PRINCIPLES

TIME MANAGEMENT IS TASKS MANAGEMENT:

1.priority management
2.energy/attention management
3.date & time(duration)

Why Time Management is a Myth

It’s not because you’ve run out of time or that you’ve not mastered time
management. Rather it’s because you lack clarity concerning what matters.

Time Management Is A Waste Of Time. Focus

On This Instead

It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.

– Seneca

Once upon a time, a very strong woodcutter asked for a job in a timber merchant and he got it.
The pay was really good and so was the work condition. For those reasons, the woodcutter
was determined to do his best.
His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he supposed to work.

The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees.

“Congratulations,” the boss said. “Go on that way!”

Very motivated by the boss words, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but he could only
bring 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder, but he could only bring 10 trees. Day after
day he was bringing less and less trees.

“I must be losing my strength”, the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and apologised,
saying that he could not understand what was going on.

“When was the last time you sharpened your axe?” the boss asked.

“Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees…” (1)

Managing Energy Versus Time

“ Energy, not time, is the fundamental currency of high performance.”

Imagine this for a second— the “trees” in this short story represent your goals and the “axe”
represents ‘you’.

What can we learn from this?

The secret to high productivity that actually lasts is not managing time or working harder—
it’s all about managing yourself, specifically your energy.

We all have the same 24 hours every day. The main reason why some people achieve 10x
more in any given day than most people do in a month, is not because they manage time
better—it’s because they manage their energy better.

In the book, ‘The Power Of Full Engagement’, Jim Leohr and Tony Schwartz state that
energy is broken down into these types:

 Physical: Patterns of breathing, quality of sleep, when and what we eat, recovery and
level of fitness.
 Emotional: Managing levels of self-confidence, self-control, social skills, and
empathy.
 Mental: Appropriate mental preparation, visualisation, positive self talk, effective
time management, and creativity.
 Spiritual: Character, passion, commitment, integrity, and honesty. (2)
For example, after a night out boozing and little sleep the average person will most likely be
less productive than otherwise—regardless of how well they planned to manage their time the
next day.

Time management also fails to take into account our natural cycles of energy throughout day
i.e ‘Ultradian Rhythm.’

Just like a sprinter, we perform at our best when working in sprints (approx 90 minutes) and
then taking breaks in-between intervals to rejuvenate our energy.

Evidently, managing our energy plays a significant role in our short-term and long-term
productivity.

Let’s explore some other reasons to focus on managing your energy instead of managing your
time.

1. Time management systems are inhumane

Yes, someone had to say it and I just did.

Time management may be a great system for a machine, but for the rest of us who are
emotionally driven human beings—we need to take account for our energy levels.

Plus your willpower and self-control reduces with every choice you make throughout the
day. (3)

Clearly we perform at our best at different periods of the day.

Time management fails to take into account these emotional, mental and energetic factors that
make us human.

SOLUTION: Schedule around your energy levels not your time.

Instead of scheduling around time, schedule around your energy and willpower levels. By
matching the times of the day you have the most energy with your most important tasks, you
can significantly improve your productivity.

As a rule of thumb, schedule your most important ‘domino’ and creative tasks at some point
in the early hours of waking up when you have the most energy.

On the flip side, you could schedule your low creative tasks i.e emails, social media, phone
calls in the latter part of the day when your energy and willpower is lowest.

Here’s a quick example of scheduling around your energy levels, assuming you are an
entrepreneur or a creative.

Creative energy (best between 4 -11 a.m.)

Social energy (best between 6 -11 p.m.)

Communication energy (phone calls, email, texts) (best between 2-5 p.m.)

Learning energy (any time except afternoon)

Physical energy (exercise) (12pm-2pm)

(4)

2. Time management reduces happiness and creates

anxiety.
Time management systems promote a ridiculously high standard of time efficiency and
perfection that is simply unrealistic for any human being.

This idea that we should manage every millisecond to a tee is not only impossible, but it also
puts an enormous amount of pressure on us.

What’s worse is that we often feel guilty or anxious whenever ‘tasks’ are incomplete or we
have any ‘free’ time whatsoever. No matter how much we cross off our to-do list there always
seems to be MORE things to get done.
This anxiety build up leads to more procrastination on our schedules and goals—apps and
phone reminders don’t help either, we just ignore them.

This is why you may find yourself struggling to sleep, rolling in your bed past midnight
worrying about things on your to-do list.

Instead of relaxing and winding down at the end of the day to enjoy time with family and
friends, you’re overwhelmed and anxious. I know this too well, i’ve been there many times.

