How Successful People Manage Their Time (Strategies, Routines & Rules)

Summary

El guion del video ofrece estrategias prácticas de gestión del tiempo para maximizar la eficacia en 24 horas. Se enfatiza en la importancia de ser un 'esencialista', eligiendo hacer menos pero mejor, y se desmiente la idea de que trabajar en múltiples proyectos simultáneamente es efectivo. Se discuten tácticas como el horario maker-manager, 'come la rana', la matriz de Eisenhower, y la gestión de la energía. Además, se sugieren técnicas como la programación de tareas, la organización del calendario y el 'activity stacking' para aprovechar al máximo el tiempo y la energía disponibles.

Takeaways

• 🕒 La gestión del tiempo efectiva implica decidir qué no hacer y enfocarse en menos tareas, pero de mayor importancia.
• 🧘 La atención y la energía son tan importantes como el tiempo; la sobrecarga de tareas puede dispersar nuestra atención y disminuir nuestra efectividad.
• 📉 La multitarea no es una estrategia efectiva; en su lugar, se debe ser un 'esencialista', priorizando solo lo que realmente importa.
• 🚀 El enfoque en un proyecto o objetivo a la vez puede llevar a resultados más notables y a una mayor satisfacción personal.
• 💡 La creatividad y la solución de problemas mejoran cuando se enfoca en una sola tarea, permitiendo que el subconsciente trabaje en ella.
• 🤔 La gestión del tiempo tradicional a menudo falla porque implica que se pueden hacer todas las cosas, pero en realidad, es necesario sacrificar algunas para avanzar en otras.
• 🌟 La 'perezosidad estratégica' puede ser útil, permitiendo ignorar ciertas tareas no esenciales para poder enfocarse en las que sí lo son.
• 🔋 La gestión de la energía es tan o más importante que la gestión del tiempo; mantener niveles óptimos de energía física, emocional, mental y espiritual es fundamental.
• 🏋️ La capacidad de energía disminuye con el uso excesivo y la falta de renovación, por lo que es importante equilibrar el esfuerzo con períodos de descanso.
• 📅 La organización del calendario y la limitación de tareas diarias puede ayudar a mantener el enfoque y aumentar la productividad.
• 📝 Los métodos de gestión de tareas simples, como 'Getting Things Done', la Matriz de Eisenhower y las 'Tres Listas', pueden ser más efectivos que una sobrecomplicación de herramientas.

Q & A

¿Cuál es el objetivo principal del video?

El objetivo principal del video es compartir estrategias prácticas de gestión del tiempo para ayudar a las personas a recuperar su tiempo, energía y atención, permitiéndoles enfocarse en lo que realmente importa.

¿Por qué es importante hacer menos para lograr más según el video?

Hacer menos es importante porque al reducir la cantidad de proyectos y tareas, uno puede concentrar mejor su energía y atención, lo que resulta en un trabajo de mayor calidad y más significativo.

¿Qué diferencia a un esencialista de un no esencialista?

Un esencialista se enfoca en hacer menos pero mejor, eligiendo cuidadosamente sus tareas y proyectos, mientras que un no esencialista trata de ser todo para todos, tomando demasiadas responsabilidades y sintiéndose abrumado.

¿Cómo el 'pursuit of less' mejora la efectividad?

El 'pursuit of less' mejora la efectividad porque permite a las personas discernir qué es lo más importante y eliminar lo superfluo, facilitando la ejecución de tareas esenciales y evitando la sobrecarga y el agotamiento.

¿Qué es la 'gestión estratégica de la pereza' y cómo puede ser útil?

La 'gestión estratégica de la pereza' consiste en ser deliberadamente ineficiente en áreas menos importantes para conservar energía y enfoque para las tareas que realmente importan, mejorando así la productividad en áreas clave.

¿Qué papel juega la gestión de la energía en la productividad?

La gestión de la energía es crucial porque incluso con una buena gestión del tiempo, sin suficiente energía es difícil ser efectivo. Mantener altos niveles de energía física, emocional, mental y espiritual es esencial para un rendimiento óptimo.

