How to Reclaim Your Time and Work Smarter: Insights from Time Wise on our GROW call

Mar 12, 2025

Summary of our recent GROW session focussed on Time Wise by Amantha Imber.

Time is our most valuable resource, yet so many of us feel like we never have enough of it. Between meetings, emails, to-do lists, and endless demands, it’s easy to feel like our days are slipping away without truly making progress on what matters most.

This week in our GROW Virtual Book Club, we explored the early chapters of Time Wise by Amantha Imber—a book filled with science-backed strategies to help us rethink time management and work smarter, not harder.

The key learning?

It’s not about doing more—it’s about doing what truly matters.

Here are five powerful takeaways from our session that you can apply to your own life starting today.

1. Question Every Meeting: Does It Really Need to Happen?

One of the biggest time-wasters in modern work culture is unnecessary meetings. How often have you sat in a meeting thinking, This could have been an email?

Amantha Imber suggests setting a default meeting length of 15 minutes rather than the typical hour. She also introduces the idea of meeting-free days, a concept that resonated with many in our session.

💡 Member Insight: Leanne shared that she started blocking off Wednesdays as a no-meeting day, and it has completely transformed her productivity. Without interruptions, she gets into deep work mode and makes significant progress on big projects.

Try this:
🔹 Challenge yourself to decline one unnecessary meeting this week or shorten it to 15 minutes.
🔹 Experiment with a meeting-free morning or day and notice the difference in your focus.

2. Deep Work & Task Batching: Stop the Multitasking Madness

We often pride ourselves on being great multitaskers, but research shows that constantly switching tasks reduces efficiency and increases stress. The brain takes time to refocus every time we switch gears, leading to wasted energy.

Amantha suggests two strategies to combat this:
✅ Deep Work – Blocking out uninterrupted time for high-focus tasks.
✅ Task Batching – Grouping similar tasks together to minimize context switching.

💡 Member Insight: Melanie started blocking “focus time” on her calendar, during which she turns off email notifications and fully commits to a single task. The result? She now accomplishes in two hours what used to take her a whole day.

Try this:
🔹 Identify your most important task each day and schedule 90 minutes of deep work to tackle it.
🔹 Batch similar tasks together—for example, answer all emails at once instead of constantly checking them.

3. Work with Your Energy, Not Just the Clock

Not all hours are created equal! Some of us are naturally more focused in the morning, while others do their best work in the evening. Instead of forcing productivity at the “wrong” times, Amantha suggests structuring your day around your peak energy periods.

💡 Member Insights:

Hayley shared that her best work happens before 10 AM, so she now schedules her most demanding tasks in the morning.
Tanya, on the other hand, gets a second wind in the evening, so she saves her deep work for later in the day.

Try this:
🔹 Pay attention to your energy levels over the next week. When do you feel most alert and focused?
🔹 Schedule your most important work during your peak energy periods.

4. Outsource & Automate: Do Less, Achieve More

One of the most overlooked productivity hacks is outsourcing and automating repetitive tasks. We often feel like we “have to” do everything ourselves, but the truth is, there are tools and people who can do it for us.

💡 Member Insights:

Dora started using a booking tool to schedule meetings instead of handling everything manually, which saves her hours each week.
Liv automated her weekly grocery order, eliminating decision fatigue and freeing up mental space.

Try this:
🔹 Identify one repetitive task you can either delegate, automate, or eliminate.
🔹 Set up a simple automation (e.g., schedule bill payments, use a meal delivery service, or automate social media posts).

5. Be Intentional: Small Tweaks Lead to Big Results

At the heart of Time Wise is a simple but profound idea: Be intentional with your time. Every moment we waste on low-value tasks is time we could be spending on what truly matters—whether it’s a personal passion, time with loved ones, or meaningful work.

💡 Final Reflections from GROW Members:

Leanne is blocking focus time on her calendar.
Hayley is eliminating morning meetings to prioritize deep work.
Tanya is setting up automations to save time on admin tasks.

Try this:
🔹 Each morning, ask yourself: What is the one thing I can do today that will have the biggest impact?
🔹 Make small but consistent changes—over time, they’ll add up to massive improvements.

Final Thoughts: Time is a Choice

One of the most powerful realizations from our session was that we have more control over our time than we think. By making small, intentional changes—cutting unnecessary meetings, embracing deep work, working with our energy, outsourcing tasks, and setting clear priorities—we can dramatically improve our productivity and our quality of life.

So, what’s one small change you’ll make this week to reclaim your time?

Let us know in the comments—we’d love to hear your thoughts! 🚀✨

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