Seven Elite Time Hacks To Transform Your Health
Powerful strategies used by top performers.
Everyone gets the same 24 hours in a day, yet some people achieve a lot more than others. The difference often comes down to how you use that time. While there’s plenty of basic advice on managing your time, the most powerful strategies are usually kept under the radar—used mostly by top performers.
Today, I’ll share some unique and highly effective time management strategies used by top business leaders—ideas that transfer seamlessly to health and fitness. These aren’t your typical “to-do list” tips. Instead, they’re advanced methods that focus on the connection between time, energy, and how our minds work.
1. Energy-Based Time Blocking
Instead of just planning by the clock, smart people pay attention to when they naturally feel most awake and focused during the day.
At work, this means doing your hardest thinking when you feel sharpest and saving easier tasks for when you're tired.
Transferring this to fitness means scheduling tough workouts when your body feels strongest, not when you think you "should" exercise. If you're not a morning person, don't force yourself to run at 5 AM—you'll likely quit within weeks.
Try keeping a simple diary for two weeks, noting when you feel most energetic, and then plan your important activities around these personal peak times.
2. Decision Minimization
Every choice you make uses up mental energy. Top performers use decision minimization (eliminating all unnecessary decisions) to preserve mental resources for truly important choices.
Some business leaders often wear the same style clothes daily or have set routines for common tasks.
For your health goals, this might mean having a fixed Monday workout plan, Wednesday meal menu, or Friday recovery routine. When you don't have to decide "what should I do today?" you're more likely to follow through.
The goal isn't rigidity but removing the mental friction that comes with constant, unnecessary decision-making. Plan ahead so that your Tuesday 6 AM workout is non-negotiable and your meals are pre-planned. The goal is to make healthy choices automatic rather than something you need to think about every time.
3. Strategic Incompletion
The Zeigarnik effect—our brain's tendency to remember unfinished tasks better than completed ones—is typically viewed negatively, associated with nagging thoughts about incomplete work. However, elite performers intentionally leverage this psychological phenomenon.
Our brains naturally keep thinking about unfinished tasks. In business settings, this might mean strategically ending work sessions in the middle of a project rather than at a natural stopping point. When returning to work, you'll find yourself mentally engaged more quickly because your brain has been subconsciously processing the task.
In fitness, this principle may mean ending each workout by writing down exactly where you'll start next time. This mental "open loop" keeps your health goals active in your mind between sessions and makes you more likely to return.
4. Minimum Effective Dose
This principle was popularized by author Tim Ferriss, focusing on identifying the smallest input needed to produce the desired outcome.
In business, this might mean determining the exact amount of time needed for effective meetings (often far less than scheduled) or identifying the core 20% of actions that produce 80% of results.
For fitness, this means researching and determining the minimum workout duration and frequency required to achieve your specific goals. Short, intense workout protocols can produce results comparable to much longer sessions—perhaps it's three 20-minute high-intensity sessions weekly rather than five hour-long workouts.
5. Manage Input Before Output
Most productivity systems focus on managing outputs—like tasks and projects. But top performers know that controlling inputs—like information, requests, and interruptions—is even more important for efficiency.
In business, this means focusing on the few activities that really matter by filtering information and requests before they reach you. For example, using email filters, delegating tasks, or setting clear communication boundaries.
In fitness, input management means being intentional about the information that shapes your health decisions. This includes avoiding conflicting fitness advice, choosing trusted experts, and creating cues that support your goals.
To do this, you might unfollow social media accounts that push unrealistic body standards, subscribe to evidence-based fitness resources, and set up your home to make healthy choices the easiest option.
6. Rapid Iteration Cycles
Taking control of what you allow into your life makes managing your time much simpler. One effective way to do this is by using rapid iteration cycles—making small, quick adjustments instead of waiting for major changes.
In business, you would break projects into shorter, focused periods (like 1-2 weeks) instead of dragging them out for months. Companies that use this “agile” approach regularly check progress and make improvements along the way.
For fitness, check your progress regularly instead of waiting for big changes. Don’t just weigh yourself once a month or wait 12 weeks to see results. Track your performance weekly and your habits daily. This helps you quickly figure out what’s working and fix what’s not. It saves you from wasting time on ineffective strategies and gives you more opportunities to improve.
7. Create Time Constraints
Parkinson’s Law says that work grows to fill the time you give it. To beat this, top performers set tight deadlines, even when they don’t seem necessary.
In business, this could mean scheduling a meeting for 30 minutes instead of an hour—and it often gets the same results in less time.
For fitness, it could mean doing 25-minute workouts, using a timer for meal prep, or limiting how long you spend researching fitness. These limits make you more efficient and stop health goals from taking over your day.
Knowing what to do is only half the battle—actually doing it consistently is where most people struggle. These elite time management systems work in business and are easily transferable to fitness and nutrition.
Rather than attempting a complete system overhaul, allow yourself to master these techniques one at a time, creating lasting change through deliberate practice.
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