can't build effective systems until you first think like the leader of your business. So here is your challenge. Look at next week's calendar and ask yourself. Does this schedule reflect someone who works for the business or someone who owns the business? Identify one$10 task that you can eliminate and$1,000 activity that you need to protect time for. Make the swap and notice how different it feels to schedule like a CEO. You didn't just start your business to be one of its most overworked employees. You started it to be its visionary leader. Your calendar should reflect that vision, not your to-do list. When you think like a CEO about your time, you don't just manage your schedule, you lead your business towards the future that you are creating. You've got this. Thanks for tuning into the Thrive in Five podcast. 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