What if lack of time isn’t really the problem?
Ask any busy travel agency owner, leader, or advisor what their biggest roadblock is, and you’ll hear the same answer: time. There are limited hours and thousands of ways to spend them.
You start the day with the best intentions, but by 10:00 AM, your plan is already out the window. Client issues, advisor challenges, and administrative demands take over, leaving no space for the work that truly matters.
But here’s the real question:
What would you do if you did have time?
This is where your deep ambition is hiding. The issue isn’t time itself—it’s the constant battle between urgent demands and going after what you really want.
Time: The Enemy and the Answer
We think we need better time management, but what we really need is better decision management.
As Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism, puts it:
"If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will."
The problem isn’t just the fires burning all around you—it’s that you’re the one holding the hose. It feels productive to solve immediate problems, respond to every request, and handle “just one more thing”. The line between urgent and unimportant is so thin we barely notice when we slip into doing things that nobody asks or expects us to do.
Sometimes, the biggest distractions are the ones we create ourselves.
It’s the easy yes.
“I’ll just handle this one booking.”
“I’ll solve this one problem for my team.”
“I’ll keep doing this task because it only takes an hour a day.”
But those hours add up—turning into days, weeks, and months that you could have been learning a new skill that would get you to the next level in your business.
"Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become."
– James Clear
The Real Issue: Invisible Rewards
The work that leads to long-term success often feels invisible.
There are no quick wins, no instant feedback, no easy way to measure progress. Meanwhile, urgent tasks provide immediate rewards—the satisfaction of solving problems, the rush of being needed, the dopamine hit of checking something off the list.
This is why so many leaders feel trapped in the daily grind.
High-achieving leaders protect their best hours—not for firefighting, but for the work that creates lasting impact.
Building relationships
Learning a new level of entrepreneurship
Improving processes and finding efficiencies
Empowering their team
The real breakthrough happens when you stop asking for more time— and start intentionally choosing how to use the time you already have.
If working on the business is not more meaningful to you, you will always choose the daily shiny objects that appear to be more rewarding.
Final Thought
“The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker
The most successful travel leaders don’t find time. They create it—by shifting their focus from what anyone can do, or what they are comfortable doing, to what their better future is asking of them.
What is your future asking of you?
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