When frank wade, an investment advisor with RBC Dominion Securities Inc. in Winnipeg, started out in the financial services business almost two decades ago, he noticed that some long-time advisors spent what seemed like an inordinate amount of time in their offices plugging away at a seemingly non-stop flow of work.

“A lot of the older guys in the business seemed to be islands — they would do everything,” he says, adding that his partner at the time fell into this school, working evenings and weekends on a regular basis. “It was a crazy way to live your life. I thought: ‘There has to be a better way.’”

That was clearly the case, as other advisors seemed able to balance their lives in ways that made sense to Wade. And what made these advisors so different, says Wade, was their approach to time management. The balanced group was willing to hire appropriate help — support staff, a coach and an organizational consultant, for example — and delegate tasks. They were, he says, willing to invest in their business through time- management practices.

Since making the decision to hire a coach and organizer almost eight years ago, Wade’s business and personal life have improved greatly. Instead of serving more than 1,000 clients with a partner and only one support person, he now has a team of six — including a junior advisor and four support staff — to handle a more manageable 400-household roster. Whereas he once felt he was working all the time, he now finds plenty of time to spend with his wife and two children.

Investment advisors have a tendency to work extended days, according to Morva Bowman, a professional organizer and president of Masters of Space & Time in Winnipeg. Bowman has worked with a number of advisors to help them manage both their busy schedules and their overall clutter, which, she says, are unquestionably entwined.

It’s natural that advisors want to spend time focusing on their business, but they need to understand that building their time-management skills is also an investment in the business, she says.

Here are some tips to help you invest in your business by better managing your time:

> Outline your priorities. While it sounds clichéd, Bowman says, only by understanding what’s important — personally and professionally — can one allocate the appropriate time to tasks.

> Create a time map. Bowman suggests advisors keep track of how they use their time, recording activities in half-hour chunks over a few weeks. “It’s a pain [to do], but it does give you a good sense of where your time is going,” she says. A time map can indicate whether your priorities are in sync with your calendar. A person might believe home and family is a priority, for example, but a time map dotted with little time at home would indicate otherwise.

> Know the difference between “important” and “urgent.” Too often, so-called “urgent” matters — a ringing phone, an incoming e-mail — take priority over tasks that are truly important for the health of a business, Bowman says. Learn to spot the difference, and act accordingly.

> Expect the unexpected. “The biggest problem is that people don’t schedule for events,” says Hellen Buttigieg, professional organizer and president of We Organize U in Oakville, Ont. “They basically put out fires as they come along.” Manage that Daytimer and plan when you’ll do your focused work each day. Because things do come up, it’s important to fill only 75% of your daily calendar and leave 25% free each day, she says.

> Schedule one free day each month. “Cross the whole day off your work Daytimer and spend it however you want,” Buttigieg says, adding that checking e-mail and phoning in to the office are verboten on this day.

Too many advisors run to stand still and don’t take the proper downtime to recharge. This can lead to burnout. “By rejuvenating, you’re going to be able to give so much more to your business,” she says.

> Build one quiet hour into every day. This is critical, because it allows you to work on focused tasks without interruptions, which are the bane of solid time-management practices (see sidebar, below).

> Keep your e-mail program turned off. Check e-mail three times a day at the most — when you’re actually prepared to deal with the mail, Buttigieg advises.

@page_break@“What a lot of people do is read them all, run out of time and go back and read them all again when they do have time,” she says. It’s better to focus on taking care of all e-mail completely at designated times. She admits this can be a tough one, and suggests advisors force themselves to do this on days devoted to focused tasks.

> Make sure your team is on board. For his part, DS’s Wade meets with his staff once a week to outline three goals for which they all must aim. He also makes sure that everyone he hires has a qualification or expertise that other members of the team lack. Then it is easy to determine which tasks are delegated to which individuals. IE