¿Qué son los 'rituales de energía positiva' y por qué son importantes?

Los 'rituales de energía positiva' son rutinas específicas para gestionar y mantener altos niveles de energía. Son importantes porque ayudan a mantener el compromiso total y el rendimiento sostenido a lo largo del tiempo.

¿Cómo puede la 'programación de creador y gestor' mejorar la productividad?

La 'programación de creador y gestor' mejora la productividad al separar el trabajo creativo del administrativo, permitiendo bloques de tiempo dedicados a tareas creativas sin interrupciones, lo que maximiza la concentración y la efectividad.

¿Qué es la 'Matriz de Eisenhower' y cómo se utiliza?

La 'Matriz de Eisenhower' es una herramienta para priorizar tareas basada en su urgencia e importancia. Las tareas se clasifican en cuatro cuadrantes: importante y urgente, importante y no urgente, no importante y urgente, y no importante y no urgente, ayudando a decidir qué hacer, planificar, delegar o eliminar.

¿Cómo se puede usar la 'regla de los dos minutos' para mejorar la eficiencia?

La 'regla de los dos minutos' sugiere que si una tarea puede completarse en menos de dos minutos, debe hacerse de inmediato. Esto ayuda a cerrar ciclos rápidamente y reduce la acumulación de pequeñas tareas pendientes, mejorando la eficiencia general.

Outlines

00:00

🕒 Estrategias de gestión del tiempo

Este párrafo introduce la importancia de utilizar eficientemente las 24 horas del día. Se enfoca en estrategias prácticas de gestión del tiempo para recuperar energía y atención, y cómo enfocarse en menos tareas para lograr más resultados. Destaca la idea de ser un 'esencialista', siguiendo las enseñanzas de Greg McKeown en su libro 'Esencialismo'.

05:02

📧 La pereza estratégica

En este párrafo, se habla de la 'pereza estratégica', es decir, aceptar que no se puede optimizar todo. Se menciona cómo dejar algunas tareas menos importantes, como manejar correos electrónicos, permite concentrarse en lo que realmente importa. Se enfatiza la gestión de la energía sobre la gestión del tiempo, citando a Jim Loehr y sus cuatro fuentes de energía: física, emocional, mental y espiritual.

10:05

🌅 Rutinas personalizadas

Este párrafo trata sobre la importancia de encontrar una rutina que funcione para cada individuo. Se presentan tácticas como el 'horario del creador y el gerente' de Paul Graham, y la estrategia de 'comer la rana', es decir, realizar las tareas más difíciles primero. También se menciona la importancia de seguir inclinaciones naturales, ya sea hacia una estructura rígida o una vida más fluida.

15:06

📅 Establecer límites claros

Aquí se discuten métodos simples para gestionar tareas y proyectos, como el método 'Getting Things Done' (GTD), la matriz de Eisenhower, y las 'tres listas' de Oliver Burkman. También se destaca la importancia de tener límites claros en las horas de trabajo para aumentar la productividad y la eficiencia, siguiendo la ley de Parkinson.

20:09

🗓 Técnicas de gestión de calendarios

Este párrafo cubre técnicas específicas de gestión de calendarios, incluyendo el tema o agrupación del trabajo en días específicos, la visualización mensual para encadenar días de trabajo enfocado, y la programación de tiempos de reunión más cortos y enfocados. Se enfatiza la reducción del tiempo de reuniones y la importancia de bloques de trabajo profundos.

25:09

🚶‍♂️ Multitarea efectiva

Finalmente, se habla sobre la 'acumulación de actividades', una forma efectiva de multitarea que no divide la atención. Se sugiere combinar el consumo de información con actividades físicas como el ejercicio. También se menciona el uso de escritorios de cinta y el beneficio de caminar mientras se realizan trabajos mentales, destacando la mejora cognitiva y la salud general.

Keywords

💡Gestión del tiempo

La gestión del tiempo se refiere a cómo las personas organizan y planifican el tiempo dedicado a actividades específicas. En el video, se habla de estrategias prácticas para gestionar el tiempo de manera efectiva, como la técnica 'comer la rana' que sugiere abordar las tareas más difíciles primero.

