Taking back an hour a day: time management for assistants, with Abigail Barnes

Assistants spend their days protecting other people's time. Their executive's calendar gets defended fiercely. Meetings start on the dot. Deadlines are tracked, reminders sent, diaries organised into shape. And yet, ask most assistants when they last felt in control of their own time, and the answer is usually a rueful laugh.

That's the paradox Abigail Barnes set out to solve. As a time management author and international speaker, Abigail has built a career around a simple idea: the tools that help executives run their day can work just as well for the person running theirs.

In this video series, she shares the frameworks she uses with assistants around the world to reclaim focus, cut through the noise, and deliver on her signature promise of taking back an hour every single day. Most of what she covers applies equally to work and home life, which is part of why it lands.

Here's a look at what she covers.

Why you don't have the life you think you should

Abigail opens with a provocation. You, your executive, and Beyoncé all have exactly 24 hours in a day. So why do some people seem to squeeze a whole extra life out of theirs? Her answer isn't about hustle or hacks. It's about mindset and self-worth. The 888 formula (8 hours sleep, 8 hours work, 8 hours for you) gives you a simple framework to audit where your time is actually going, and a starting point for getting it back.

Prioritise yourself productive

An eight-hour workday can feel like a hundred competing demands, and the default coping strategy of working on whatever shouts loudest is a recipe for ending the day exhausted and behind. Abigail introduces her traffic light formula: green for the work you're actually paid to do, amber for development and learning, and red for admin that needs doing but probably not by you, and probably not today. It's a surprisingly freeing lens, especially for assistants who spend their days supporting everyone else's admin while their own quietly piles up.

Efficient isn't the same as effective

This is the clip that tends to stop people in their tracks. Most of us gravitate toward the tasks we're already good at, because they feel satisfying and they get done quickly. But being efficient at the wrong things just means you arrive at the wrong destination faster. Abigail makes the case for spending your energy on activities that actually move the needle, at work and at home, rather than the ones that simply come easily.

Working with your focus, not against it

You can't manage time, Abigail argues. It flows like water whether you pay attention or not. What you can manage are your tasks and your attention. She introduces the ultradian rhythm, the 90-minute focus cycle our brains naturally run on, and gives practical advice on how to block out chunks of real, uninterrupted time even in environments where that feels impossible. The key, she says, is having the conversation with your team before you disappear into deep work, not after.

Protect the asset

The series closes with what might be its most important point. Productivity without wellbeing is borrowed time. Abigail walks through her three pillars of movement, mindset and meditation, and reframes self-care as something closer to equipment maintenance. You are the asset. Push the machine too hard for too long and it doesn't matter how good your systems are; the engine gives out. It's a reminder that becoming a time pro isn't about earning a certificate or impressing your executive. It's about building a life you actually want to live.