Tell me if this sounds familiar.
You got some big plans that you're really excited about and you really want it to work out this time, you've assumed that the reason things didn't work out last time was because of not using your time correctly, so you go online and search "how to be better at time management". Techniques like deep work, Time blocking and the trident method, pop up and you feel a burst of enthusiasm.
You get out your pen and calendar, start writing out your priorities and beautifully color code your google calendar, so you know the activity, the date, time and color of every step of your master plan. You get a slight feeling of accomplishment and hopefulness, thinking to yourself that with this plan in place you can't fail.
Day 1, 2 and 3 go by smoothly, you're hitting every task on your calendar, crushing it out of the park and you have this momentum for about a week, but then it starts crumbling, you struggled to finish a task on time and now your schedule starts looking crazy, or maybe you can get to the desk but can't get yourself to do the work.. You maybe slog through a couple of days like that, taking your small wins before you make it to the dreaded day you knew was coming. You suddenly start ignoring the calendar all together, you wake up and don't feel it for 2 or 3 days in a row, and your goals begin slipping away.
That thing in you that drives you to have big dreams, now turns on you, and its saying things like "you're not good enough, you're not disciplined enough" and now you're back into the cycle, of trying to figure out how to not screw it up the next time.
Does this sound like a time management problem to you? Honestly?It doesn't seem like time is the issue to me.
Having lived in this demotivating loop from hell for essentially all my life from university student to freelancer to building a life abroad to building a youtube channel. There's always 'something' that occurs, and the irony is that phrases like "time management" made me feel quite inadequate when I heard phrases like "everyone has 24 hours in a day" and see elon musk launching satellites in that same time period I've eaten 2 burritos.
The game changer for me was getting hyper specific. The issue I was facing didn't really have much to do with time, but rather with 2 key players, Attention and Energy levels.
Here's why it doesn't have to do with time. 2 hours sitting in front of a book NOT reading, does LESS for you than 5 minutes in front of a book and reading, which does LESS for you than 2 minutes reading and 3 minutes PRACTICING what you just read!
This is obviously a hyperbolized example, but you get what I'm saying regarding attention management vs. time management. Now before I get to the second important aspect that makes up what regular people like us are searching for when we search "Time Management" , I want to expand on Attention Management a bit.
Attention Management much like "Time Management" isn't viewed as one overarching thing, but rather as small chunks. For example, you plan your YEAR in Daily / Weekly / Hourly Chunks and add them up collectively into a year.
This is how you should Divide your TIME when you're managing your ATTENTION. Meaning that the time is only as important as the TASK making the TASK the important thing to execute.
What does this look like? If there's 10 things to do, ideally you spend 10 minutes thinking about what's most important / moves you in the direction you want the fastest" then you do that 1 first, and the second one second etc. This way you're taking huge strides as opposed to minor steps having your attention just on any task.
This is getting long so I'll shorten the next part.
ENERGY MANAGEMENT
- The ability to self monitor, find the things that drain your energy and make it difficult to manage your attention, and the things that do the opposite, give you energy and inspires your attention, and spread them throughout your day in a way that would allow you to consistently maintain high enough energy, to deliberately do the things you want to, rather than drifting away.
Simple ways to do this :
Keep a notepad / your smartphone around when you're doing your usual daily tasks, like exercising, walking around, washing dishes etc...
Based on what builds energy vs. takes away energy, swap out so that you do what drains your energy last or whenever is good for you. I like to do it last so I can take my time, allow myself to be distracted while doing it and see it as the start of the end of my day.
Alternatively, place the things that GIVE energy, at a time when you're NOT high energy, so you'll be able to move up the energy spectrum and be able to focus on the things you want to do for a bit longer.
Out of time now but I'd LOVE your feedback! All the best!
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