SOLUTION: Schedule regular downtime

It’s counterintuitive that periodically spending time away from crossing off our endless to-do
lists to instead recharge our energy, can be much more productive than otherwise—but it’s
true. (5)

I have personally been through a phase where my obsession with time management and
‘getting things done’ was causing massive anxiety, stress and chronic procrastination.

I finally made a decision to ‘sharpen the saw.’ Instead of filling up all my time blocks with
‘productive’ work, I set aside regular time to simply do whatever I felt like in the moment—
go for walk, watch TV shows etc. In other words, just be human.

By doing this I’ve been able to alleviate my performance anxiety and significantly improve
my productivity.

Shortly after doing this, I’ve launched several projects, travelled to deliver two keynote
speeches, created and delivered a half day workshop, written and recorded 6+ articles and
videos, built my personal network and so on.

This is not to brag, but to inspire you to make time for regular downtime to recharge your
energy.

By doing so, you will practice letting go of control of the outcome and the obsession to be
perfect with managing time, which in turn will help you become more productive.

3. Time management is literally a ‘waste of time’

‘Stop managing your time. Start managing your focus’ – Robin Sharma

We spend all of our ‘precious time’ planning, reading and plotting to manage our time.

Instead of taking action to actually get things done, we delude ourselves into a false sense of
achievement because we simply planned our day with a time management calendar or app.
The irony is that this is a waste of time and often we don’t actually get much done. In the
end, execution is all that matters.

I’ve personally fallen into the trap of spending hours on time management that could have
been spent actually being productive.

What is more important is building a habit of consistent action which will in turn produce real
results.

SOLUTION: Create Rituals That Match Your Peak Energy Levels

Consider these rituals of some of the most successful creatives and entrepreneurs:

 Warren Buffett wakes up at 6:45 am and begins the day by reading over
newspapers and books.

 Maya Angelou would arrive at 6.30 am to a rented local hotel room to write
until 2 pm, and then go home afterwards to do some editing.

 Richard Branson wakes up at 5am, exercises and spends time with his family
first thing everyday before working on his business.

Successful people don’t have to ‘manage time’, they execute habitually when their energy
levels are at their peak—allowing them to perform at their best consistently.

You can create your own daily rituals to help you stay productive regardless of whether or not
you use any time management system.

Your ritual can initially be as small as you need to help you simply get started and maintain
consistency everyday.

RECAP
I acknowledge that traditional time management allows for ‘planning’, but in truth for the
most part they fail to account for crucial human factors that drive our productivity.

We’re not machines or robots, that can perform efficiently and perfectly 24 hours a day. Our
emotions, energy and willpower moves in cycles, plus we don’t always ‘perform at our best’
every day.

Instead of focusing on time management, you can instead schedule your most important
activities around your highest energy levels, schedule for regular downtime and create
habitual rituals that you stick to consistently.

In the end you can’t manage time per se, but you can manage you.
Read Next
 Productivity Secrets from Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg and Bruce Lee.

FOOTNOTES

1. Original lumberjack story from Steven Covey’s, The 7 habits of highly effective
people.
2. Concepts from the book, The Power Of Full Engagement.
3. Credit to Eric Barker for sharing this concept in his interview with Roy
Baumeister here.
4. Schedule inspired by Scott Adams blog post.
5. Alternating periods of activity with periods of rest has been used successful by high
performing athletes since it was first advanced by Flavius Philostratus (A.D. 170–
245), who wrote training manuals for Greek athletes.
6. Image source deeper dish.

Scheduling Your Energy, Not Your Time

If you plan your schedule around your availability, you’re probably doing it wrong. Years ago
I learned that planning my schedule to match my different energy states works far better. Here
are my usual energy states during a typical day. And by that I mean my mind and body
are optimized for different tasks at different times. These energy states are fairly predictable
in my case, so I build my schedule around them.

Creative energy (best between 4-10 a.m.)

Social energy (best between 4-11 p.m.)

Communication energy (phone calls, email, texts) (best between 10-11 a.m.)

Learning energy (any time except afternoon)

Physical energy (exercise) (Best at lunchtime)

Sexual energy (Testosterone is highest in morning, trails off all day. Sooner is better.)