💡Esencialismo

El esencialismo es una filosofía que se centra en hacer menos pero mejor, priorizando solo las cosas más importantes. Según el video, ser un esencialista implica rechazar tareas y proyectos no esenciales para enfocarse en lo que realmente importa, lo que lleva a una vida más satisfactoria y productiva.

💡Gestión de la energía

La gestión de la energía es el manejo de los recursos físicos, emocionales, mentales y espirituales para maximizar el rendimiento. El video enfatiza que es más crucial gestionar la energía que el tiempo, destacando la importancia de renovarse y mantener altos niveles de energía para realizar un trabajo de alta calidad.

💡Trabajo en sprints

El trabajo en sprints implica periodos de trabajo intensivo seguidos de descansos para renovar la energía. Esta técnica es promovida en el video como una manera más efectiva de trabajar en comparación con mantener una intensidad constante, permitiendo periodos de alta productividad y renovación.

💡Rituales de energía positiva

Son rutinas específicas que las personas utilizan para mantener y gestionar su energía de manera efectiva. El video menciona que estos rituales, como hábitos diarios, son clave para el compromiso pleno y el rendimiento sostenido en el trabajo y la vida personal.

💡Ley de Parkinson

La Ley de Parkinson establece que el trabajo se expande para llenar el tiempo disponible para su realización. En el video, se sugiere establecer límites estrictos de tiempo para las tareas, ya que esto puede aumentar la productividad y la intensidad con la que se abordan las tareas.

💡Método Getting Things Done (GTD)

El método GTD es una técnica de gestión del tiempo que implica capturar, clarificar, organizar, revisar y hacer las tareas. El video resalta esta técnica como una forma eficiente de gestionar las tareas diarias y cerrar bucles abiertos rápidamente con la regla de los dos minutos.

💡Matriz de Eisenhower

Es una herramienta de priorización que clasifica las tareas en cuatro cuadrantes: urgente e importante, importante pero no urgente, urgente pero no importante, y no urgente ni importante. El video recomienda usar esta matriz para identificar y enfocarse en las tareas más cruciales.

💡Agenda de creador y gestor

Es una técnica que divide el tiempo entre trabajo creativo y trabajo administrativo o de gestión. Según el video, esta estrategia ayuda a las personas a maximizar su productividad al dedicar bloques de tiempo específicos para diferentes tipos de trabajo, evitando la interrupción del flujo creativo.

💡Pereza estratégica

La pereza estratégica es la idea de no optimizar ciertas áreas menos importantes para enfocarse en lo que realmente cuenta. En el video, se menciona como un enfoque para permitir a las personas mantener su atención en proyectos significativos, ignorando tareas menos importantes como responder emails rápidamente.

Highlights

Practical time management strategies to reclaim time, energy, and attention.

The concept of 'doing less to do more' to improve focus and effectiveness.

The idea of becoming an essentialist, focusing only on what's truly important.

Comparison between the non-essentialist and essentialist approaches.

Benefits of concentrating on fewer projects for better results.

Strategic laziness: Accepting imperfection in some areas to excel in others.

Energy management is more critical than time management for high performance.

Four energy sources: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.

Balancing energy expenditure with renewal through working in sprints.

Building capacity by pushing beyond limits and treating it like muscle training.

Positive energy rituals as habits for maintaining high energy levels.

Maker-manager schedule to separate creative work from administrative tasks.

Eating the Frog: Doing the hardest, most important task first each day.

Following natural inclination towards structured or fluid scheduling.

Three simple task management methods: Getting Things Done, Eisenhower Matrix, and Three Lists.

The importance of setting hard boundaries for work hours to increase productivity.

Calendar management techniques like theming or batching work on specific days.

Activity stacking for effective multitasking, such as listening to podcasts while exercising.

