Recently, I got some really good advice from my friends, advisors, and family closest to me. I found myself really overwhelmed with all of the different demands over my own time. I found myself looking at this massive list of priorities which all felt equally important and I couldn’t decide where to begin.
Please note, this is not mental health or career advice, but I did want to share some of the things I learned specifically based on how my mind works (for good and bad). I want to capture this here not just for public benefit but as a reminder to myself as well.
Now-ness
I have a tendency to believe that everything in my life needs to get done now, like, right away. Not just work stuff, but personal life tasks as well. This gets worse if you feel like everything is equally important and the fact that many things take several days/steps to complete. I need to remember that some things can be tabled and revisited the week after or even later in the year.
Short Term vs. Long Term, Essential vs. Preference
I need to do a better job distinguishing between things which are absolutely essential to my life and things which are not. It’s not worth getting upset over things which are more like preferences over my time, I simply cannot treat everything as essential.
Me Time
I think I’ve done a bad job over the past few years just making time for me. I was either working or completing personal life tasks, but not necessarily enjoying my own time and just hanging around the house and doing nothing. I think I was mixing “me time” up with “personal life” which I took as chores, errands, or spending time with family/friends. I guess I thought they were same thing. It’s kind of crazy to say, but over the past few years, I’ve basically just either worked or did personal life stuff, and I feel bad for not making time just for me.
I knew this was a problem at some level because whenever I would just take time to hang around the house and do nothing, I would feel great and tell my friends about it. It was such a rare occasion, I had to tell them about it! I think I’ve experienced internal conflict lately at some subconscious level to make more time for myself too - but I just couldn’t acknowledge it for some reason and would ignore it.
I travel several times a year and I think this was me carving out some, “me time” but it’s not necessarily the best approach. Besides the costs, it also requires a lot of work/planning/packing. Me time is a state of mind, not necessarily about travelling to a completely different location.
Yesterday, I took a bit of me time and felt my head clear up more. I had a better sense of what I want to do and was able to think more clearly about stuff. What I’m saying is clearly time for yourself is also a necessary part of the creative process and shouldn’t be ignored. I think it helps you get out of a local minima/maxima and align yourself better with where and who you want to be.
Time is never wasted
I think I used to have a very unhealthy approach to how I would view my time. I’m starting to realize that time is never wasted - you’re always doing something. Even if you just ended up watching TV, that’s ok. Sometimes, it’s really good that you did that. You’re always doing something and often what you’re doing does serve some kind of purpose. Even if you learn later that you weren’t using your time as good as you could have or it didn’t really align with your priorities - this is still ok.
Monitoring
I’ve always had a to do list, but I’ve never sat down and actually evaluated my productivity levels on a week by week basis. I think this created just too much of an urgency in my head to do tasks. With no real benchmarks, without knowing what I’m capable of doing (or not doing) in a given week, I think I would just put tremendous pressure on myself to perform at my best level in the here and now and not take time to celebrate successes. I’ve started monitoring and it’s crazy to see how much I’ve gotten done just in the past few days. It has been hectic, but productive. In fact, I’m on the other end now, like, this is a lot … I need an evening or two for myself.
Perfection = Procrastination
Perfection can certainly be a form of procrastination. Although my first point was around “nowness” I think maybe I need to work more on reducing the scope in my head around things and act immediately as well on tasks - without overthinking it.
I cannot do everything
This is a really valuable idea I need to keeping reinforcing. I can’t do everything, and this is ok. I’ve started to mentally prune ideas or thoughts that come my way and have been working harder to hone and simplify my underlying intentions.
I’m going to update this post as I continue to make progress on my personal time management!
Definitely one of the best posts I've ever read from you!
I received your newsletter and save the link in my Notes. I'll save it again to read again in a few weeks because it's really great.
Great post. Your points apply to many of us striking our own path in the Information Age.
I highly recommend the "Getting Things Done" method.
https://gettingthingsdone.com/what-is-gtd/
Dave Allen introduces techniques to organize life's tasks, keep track of everything, and set priorities. In fact, he starts with identifying what is important on the highest level, at "50,000 feet." With this as a guide, go about setting immediate tasks up. Work focus is in the "now." And the goal on the runway is to be spending your time - fully engaged - on what is the best application of your time, now.
https://olivierrolanden.medium.com/book-review-getting-things-done-bd7645fa0bdd
Godspeed!