Your energy profile might differ, but I think you will find that most writers use the early
morning to do their best work. The secret sauce is that you can accomplish more in less time
if your energy is right for the task. I can do more creative work between 4-5 a.m. than I can
get done in an entire afternoon.
Everyone is different, so pay attention to your own energy states and plan accordingly. And if
you don’t have a flexible schedule, think about how you could work toward it in the long run,
because happiness is influenced by when you do things, not just the nature of those activities.
If you find yourself exercising when you are already tired, and eating when you are not
hungry, that’s a bad schedule.

Scott Adams

Co-founder of WhenHub

Sort and Schedule Your Tasks by Creative Energy

Level

As a creative, you've got two sets of demands to handle. The first is what you need for your
own growth and inspiration. The second is what your clients want and expect from you.

Creative work isn't magical; you're not a fairy-dust unicorn who needs to be surrounded by
gauzy rainbows and sunbeams. You do, however, need to understand and respect what your
brain requires. You need time for rest, for deep thinking, for idea development, for new
connections, for staring into space: for inspiration, which is essential for continued, high-
quality, and ever-improving creative output.

Continually working under pressure reduces your ability to be creative. But ignoring
opportunities, missing deadlines, or only working when you feel like it isn't an option, either.
You need inspiration, but you also need a dependable income.

Like me, you probably chose your line of work because you love it; the need for continual
creativity, however, can drag you down. In this tutorial, I'll help you learn how to organize
your task list and your schedule according to your creative energy, so you can work inspired
instead of stressed.

The Standard Approaches to the Task List

Most people approach the task list according to urgency level, according to priority, or
according to what feels most interesting or attractive at the moment.

For your standard task list of, say, household chores or personal needs, these approaches
might suffice. When it comes to managing a continual workload of creative output, however,
you need something better.
The Urgency Approach

The urgency approach, tackling your tasks by the one that is due next (or now, or yesterday),
results in always working under pressure. For creative thinking, this is not a great way to
work.

One extensive study found that time pressure reduced creative thinking ability. The authors
note that "people seem to be largely unaware of this phenomenon. ...participants in our study
generally perceived themselves as having been more creative when time pressure was high.
Sadly, their diaries gave the lie to those self-assessments. There was clearly less and less
creative thinking in evidence as time pressure increased."

Working creatively on an urgency basis is a great way to continually produce shoddy work
and not even realize it. While having some boundaries can help you focus, constant time
pressure will stress out your threat-sensitive brain. Stress makes it really difficult for you to
relax and make those creative connections you need to make in order to do good work.

The Priority Approach

Approaching your task list by priority gives you more control: you can make sure you're
putting the time in on your important projects and not simply bowing to the tyranny of time-
demands. However, if your high-priority work doesn't match your energy level, you'll struggle
to be productive and inspired. This ongoing situation leads to frustration, discouragement, and
a strong temptation to drop the important stuff because it's just too difficult, too slow in
progressing, and too draining.

The Haphazard Approach

The do-what-feels-interesting, haphazard approach can work until the deadlines pile up: then
you're stuck dealing with a pile of urgent demands, working under pressure, and wondering
why you didn't get to this stuff sooner. Having some set of boundaries or guidelines, some
plan for how you'll use your time, helps you focus and overcome that starting barrier to
creative work. A haphazard approach doesn't give you any, and results in a rollercoaster of
terribly stressful days followed by unproductive recovery days.

An Alternative Approach

Working under pressure isn't something you can avoid entirely. However, it is something you
can minimize; the key is to be proactive, managing your task list according to your energy
level. If you categorize tasks by creative energy level, then schedule them to match the ebb
and flow of your creative energy, you can have the best of both worlds. More flow, more
working when inspired, and a dependable rate of production.
1. Mapping Out Your Creative Energy
Determine Your Circadian Rhythm

First, you need to get a good idea of your personal creative ebb and flow. Circadian rhythms
play a pretty important part. You probably already have a good idea of whether you're
a night or morningperson. If you're not sure, you can take the Automated Morningness-
Eveningness Questionnaire to determine your "circadian rhythm type."

Map Your Hourly Energy Level

Use a simple spreadsheet to map out your creative energy levels. There will probably be some
times you're not sure about. For those, simply mark "Unsure." Here's what my spreadsheet
looks like:
Track Your Time

If you have any "Unsure" hours in your day, keep a time log to figure out what's happening
with your body, mental state, and energy. Yes, each day will have variation, especially
depending on scheduled obligations. If you keep a time log for three days to a week, however,
you should be able to pick out some definite patterns. Then update your spreadsheet according
to what you discover. Productivity author Laura Vanderkam offers several time tracking
spreadsheets, or you can use an app like Toggl, Hours, or Timeneye.

