Time Management is still the source of — and the solution to — all of our problems.
But in 2025, the tools, the challenges, and the opportunities have changed.
Time Management 2.0 builds on Des’s Time Management 101 session to help accountants, bookkeepers, and firm owners take control of their focus, energy, and effectiveness — while intelligently leveraging the capabilities of AI to create time, not just save it.
This is not an AI training session — it’s a practical workshop on how to be more effective in an AI-enabled world. You’ll rediscover the timeless principles of productivity and personal mastery while exploring new ways that technology can lighten your load, enhance your focus, and help you reclaim 180 minutes a week.
No matter how busy you are, you can win back a half day a week — and in doing so, create more space to think, lead, and live.
This session will be of particular interest to:
- Firm owners and partners who want more time and better leverage.
- Senior accountants and managers who feel stuck in constant busyness.
- Bookkeepers and advisors who want to regain focus and control.
- Any professional who wants to save at least 3 hours a week — and find the headspace to do their best work.
Des O’Neill will cover the following topics during this session:
Part 1 – Changing Your Time Paradigm in 2025
- The New Time Reality: Why busy is no longer a badge of honour — and how attention, not time, is the new currency.
- Identifying the Real Problem: Time isn’t one-dimensional — balancing priorities, energy, and impact.
- Focus, Flow, and Frequency: The modern accountant’s guide to staying in control in a world of distraction.
- Energy vs. Time: How to manage your energy cycles, not your hours.
- Think WHO, Not HOW — with a Twist: How AI now fits into the WHO equation as your digital assistant.
- Habits, Accountability & The Power of 1%: How small, consistent improvements compound into massive time gains.
Part 2 – Practical Tactics & Strategies to Win Back 180 Minutes a Week
- Taking Stock: Mapping where your time actually goes — and where it should.
- Working in Your Unique Ability: Focus on the work only you can do — and delegate or automate the rest.
- The NOT-To-Do List: The most powerful productivity tool you’re not using.
- Diary Zoning & Time Blocking 2.0: How to use AI scheduling tools without surrendering control.
- Systemising Your Success: One-touch principles, workflows, and smart automations that free up your brain.
- The Power of Sprints: How to get more done in 90 focused minutes than in a distracted day.
- AI as a Time Partner: Practical examples of how to use AI for research, summarisation, and repetitive admin tasks.
- One Thing, One Quarter: Applying the 90-day sprint model to build momentum and progress sustainably.
By attending this session, participants will:
- Understand the mindset shifts required to manage time and attention in 2025.
- Identify their personal and professional time leaks — and fix them with structure and systems.
- Learn practical tools and tactics to save at least 180 minutes per week.
- Gain insights into how AI can simplify and support everyday workflows.
- Develop new habits and routines that enhance focus, energy, and execution.
- Walk away with templates and checklists that can be applied immediately.
Course Level: Need to Know
