Time Management for Coaches: 5 Steps to Faster Growth

Want the best time management strategies for coaches? As a coach, you have to juggle:

• Serving current clients
• Attracting new clients
• Spending countless hours on admin work, scheduling, or figuring out social media algorithms

💡Key takeaways:

• Coaches often work with multiple clients at once, which means they have a LOT to do, including administrative tasks and hosting coaching sessions
• Some of the best ways to improve time management as a coach are prioritizing tasks, optimizing planning, and outsourcing 
• Effective time management can lead to higher productivity, less stress, and a good work-life balance

Why is time management important for coaches?  

As a coach, you’re juggling multiple clients, each at different points in their journeys. And the number of hours you spend helping them depends on several factors, like how many clients you’re working with and who.  For example, you might only work during business hours as an executive coach but host weekend sessions as a life coach. Either way, you have a lot on your plate, especially considering the average coach has approximately 12 clients at a time. And most coaches spend their time:

• Handling coaching agreements, scheduling, and payments
• Defining coaching goals, expectations, and responsibilities with each client
• Creating tailored roadmaps
• Hosting coaching sessions and staying fully present while showing empathy, respect, and understanding
• Being flexible and adjusting plans and coaching methods as needed
• Offering accountability and encouragement
• Celebrating progress

So, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by your schedule and growing to-do list. But time management for coaches can:

• Improve productivity
• Lower stress levels
• Enhance self-confidence
• Help you strike a better work-life balance
• Boost your chances of reaching your goals
• And so much more

Ready to change your life? Then, keep reading.

5 best time management tips for coaches

As productivity coaches, Demir and I know how important time management is. That’s why I’m sharing some of the exact strategies we use to raise our daughters, travel the world, and grow our business in just a few hours a week. Here’s what those are:

1. Prioritizing and planning
2. Optimizing planning and scheduling
3. Outsourcing tasks
4. Using time-blocking techniques
5. Setting boundaries

Let’s go into more detail for each.

1. Prioritize and plan 

As a coach, everything feels important. But knowing how to plan and prioritize your tasks effectively is a HUGE part of time management for coaches. That’s why I highly recommend learning to create an effective to-do list. Having one helps you: 

• Ease your stress and anxiety
• Avoid overwhelm 
• And improve discipline

The trick is not to throw everything on your to-do list. Instead, avoid task overload with the 1:4:5 rule, which means listing:

• One high-priority task
• Four mid-priority tasks
• And five low-priority tasks

Not sure which tasks to prioritize? Use the Champagne Moment exercise to figure it out – just ask yourself which task you’d celebrate finishing with a bottle of champagne. Check out this video for more: Then, once you’ve figured out your priorities, leverage them. In other words, figure out which ones will make everything else easier and start with those.  And here’s another tip I swear by.  Make your tasks actionable by starting each one with an action. For example, instead of writing “John’s roadmap,” put “Create John’s roadmap in Asana.” See the difference? I know this sounds like a lot of planning, but don’t let it take too much time. As a general rule of thumb, you’re overplanning if you spend more than two hours each week on this task.  Looking to plan out your week? I’ll teach you how in this guide.

2. Optimize planning and scheduling 

So, we talked about why effective planning and prioritization are so important. But you know what’s even more important? Organizing your time in a way that works for you. I swear by task batching (grouping similar tasks together). It increases: 

• Productivity
• Focus 
• And efficiency

For example, you could batch all of your administrative tasks – like replying to emails, sending out client intake forms, and handling billing – into a single block of time rather than spreading them throughout the day. And if you have a client-heavy day, build some extra time between sessions as a buffer.  Even a quick break will help you recharge, refocus, and prepare for what’s next so you can tackle your next call with a renewed sense of energy. You could also try:

• The two-minute rule, which says if a task takes less than two minutes to complete, you do it immediately to keep it from piling up on your to-do list.
• Taking five to ten minutes at the end of each day to plan for the next one. Outlining your priorities this way helps you start tomorrow with greater clarity. 

There are also tools that can streamline your planning and scheduling processes, including digital task managers like Asana (which keep everything organized) and scheduling tools such as Calendly. If you’d rather go for an all-in-one approach, here are some tools built specifically for coaches:

• Paperbell
• Cloverleaf
• CoachAccountable
• Bonsai
• Simply.Coach

Now, let’s talk about outsourcing tasks.

