July 17, 2026
Hi Everyone,
Harvard researchers followed 27 CEOs for three months and logged how they spent every 15 minutes.
Less than half of their working hours went to the things they said mattered most. The rest went to firefighting, routine tasks, and meetings that only looked important.
Today we're sharing five weekly habits that protect your time.
One weekly look at the numbers
Once a week, you and your leaders sit down with the same dashboard and check what's happening in the business. In 60 minutes you could cover the following, for example:
- 5 minutes on your top three numbers
- 15โ20 minutes on sales and marketing
- 10โ15 minutes on product
- 5โ10 minutes on finance
- The last 10 minutes writing down what was decided and who owns it
If a number stays red for two weeks in a row, whoever owns it explains what happened and brings a plan to fix it. Quarterly goals sit on the same dashboard, so you see progress every week instead of discovering a miss when the quarter is already over.
An hour a week with each direct report
Andy Grove, who ran Intel for years, estimated that a single one-on-one can improve a direct report's work for the next two weeks. To make the hour count:
- Ask them to bring the topics. The hour is for what they're stuck on, and they know that better than you do.
- Before you finish, agree who does what by when.
- Put these in the afternoon, so your mornings stay free for thinking.
A short weekly all-hands
Keith Rabois, an early executive at PayPal and Square, spent at least five hours every week preparing Square's Friday all-hands. In his view, one clear idea could change how hundreds of people made decisions the next week.
You don't need five hours. But once you're past 15 or 20 people, a short weekly all-hands is one of the few ways to remind everyone what matters, share wins, and answer questions before rumors do it for you. Cover last week, next week, and the one or two things people need to hear from you directly.
Two hours a day to think
In the same Harvard study, more than half of the CEOs' alone time came in pieces of an hour or less. That's not enough to think anything through properly.
So book two hours every morning, before email and meetings, for the one thing you most need to work through this week.
Guard it the way you'd guard a board meeting. When someone tries to book over it, the answer is no.
The Sunday calendar check
Every Sunday afternoon, pick your top three priorities for the week ahead. Then look at your calendar and ask whether at least 80% of your time supports them. If it doesn't, move things before Monday morning.
This is the habit that holds the other four together. Skip it, and the other people's priorities fill your week again.
Try this Sunday
Run the calendar check for the first time, and while your calendar is open, block the two morning hours for every day next week.
That's two of the five habits in place before Monday starts.
Go deeper
๐ Harvard Business Review: How CEOs Manage Time โ How 27 CEOs spent 60,000 hours, broken down by activity, and what the best ones did differently
๐ Capitaly: David Sacks's Operating Cadence โ If you want to set up the numbers meeting, this covers the dashboard row by row, with thresholds for each metric
๐ The Manager's Handbook: Managing Your Time and Calendar โ A short chapter on running your first calendar audit, worth 10 minutes before Sunday
๐ a16z: The CEO's Weekly Checklist โ A first-time CEO's list of what he did every single week, including the 30% of time he gave to customers
Coming up on Monday
On Monday, weโll look at how to turn your teamโs AI know-how into something everyone can use.
That's it for today! Have a great weekend.
P.S. What's the one weekly habit that keeps your week on track? Let us know โ we're curious what works for you.