Transcripts

so how do you become the person who uses

the 24 hours they have in a day

effectively so that you're not that busy

person who's moving around in a bunch of

directions but not really making

progress on anything well that's what

we're going to look at in this video I'm

going to share with you some practical

time management strategies that I use

myself that I use with clients and

they're going to help you reclaim your

time your energy and your attention so

that you can put it towards what really

matters to you do less in order to do

more it's not just that we lack time we

also lack attention we are pulled in

multiple directions at once and we take

on more projects and tasks and

responsibilities than we really should

as a result we feel overwhelmed we feel

busy we feel like we're that hamster on

the wheel spinning but not getting

anywhere sometimes this is unavoidable

life places demands on us we have

responsibilities we cannot avoid nor do

we want to avoid them sometimes we need

to work on multiple projects but often

we make it harder on ourselves

unnecessarily we think that if we work

on multiple goals and projects at once

that we will be more effective or we're

scared of just focusing on one thing and

so we hedge our bests with multiple

different opportunities the problem with

this is that it's a very ineffective way

to approach your work and to approach

your life instead as much as you can you

want to be what Greg mcau calls an

essentialist in his book titled

essentialism he comp here is the

non-essentialist to the essentialist the

non-essentialist thinks that they have

to be all things to all people they say

things like I have to it's all important

how can I fit it all in whereas the

essentialist tries to be less but better

they think I choose to only a few things

really matter what are the tradeoffs in

the context of doing things the

non-essentialist follows the path of

more he calls it the undisciplined

pursuit of more the non-essentialist

reacts to what's most pressing they say

yes to people without thinking they try

to force execution at the last moment

whereas the essentialist Embraces the

disciplined pursuit of less they pause

to discern what really matters they say

no to everything except the essential

and they remove obstacles to make

execution easy and what does this result

in well for the non-essentialist it

means that they live a life that does

not satisfy ultimately they take on too

much and their work suffers they feel

out of control they feel overwhelmed and

exhausted and the essentialist lives a

life that really matters they choose

what they work on carefully so that they

can do great work they feel in control

at least more of the time they get the

right things done and they experience

joy in the journey the fact of the meta

is you can almost always get further

ahead by doubling down on one project or

one goal as scary as it might SE when

you try to work on multiple projects not

out of necessity but because you think

you should you diffuse your focus you

feel busier and you end up getting

mediocre results but when you

concentrate your energy attention and

time on less but better you actually end

up getting more you get better and more

results there's another benefit to this

from doing less but better which is that

your subconscious goes to work on it

you'll be coming up with new ideas new

approaches new strategies to what it is

that you're trying to do and you'll be

solving problems even when you're not

working this is less likely to happen

with multiple projects because they're

all competing for your unconscious right

they're all competing for that attention

Paul Graham calls this the top idea in

your mind and it's the argument for

working on one thing at a time he says

you should be careful what you let

become critical to you try to get

yourself into situations where the most

urgent problems are the ones you want to

think about if you have multiple

unnecessary things critical to you then

it's going to be split you're not going

to be giving your unconscious the space

and time to work on what's most

important fundamentally the problem with

traditional time management is that it

implicitly implies that you can get

everything done but you can't effective

time management starts by deciding what

not to do that's no easy thing it

involves sacrificing the good projects

the good goals for the great ones Oliver

burkman writes in his book 4,000 weeks

it's better to begin from the assumption

that tough choices are inevitable and to

focus on making them consciously and

well and so before we dive into the more

surface level time management strategies

you need to understand that none of

those are going to change the game for

you unless you minimize and direct your

focus towards less but better now a

quick side note on this topic that is

helped me a lot is something called

strategic laziness you cannot optimize

everything some of the most effective

people I know are completely unorganized

in some areas of their life right but

they're okay with that because it's

actually what enables them to be

effective in the areas where it counts

for example I'm terrible at email I let

it build up over days sometimes weeks

and then I handle it all usually I

delete a lot of them uh but I'll respond

to the important ones and this might not

be like productivity gur approved

Behavior but it gives me the mental

space to focus on what's really

important to me and yes I could get

better at email I could try and like

optimize all that but I'm just

strategically lazy about it it's not

that important to me and By ignoring it

at least a little bit I'm much more

effective at the work that matters in

other words it's okay to let some things

just slip by it's okay to not like

perfectly maintain some systems in your

life if you're trying to to push forward

big projects and do great work in a way

you kind of have to let some things Fall

by the wayside okay Energy Management

