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Time Management

Figure Out Priorities With A Productivity Matrix

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As any incredibly productive person will tell you, it boils down to knowing what your priorities are and systematically attacking your tasks with a focused mind. The one resource in the world that is common to millionaire CEOs and the average Joe is time.

We stumbled across this great tip and illustration of Stephen Covey’s time management matrix from the blog of an iDoneThis user, Eva.

Determining what your priorities are paves the road to getting stuff done in an order that makes sense!

Check out Eva’s Productivity Monday posts for more useful tips.

The Hilarious Louis C.K. on Managing Life

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I learned that sharks sleep parts of their brain, like rolling blackouts; they can’t fall asleep because they can’t stop moving or they’ll suffocate. So they sleep sections of their brain at a time. So I do kind of a version of that, where I shut down brain centers. I literally tell myself, “Don’t logistically problem-solve for the next three hours, but you can talk to folks. Driving my kid home from school—don’t think about all the professional things you have to do.

Louis C.K., on how he manages his crazy busy life, in an interview with the A.V. Club. Shark-y brain sleep it is!

Louis CK Show - Louis
photo: Wes Bryant

Perspectives on Procrastination

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We are constantly trading off what we are doing now against what we might do in the future. As long as we are doing that in a reasonable way, it doesn’t matter that we are putting some things off.

Frank Partnoy reports on how experts in different fields view procrastination in Procrastination Rules. He describes how a journalist manages time by managing delay:

For projects that require different amounts of time, Guerrera makes separate lists. He describes a technique he and many other journalists use: “We have two sets of notebooks, a small one and a big one. The small one is for immediate day-to-day stories, the work we have to do right away. The big one is for big thoughts, features and stories that have some time. There’s an actual physical distinction between our immediate stories and the ones we can wait on. The physical form of two notebooks is our way of saying it’s too overwhelming to do both at the same time.”

Managing delay or, yes, procrastination, can be positive, reasonable behavior depending on what you’re actually trading off.

Tips for Better Time Management

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[T]ime management isn’t primarily about using minutes well, it’s about using yourself well. And using yourself well means spending most of your time in your sweet spot, which is at the intersection of your strengths, weaknesses, differences, and passions.

Peter Bregman found that many people “agree or strongly agree that they don’t spend enough time at work in their sweet spot, doing work they’re really good at and enjoy the most.”

Focusing at work isn’t just about concentrating on the tasks at hand, but also about focusing your talents. Stay in your sweet spot longer.

Enjoy Time, Don’t Kill It!

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Leo Babauta of zen habits is all for killing time. To Leo, “killing” is a misnomer. Reframe killing time as enjoying time. Is this what our lives are to be? A non-stop stream of productive tasks? A life-long work day? A computer program optimized for productivity and efficiency? A cog in a machine? What about joy? What … Read more

To-Do Lists and Keeping It Positive

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Recently, we highlighted a method of planning your day that consisted of asking yourself what you’d say “No” to. Just as important is to ask yourself “Why?” when it comes to the items on your to-do list. Psychologist Michael V. Pantalon recommends making a Why-Do list to increase your motivation on those items that just never seem … Read more

When Procrastination Becomes Useful

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Life might be a race against time but it is enriched when we rise above our instincts and stop the clock to process and understand what we are doing and why. A wise decision requires reflection, and reflection requires a pause.

Frank Partnoy, “Waiting Game”, Financial Times.

Partnoy, author of the forthcoming book Wait:  The Useful Art of Procrastination, writes about the value of delay and taking the full time we are given to make better decisions.

Maybe the best way to think about time management is in terms of delay management!