Buying Back Your Time Is Powerful. Alignment Makes It Work.

 Recently, a friend of mine and fellow President’s Advisory Council member at Maxwell Leadership, Carolann M., recommended I read Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell.

She said, “With the work you’re doing with entrepreneurs and founders, you’ll appreciate this.”

She was right. The book speaks directly to something we see every day.

Leaders feel stretched. Pulled in too many directions. Stuck in the day to day instead of focused on what actually drives growth and the core message is right:

Delegate more. Systemize more. Buy back your time. Yes. And…

Time Is Only Valuable If It’s Aligned

Buying back your time creates space, but what you do with that space determines whether growth actually happens. Because if the business itself is misaligned, something predictable occurs:

You clear your calendar…Only to have it fill back up again. Not because you failed, but because the business is still structured in a way that requires you.

Why Time Keeps Getting Pulled Back In

From a How Growth Actually Works™ perspective, time pressure is rarely the root problem.

It’s a signal. A signal that somewhere in the business: 

• Decisions aren’t clearly owned
• Priorities aren’t fully aligned
• Systems aren’t reducing friction
• Teams are working hard, but not cohesively

This is something we see consistently with founders. They don’t step back into the business because they want to. They step back in because the business still depends on them.

Where This Shows Up

When we look at this through the lens of The Pippin Method™, a framework I use to diagnose where growth is breaking inside a business, time gets pulled back into the business when there’s misalignment across four areas:

Leadership - Unclear direction creates decision dependency. Everything flows back to the leader.

Brand  - Lack of clarity leads to rework, pivots, and reactive execution.

Culture - Ownership gaps force leaders back into execution.

Financial Performance - Short-term pressure overrides long-term alignment, demanding constant attention.

In each case, time isn’t the issue. Alignment is.

The Real Opportunity in “Buying Back Your Time”

Buying back your time is not the end goal. It’s the opening move.

It gives you the capacity to do the real work:

• Clarify direction
• Align decisions
• Strengthen ownership
• Build systems that support execution

When that happens, something shifts:

You don’t have to keep buying your time back and you stop losing it in the first place.

A Better Question

Instead of asking: “Where can I free up more time?”

Ask: “Where is my business pulling me in and why?”

That question leads you to: 

• Misaligned decisions
• Broken ownership
• Inefficient systems
• Unclear direction

Buying back your time gives you space, alignment gives you momentum, and growth only happens when both are working together.

Growth doesn’t come from doing more. It comes from becoming aligned.

Reflection Questions for Growth-Minded Leaders

• Where is your time being pulled back into the business right now?
• What decisions still depend on you that shouldn’t?
• Where is misalignment creating unnecessary demand on your time?