over time management I actually

hesitated to make this video for this

exact reason time management is

secondary to energy management even if

you perfectly optimize your schedule and

you manage your time well it doesn't

mean that you will feel energized or

bring the necessary amount of energy to

the work that you've scheduled you can

plan to work on your side Hustle after

your day job you can put it in your

calendar but if you're exhausted then

what are the chances of you actually

doing that work and doing it well pretty

slim right so it's not just that you

have something in your calendar you

actually need to be the person who does

it you need to have the energy to do it

as the great performance coach Jim Le

says energy not time is the fundamental

currency of high performance and there

are four principles from Leah's book The

Power of full engagement which I want to

share with because they're useful to

internalize First full engagement

requires drawing on four separate but

related sources of energy physical

emotional mental and spiritual it's not

just about physical energy you need the

others too because if you're high in

physical energy but low in emotional

energy then you're not fully engaged you

might not approach the task in the same

way the activity whatever it is that

you're trying to do you need to manage

and maintain all four of these energy

sources the second principle because

energy capacity diminishes both with

overuse and underuse we must balance

energy expenditure with intermittent

energy renewal this is why working in

Sprints is very useful especially if

you're a knowledge worker it almost

always outperforms that constant like

steady stream of work because when you

work that way just in that constant

stream that constant steady state

there's little intensity and there's

little rest it's much better to push

forward like really hard and then pull

back Le writes in the book we must learn

to live our own lives as a series of

Sprints fully engaging for periods of

time and then fully disengaging and

seeking renewal before jumping back into

the freay to face whatever challenges

confront us third principle to build

capacity we must push beyond our limits

training in the same systematic way that

Elite athletes do I've talked many times

before on this channel about building

work capacity or building Your Capacity

and your ability to focus you should

train this like a muscle and the way you

do that is by imposing some discomfort

and stress upon yourself in a healthy

way you focus a little harder a little

longer each day or each work session you

push the boundary and you increase your

energy capacity over time the fourth

principle positive energy rituals highly

specific routine for managing energy are

the key to full engagement and sustained

performance essentially these are habits

they're the things that you do on a

regular basis to maintain high energy

levels and so you have to ask yourself

what are those for you at the moment and

perhaps what rituals and habits could

you implement to increase energy

capacity the last thing I'll say on the

energy management thing is that you need

to remember that the

unoptimized high energy high intensity

person will

outperform the low energy optimized

person every time so if you take someone

who doesn't use any of the tactics I'm

about to share with you with time

management but they're just high energy

they're going to do way better than the

guy who's like got the fancy calendar

apps and task management and all that

kind of stuff but they just lack energy

and they lack drive and intensity okay

so now that we've form this Foundation

let's talk about some actual tactical

time management tips let's talk about

how to dial in your routine now there's

no one-size fits old routine as you know

I like to wake up early like 5:00 a.m.

and get to work pretty soon after that a

good friend of mine wakes up many hours

after that he likes to chill out for a

bit and then get to work but we're both

effective people right we both get a lot

of stuff done fundamentally you must

figure out what works for you in terms

of routine not just listen to other

people who tell you things like you need

to wake up early in work you should

experiment with these things and see if

they work for you but there are some

useful principles and tactics to adopt

regardless of your personal preferences

the first one is the maker manager

schedule this is from Paul Graham and

it's extremely helpful if you're someone

who's say a solo preneur an entrepreneur

or you're knowledge worker and you have

to do like a mix of creative work and

administrative work or management work

right like meetings calls you know

sorting things out managers tend to work

in like 30 to 60 Minute chunks their day

there's a bunch of different types of

work they take meetings 1 hour they

might be organizing something else the

next and their day is quite Dynamic

makers such as writers you know

programmers they quoting Paul Graham

prefer to use time in units of half a

day at least you can't write or program

well in units of an hour that's barely

enough time to get started now

especially if you're doing your own

thing you need to be both the maker and

and the manager but if you try to be

both at the same time you will lose a

lot of Effectiveness in time for example

I'm at least twice as productive on

mornings where I do not have a call

scheduled even if it's like a 15-minute

call in the middle of the morning it

just interrupts my mental flow like my

creative flow and so it's not that I'm

losing 15 minutes I might be losing like

an hour worth of potential Focus time

and so as much as you can you want to

split your day in half you might not be

able to do this perfectly because you

know sometimes you need to take Calles

and do manager stuff uh even when you

don't want to but as much as you can

it's useful and so for me I like to have

my makeer schedule from like 6:00 a.m.

