10. Time Management

We've reached the huge milestone of episode 10 – thank you, dear listener! In this episode I talk through what I have learned about time management – from how I use my calendar, to the importance of making time for reflection.
"The secret to doing good research is to always be a little underemployed; you waste years by not being able to waste hours." — Amos Tversky
  • Opposite of "traction" is "distraction".
  • Making time to make time - weekly reflection on your previous week, be deliberate about your upcoming week.
  • Tracking and awareness is the first step to acknowledging and improving.
  • How I've been using a calendar instead of a todo list for a few weeks.
  • Pomodoro technique – try it for the most challenging tasks!
  • Meetings can be incredibly disruptive – I share a few tips on how to be more careful with meeting time management.
  • Enable "Do Not Disturb" on macOS and iOS.
  • Having Slack and your email inbox open throughout the day can be incredibly distracting. Try to open them at fixed times and batch up this work.

Actions / take aways

  • Take time each week to reflect, and map your time. Book in 15 minutes this week.
  • Try using a calendar instead of your todo list to plan your tasks.
  • Keep meetings to fixed days in the week – like Mondays and Tuesdays, to free up your other days for deeper work.
  • Wrap up meetings with 5 minute breaks in between to refresh and re-energise.
  • Close your email and only open it at fixed times in the day.
  • Enable "Do Not Disturb" on your devices.
  • Don’t be afraid to pause, and make time for you. You can’t spend every waking hour being productive - you will eventually crash. But we each have different limits – so try to find what works best for you.

Links and further reading

Thanks, and see you next time!

P.S. I'm on Twitter https://twitter.com/jamesjgill

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