3. Outsource tasks

When mastering time management for coaches, there’s one key thing to remember. You’re only one person! You can’t do it all. So, don’t!  🤲Instead, hand off anything not requiring your expertise. When you do, you’ll find more time to focus on things that really matter. Sometimes, that means automating repetitive tasks.  For example, we’re big fans of Zapier, which we use to automatically add sales calls to an Excel sheet that tracks them and conversions. But you could also automate things like: 

• Welcome or follow-up emails
• Scheduling
• Lead generation and management
• And billing

However, what I really recommend is outsourcing to a virtual assistant. I’ve been doing this for years – and once you get past the feeling of giving up control, everything changes.  I even delegate personal tasks like laundry and dog walking. The sky is the limit! The key is choosing the right VA and providing them with crystal clear instructions.  My advice? Start small. Once you see the benefits, build from there. 📚Read more: Are you ready to hire your first virtual assistant?

4. Use time blocking techniques

I know how tempting it is to multitask (and how productive it makes you feel). 📉But the truth is that multitasking actually reduces productivity by 40%! And the reason it doesn’t work is because it doesn’t exist – it’s just rapid task-switching. So, instead of multitasking, try time blocking. Time blocking is a fancy way of saying you’re setting aside dedicated time for each task. It’s a surefire way to move smoothly from one to the other without procrastinating.  You can put specific blocks of time on your calendar, but there are also other ways to block your time, such as:

• The Pomodoro Technique, where you work in a 25-minute session before taking a 5-minute break. After a certain number of long sessions, you take a longer break. 
• Calendarizing your tasks by setting a fixed amount of time in your calendar for each one.
• Our Sticky Focus Game, which involves using sticky notes to amp up your productivity. Learn how to play here. 

Now, it’s time to talk about boundaries.

5. Set boundaries 

Chances are you’ve helped your clients set boundaries. But are you setting them for yourself? After all, setting boundaries isn’t just helpful for your business – they’re also crucial for your effectiveness and well-being!  Even though it’s hard, learning to say no protects your time and energy and ensures you show up fully for your clients. So, start by defining healthy work boundaries, like: 

• Clear hours
• Blocks of unscheduled time
• And a communication policy that lets your clients know when you are and aren’t available 

At home, set aside time specifically for self-care. Give yourself opportunities to take breaks and review, reflect, and recharge. Time management doesn’t always come naturally or easily, though. That’s why we’ve put together a treasure trove of the best tools, templates, and worksheets – I’ll tell you about them in the next section!

Time management tools, templates, and worksheets for coaches

Here are the best cheat sheets for mastering time management as a coach:

• Winning the Week Method Worksheet
• Learn a Lesson
• Interrogating Your Calendar
• Live-or-Die Task Triage Process
• How to Say “No” Scripts
• Lifehack Calendarizing Process
• Replanning
• Communication Policy Template
• Sticky Focus Game
• The Four Layers of Accountability
• Limiting Mindsets

For more tools and videos, check out our collection of Winning the Week book resources or this guide to the best time management courses. Still have questions about time management for coaches? Then, keep reading!

Frequently asked questions about time management for coaches

What are the benefits of time management for coaches?

Time management leads to:

• Increased productivity 
• Improved self-discipline
• Better decision-making and quality of work
• Reduced stress levels
• Improved self-confidence
• More energy for free time
• Enhanced focus
• More clarity 
• And reaching goals more quickly

How do you keep track of coaching hours?

I recommend conducting a time audit, which is a close look at how you’re actually spending your time. Here’s how it works:

• Choose a time-tracking tool such as a task manager, pen and paper, or Excel sheet
• Record how you spend your time at work and at home for two weeks
• Track your time in 30-minute increments and include everything

With that data, you’ll find ways to optimize your time, identify tasks that could be delegated, and figure out and prioritize what really matters. ⏱️Learn more: How to Do a Time Audit

Next steps 

There you have it! The full guide to time management for coaches and some of the strategies Demir and I use every day. Effective planning is a HUGE component of this work. That’s why we created our Winning the Week Method, which we use every week to get more done while working less. Want to try it for yourself? Get our free Winning the Week worksheet here: Read more: Top Work-Life Balance Statistics in the US and Worldwide  Top Time Management Skills for Small Business Owners Best Productivity Hacks for Entrepreneurs (get more done)