to 11:00 a.m. that's like sacred time

for the most part sometimes I'll have a

call that needs to be scheduled there uh

but as much as I can that time's blocked

off for maker work and then after that

I'll do the more managerial stuff

meetings calls you know admin and so

fourth it might look different to you

you might want to do your manager work

in the morning and your creative work in

the afternoon or evening figure out what

works best for you but I would strongly

encourage you to split these two as much

as you can the next tiep is one you've

heard of which is to eat the Frog and

what that means is that you do your

hardest most important task first thing

in the day it's likely not routine

that's your problem routine is simple we

know how to put things in the calendar

we know how to schedule we know how to

take breaks this stuff is easy what's

hard is doing the work especially the

hard work we use avoidance strategies

like planning out routines and trying to

find a more efficient way of doing

things instead of just doing the thing

and then when we get to the end of the

day having not done the thing we know is

important we tell ourselves that it's a

routine issue well it's not it's an

avoidance issue which is why if you're

like most people including myself you

must frontload the hard work not just

the hard work but the hard important

work the stuff that really moves the

needle the work that if it gets done the

rest of the day can completely fall

apart but you'll still be proud that you

got that one thing done for me it's

writing it's writing video scripts

essays you know books whatever it may be

I can come up with every excuse in the

book to not write in the morning but I

know that it's the hard important work

and if I do it I'm I'm happy with my day

if I get 2 hours is done I'm good that

rest of the day can just fall apart and

it's fine the next part of optimizing

your routine is to follow your natural

inclination and what I mean by this is

whether you're fluid or structured so

some people thrive in structure they are

more effective when their calendar is

like planned out down to the minute

right this structure makes them feel

calm it makes them feel relaxed uh and

they almost require it to be this way

others like s operate in a more fluid

way there are important things to get

done during the day uh but they aren't

necessarily scheduled in the calendar

now obviously this largely depends on

your work situation if you're working a

9 to-5 at an office then you have to be

structured to some extent by default if

you're a solopreneur working from home

then you can sort of set your own

schedule but the point is that you

shouldn't try and work against your

nature like I tried scheduling my

calendar down to the te and it just

didn't work you know I'd tell myself hey

I'll do 4 hours of deep work and then

I'll go to the gym at this exact time

and what would happen is I'd get like 2

hours into the focus block I'd crush the

work finish it early and

then my calendar would be like well you

still got this work block and you're

going to the gym at 12:00 p.m. but it's

10:00 a.m. and like I felt like going to

the gym so I just went to the gym so I

just leaned into this and started

embracing the fluid more unscheduled

life and it works better for me if I

feel I want to work more then I'll work

more if I feel like I need to stop

working and go for a walk outside then

I'll do that like I just listen to what

the body says and I kind of know if it's

like lying to me like you need to push

through the work sometimes right even if

you don't feel like it but I think

there's something to be said about that

um but again try it out if you know that

having a lack of schedule on your

calendar makes you less effective you

don't like it then maybe you should

schedule and if it's the other way

around then try and just schedule less

and be more fluid one thing I will say

is that it's useful to have hard

boundaries Parkinson's law states that

work expands to fill the time allotted

to it and so even if you're a fluid

scheduler it pays to have hard

boundaries on your work hours because if

you don't then it's very easy for you to

just like lower the intensity and lower

the focus because you can say oh well

it's all right I can I can work tonight

I can work later on this evening uh

and that's

actually it makes you less effective

like constraints increase productivity

you will use your time more wisely if

it's limited you will focus with more

intensity and consistency if your day

ends at say 5:00 p.m. than if you just

give yourself Liberty to work into the

night okay moving on three simple

methods for managing your tasks and

projects for many years I overdid task

management I used all the apps I tried

all the techniques and for the most part

it resulted in negative productivity I

wasted so much time instead of working I

would be procrastinating on planning and

setting up things to do the work but

never actually doing the work it wasn't

until I simplified my Approach that I

started being more effective and so I

want to share three simple methods with

