Laura Modi finds comfort in chaos. 

Modi, 39, spent her early thirties building her first company, working 12-hour days and raising three young kids. 

In 2017, she quit her job as a high-powered executive at Airbnb to create a baby formula with cleaner ingredients, a venture partially inspired by her struggles bottle-feeding her daughter, who had just turned one.

Today, Modi is a mother of four and the co-founder and CEO of Bobbie, a company that sells FDA-approved infant formula that's made with organic milk — and doesn't contain fillers, corn syrup, antibiotics, palm oil or maltodextrin, a white, starchy preservative. Modi was featured in 2024's CNBC Changemakers list.

While struggling to manage her busy life, Modi soon realized she had to try something different.

Most "hacks" other business leaders swore by, like setting their alarm for 4 a.m. or zeroing out their inbox at the end of every workday, did little to curb her stress.

Instead of trying to "do it all" — a philosophy working moms are often encouraged to embrace, she points out — Modi decided to adopt a simpler approach: less is more.

"I am at a place in my life where, when I make decisions at home or work, I will always choose the one that gives me back valuable time," Modi tells CNBC Make It. "Time is the currency that allows you to be more productive, and I am always looking to buy back time, like skipping a summer vacation to hire additional child-care support at home."

Below, Modi discusses her favorite productivity and time management hacks:

On mastering the art of the 15-minute meeting: 

One practice I implemented at the start of this year is shortening my weekly one-on-one meetings with my direct reports, which used to be an hour long, to 15-minute check-ins. We then follow that up with a one-hour accountability check-in that I do with them every month. 

It's only been a few weeks, but the positive impact has been immediate. Other leaders at Bobbie are approaching me and implementing the same meeting scheme on their teams. People have told me it's helped them clarify their priorities and work more efficiently. As a leader, there's no greater feeling than hearing that feedback. 

On finding motivation in war ballads: 

Compartmentalization, in my mind, is one of the most critical skills you need to have as a leader.

I take compartmentalization very seriously. There are days when I'll walk into a very heavy meeting related to an FDA advisory on baby formula and need to walk out of that meeting and a minute later switch to a media interview talking about a new product launch with a big smile on my face. 

Something that helps a lot is music, I'll use it to hype myself up before an important meeting or wind down after the workday. 

I play a lot of ballads of war, ballads of rebellion and uprising before an important meeting so I'm walking in confident and raring to go, or softer folk songs as the day's ending so I can shake off whatever happened at work and be fully present with my family. 

If you can't compartmentalize or switch between your personal and professional self, you won't be showing up fully present in your work or be your most productive self.

This is something I learned from my dad, who was an entrepreneur and ran his own company. I always watched him come home from a tough day at work and he had this incredible ability to switch his professional side off and show up for our family. 

It takes a thick skin to handle all the challenges of leading a company.

On the ritual that makes hard parenting weeks easier: 

I have an incredible full-time nanny who really operates as the 'other mother' in the house, helping take care of my children and manage their schedules. 

I love color blocking in my calendar and inbox. My exceptional executive assistant, Kendra, suggested we try it this year and I can't tell you how much mental strain the visualization has helped me eliminate.

And every week, my husband Shaun and I also have two to three 'family meetings' where we look at our work and family calendars, review our weekly budget, talk about anything important and divvy up household and child-care responsibilities. For example, if one of our kids has a soccer game and wants us to be there, can we both go or which one of us has more free time after work? 

That kind of proactive communication, and making it a part of our weekly routine, has been key for helping us share the work and make smart trade-offs together so we can buy back time in our lives.

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