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How to redesign your days to give you back a few extra hours every week
Quit something
Let go of activities that no longer make sense.
Quit a recurring meeting. Quit a committee. Quit Social media. Quit a program. By doing this, you automatically open up space.
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Key Ideas
Quit something
Let go of activities that no longer make sense.
Quit a recurring meeting. Quit a committee. Quit Social media. Quit a program. By doing this, you automatically open up space.
Limit something
When you can't let go completely of an activity, you can open up more space in your life by setting firmer boundaries around it so that you still have space for other items that matter.
For example, limit the number of hours you spend on checking and responding to emails or the time you spend on your phone.
Pause something
Give yourself permission to take a break.
For example, choosing to eat lunch away from your computer can give you a sense of peace and space, even if you’re away from your desk for only 10 minutes.
Delegate something
Delegate activities that you don’t need to do yourself. You can save yourself at least four to five hours a week by having others help.
As you plan your day, ask yourself: Is this something that I really need to do myself, or could someone else do this instead?
Add something
If you want more time to do something you “never have time for,” start putting that activity first and then arrange your schedule around it.
Add an exercise class, book a trip, plan a get-together with friends—and don’t cancel it.
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Ignore your inbox when you wake up
Responding to emails as soon as you receive a notification gives others the impression that you’re at their beck and call. It also prevents you from reflecting on your own priorities for...
Empty your inbox daily
- Do. If the email is actionable and takes under two minutes, then do the task ASAP.
- Delegate. Forward the right tasks to the right people.
- Defer. Reply to the message at a better time.
- Delete emails that are not important or that you can delegate.
- File. Add messages that contain information you will need to your archives.
Stop CC’ing everyone
To avoid filling the email box of staff members, only CC the relevant parties. Ask your team to respond to you individually instead of using the reply-to-all button.
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Time Debt
The choices we make to ‘borrow’ our personal time to get work done works against us in the long run, just like the money borrowed from a credit card has to be paid back with interest in the future....
Track Your Time
You need to find out just where your time is going currently. You can use a pen and paper, a spreadsheet, or an app to visualize where you spend most of the hours in your day.
Create A Time-Blocking Template
- Block your time for specific types of work, not individual tasks.
- Block your time for core work like coding, designing or writing, for shallow work like daily tasks and maintenance, for meetings and emails, and fill it with frequent breaks to replenish yourself.
- Give yourself space between blocks so that you can decompress and keep your energy levels high.
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17 hours of productivity weekly
People work an average of 45 hours a week; they consider about 17 of those hours to be unproductive.
Tim Ferriss's tips for productivity
- Manage your moods: If you start the day calm it's easy to get the right things done and focus.
- Don't check email in the morning.
- Before you try to do it faster, ask whether it should be done at all.
- Focus is nothing more than eliminating distractions.
- Have a personal system; most productive people have a routine.
- Define your goals for the day the night before.
Don't check emails in the morning
If you check your emails first thing in the morning, **you're setting yourself up to react.
You're not planning your day and prioritizing, you're giving your best hours to someone else's goals, not yours.