you these are not unique you've likely

heard of them but I will encourage you

to adopt one if you feel like you're

being too complicated with all the task

stuff the first is the getting things

done method the famous getting things

done method so the first step is to

capture anything that comes across your

mind it could be information could be an

email could be a task that pops into

your head or anything else you put this

into your inbox might be a folder like a

physical folder system it might be a

folder in your task management app and

then you clarify so you decide whether

the item is a project a next action or

or reference material then you organize

you put everything where it needs to be

so it might be in your calendar you

might delegate it to someone else you

might organize it in a task list and so

on another component is that you review

so you look over the lists you do a

small Daily Review and a longer weekly

one and then you engage you do the work

you execute there's a lot more to GTD

than just this but it's beyond the scope

of the video so I encourage you to read

the book but there is one little bonus

tip uh from the system that I love and

constantly use which is the twom minute

rule so if something takes less than two

minutes then just do it like don't

schedule it don't put it in your inbox

don't put it in a task list just do it

right there and right then as it comes

in for example I used to get bills in my

email and I'd see them pop up and be

like you need to pay your internet bill

and I'd think okay I I'll get to that

later and then I wouldn't get to it and

I'd have to pay like a late payment Fe

and now I realize like it takes less

than 2 minutes if I get the email on the

phone to just click pay now and like pay

the bill you know like it's not a timec

consuming task and by doing that by just

executing on it you close that Loop you

close the open loop so you don't have to

think about it you don't have to worry

about it you don't have to realize four

weeks later that you still haven't paid

the bill and so there's many little

tasks like that that you can just

execute on straight away and it will

make make you so much more effective in

work and in life the next one is the

Eisenhower Matrix which I find very

useful for prioritizing tasks when I've

got a lot on my plate the way it works

is there's four

quadrants of course there four that's

what quad means but you get the idea and

so you can see that we have important

urgent important not urgent not

important urgent and not important not

urgent and with the important and Urgent

tasks those are the ones you want to do

you want to execute on those the

important and not urgent you want to

schedule the not important and Urgent

you want to delegate if you can and then

they're not important and not urgent you

just want to ignore them delete them

like not do them because they're not

important and they're not urgent and the

final method is the one I use personally

which is the three lists I got this from

Oliver burkman's book 4,000 weeks uh

essentially you have three lists so open

closed and done the open open list is a

list of all your tasks like everything

you could work on right this should be a

long list it should look a little bit

overwhelming uh the closed list is what

you will work on and you need to limit

this to a specific number no more than

10 you're not allowed to add a new task

from the open list and put it on the

close list until you've got space for it

until you've completed something on the

closed list this forces you into a mode

of execution right rather than constant

planning and when you complete a task

you can put it into the done list which

means you can see the progress you're

making it helps build momentum and it

just feels good to see those tasks

ticked off so I use a combination of the

three lists on say like a weekly level

for planning and then on a daily basis I

just write down like five or six tasks

in a notebook maximum no more than six

tasks for the day quite often it might

just be like one or two big things that

I need to work on that day like today

it's literally just make this video and

then like handle some admin stuff and

that's it okay let's quickly talk about

calendar management techniques for which

there are three things the first is to

theme or batch your work on specific

days so I talked before about the maker

manager schedule for your day where you

want to you know do creative work in the

morning perhaps and then do your admin

or manager work in the afternoon well

there's a weekly version that's similar

to that if you're wearing multiple hats

then it can pay to wear those hats on

specific days say you're a solopreneur

or a freelancer then you likely have

multiple areas of responsibility

different types of work and so you need

to Market your product or your service

you need to deliver and fulfill it you

need to take care of administrative work

you need to take calls and meetings and

so on instead of trying to manage these

sporadically throughout the week what

you you can do is theme your days so you

