Alex Vetter runs a company that lives largely on the internet, but he manages his monthly schedule offline — with a printed calendar.
The Cars.com CEO carries around his physical agenda "all the time" and manually updates it as his commitments change, he says "It's my blueprint for where I have to be and where I'm investing my time," says Vetter, 54, who's led the automotive e-commerce website — currently worth $1.25 billion — since 2014.
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Vetter doesn't print out his daily calendar, which he keeps digitally and checks on his phone. But he prefers a hard copy of his monthly itinerary because it helps him get a long-term view of his engagements, he says: "I can look ahead and see the bigger picture of where my time is being invested over the month or quarter."
Every Monday, Vetter and his assistant hold a meeting to review his schedule over the coming weeks, from meetings to travel plans, to optimize it for the "best uses of my time," he says. The assistant also audits Vetter's calendar annually, breaking it down into a pie chart organized by types of time spent, Vetter says.
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The visualization helps Vetter measure how effectively he balanced his meetings with customers, employees, investors and himself, he explains.
Other CEOs use productivity strategies to help them work more efficiently, too. Whole Foods Market CEO Jason Buechel, for example, embraces time blocking — pre-scheduling his tasks into his calendar, and moving to the next one the moment each time block ends — to organize his daily routine, he told CNBC Make It in September.
Whole Foods encourages its staff to plan 20-minute meetings instead of 30-minute ones, and 50-minute meetings instead of hourlong ones, Buechel said. Those 10 extra minutes of free time can make a difference, he noted — clearing space for more "ad hoc meetings with my direct reports or dealing with a pressing issue that might pop up."
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Plus, adding something to your calendar doesn't necessarily make it a permanent fixture, says Vetter: Unexpected situations or priorities are inevitable in just about every job. No matter your productivity strategy, make sure you can respond to surprises with quick flexibility, he says.
"I can't ever think of a week where it didn't have some demonstration of agility," says Vetter.
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