might decide that on Monday Tuesday and

Wednesday that you just dedicate those

to product or service like doing that

work and then Thursdays is your meetings

day and then Fridays might be marketing

day and so on and you don't need to get

this perfect but it's worth working

towards if you can batch as many

meetings as possible in one day and you

know that that day every week is going

to be meetings day it can just make you

far more effective on those other days

the next tactic is to take the monthly

View and so I like to dedicate and chain

days together to focus on big needle

movers so I look at the month view of my

calendar and just look where can I put

like 3 to 4 days just block them out

like there's nothing else going on I can

find that time and I can really Sprint

on a specific goal or project because if

you can do this if you can really make

that time over a set of days you can get

like weeks worth of work done like weeks

worth of normal work semi- distracted

work done in that time frame so during

these chain days when I look at it on

the monthly level I like to block out

all meetings and again intentionally

drop the ball on some less important

stuff like using that strategic laziness

I talked about at the start of the video

all right final thing on the calendar

side of things is to sit shter median

time

and longer focused times there's two

truths the first is that most meetings

can be half the length they usually are

and most projects and tasks that require

Focus usually take twice as long as

you'd expect what do we do with those

facts well we should schedule more time

in our calendar for deep work and we

should reduce meeting times if it's not

obvious don't just set 1 hour cuse

because that's the standard thing to do

try 30 minutes or 20 minutes

non-orthodox times can be very useful

because they are far more intentional

right like a 20- minute meeting it's

like that's not a 30- minute meeting

it's 20 minutes we better get straight

to the point the problem with like 60-

minute meetings is that it's not just 60

Minutes of your day it's also the 10 to

15 minutes before that meeting or call

and the 10 to 15 minutes after so 1 hour

meeting takes up like 1 and 1 half hours

of your time and maybe even longer in

terms of the lack of focus

from the Contex switching you know going

in and out of different work all right

finally we have activity stacking I was

in two minds about including this

because it's a little bit I don't know

it might be obvious to people they might

already do it but it's just a fancy way

of saying multitasking but it's an

effective kind of multitasking it's not

bouncing between multiple cognitive

tasks and splitting your focus it's just

killing two birds with one stone my

favorite ways to do this is consumption

so like listening to a podcast to audio

book while doing Zone 2 cardio I have a

rule that admittedly I sometimes break

where I only listen to podcasts while

driving or while doing zone two cardio

on the treadmill so like incline walking

and in my mind it's like I can sit on

the couch and listen to a podcast and

consume information or I can like

exercise at the same time and get that

information and be healthy and fit so

related to that is the treadmill desk

um I've got a standing desk the one I'm

sitting at right now it goes up and I've

got a treadmill that goes underneath and

it sounds a bit stupid I was always

skeptical of using one but uh I found it

great like I put it on a slow speed I

can do admin work or stuff that doesn't

require like a huge level of focus and I

can just get more steps in and I also

noticed like a slight cognitive

Improvement when I'm walking compared to

sitting on the topic of walking which

all these activity stacking ideas are uh

is to do mental work while walking so if

you're a knowledge worker if you need to

think strategically about things or you

write or you solve problems then going

for walks outside without headphones

without music without podcasts is a very

high leverage thing to do you can think

through problems that you're dealing

with you can write things out in your

head like outline them or you can take

your phone with you like I do and record

voice notes the whole time or use an app

like super whisper which transcribes him

to text this is a highly effective way

of working and I find often if I'm like

stuck here and I'm trying to think

through something and I can't going for

a walk for like an hour or two and just

thinking through it all is is very

useful and it's a form of activity

stacking because you're getting steps in

you're exercising hopefully you're

getting sunlight depending on where you

live uh and just makes life better so

that is it for this video hope you

enjoyed it time management is an

important part of the high performance

picture but it is not the only part you

also have to do the work if you want to

get better at grinding through the work

especially the boring work then check

out my in-depth video on how to grind

through the boring work it's a great

sequel to this video that you just

watched so I hope to see you there