If you're stuck on mapping your creative energy levels, ask yourself the following questions:

 When do I prefer to do my hard thinking work?

 When is work easiest?
 When is work most difficult?
 When do I produce at a higher rate?
 When do I work slowly?

Review Your Activities

Next, think about activities in your schedule that affect your creative energy level.

Meditation, exercise, yoga, sleeping, trying new things, and being alone are all activities that
have consistent positive effects on creative ability.

Other activities, like meetings, client calls, social outings, family interactions, and so on, will
affect different people in different ways. Study yourself, and start noticing what happens to
your creative energy after each of these activities. I tend to need recovery time after being
around people; if I have a meeting or social outing, I should expect low-energy time
immediately after, even if those hours might normally be high-energy for me.

2. Categorizing Work Tasks by Energy Level

Now you need to make a list of all your work tasks. You can be as detailed as you'd like. I
prefer to group similar tasks; for example, I have "Social media" as one item on my task list,
even though that's a collection of several different activities.

Map Your Tasks by Energy Level

Once you've made your list, sort the tasks into categories: is a Low, Medium, or High Level
of energy required to complete each task? (For now, ignore the column labeled "Spark"; we'll
get to that in a minute.) Here's a look at my categorized task list:
Spark Tasks

Your peak energy time is best for doing most creative work but not all creative work; recent
studies show that when you're tired, you are better at coming up with novel ideas and
solutions. That's because the "logical" barriers are more relaxed. You get more of those weird,
crazy, and, sometimes, amazing connections because your brain is not as good at filtering
things out.

With that in mind, peruse your task list for the activities that need this kind of creative,
connective thinking. I use "Spark" as the category name here. For me, there are two main
activities that fit this category, as you can see above. Instead of putting off these tasks because
I'm tired, I can use those afternoon or evening low-energy hours to let my tired brain come up
with new, creative, intriguing ideas.

3. Putting It All Together

Now it's time to see how all this works on a daily basis, with your schedule.

Define Time Blocks

On your hourly map, you will probably see sets of time: several hours with the same energy
level grouped together. I have one set of high-energy time (morning), one mid-level set
(afternoon, with a couple of hours I'm unsure of), and one low-level set (evening). Consider
your normal family or personal routines and scheduled activities, and mark out within those
sets the hours you can actually work. These are now your time blocks for work.
Match Tasks to Time Blocks

The next step is to match the right kind of tasks to the energy level of each time block. You
can use a categorized task list, so when it's time to work all you have to do is start working on
the tasks in the appropriate category.

This is when the conflict between tasks and time will become apparent: if you have too many
high-level tasks and too few high-energy hours, you'll have to make some decisions. You can
power through those high-level tasks no matter what your energy, you can rearrange your
schedule so you have more high-energy hours, you can get extensions on your deadlines, or
you can eliminate some of those tasks from your life.

You can use productivity tactics to reduce the amount of time needed for tasks. Batching low-
level, administrative tasks, for example, can effectively lower the amount of time needed to
accomplish them. You might also be ready to hire out some of the tasks that take forever but
aren't creatively rewarding or interesting. Trying to squeeze too much work into one hour
won't make you more productive, and it certainly won't make you feel more inspired.
Work Ahead to Avoid Urgency

It will be tempting to jump to whatever seems urgent, perhaps spending high-level time on
answering emails or finalizing a project that's due soon. But the only way to give yourself the
freedom to work according to your energy level is to work ahead, putting the high-energy
time in on the high-level tasks even when there's nothing immediately due. For most of us,
we've trained ourselves to work to deadline; working proactively, by choice and energy, will
take some retraining.

4. Protecting Your Most Important Time Blocks

Your most important hours for creative work should be pretty clear, now. They're your high-
energy time blocks and, as we've learned, some of those low-level hours that you can use for
spark tasks.

Use Your High-Energy Time

Your high-energy time blocks can be easily invaded by low-level stuff. Getting lost in email
or piddling around with website updates are easy ways for me to "get started" and end up
wasting my best working hours.

By categorizing your high-level tasks, you've defined what you really should be doing during
your high-energy time. Now it's up to you to do it. You can use a timer to get yourself started
on high-level tasks, and use those five or ten minute breaks in between sessions to tackle a
gratifying but low-level task.

Use Your Low-Energy Time

I'd long ago given up on doing any type of creative work in the evening, which is clear from
my time blocks. But, as it turns out, I was just trying to do the wrong kind of creative work:
the productive kind instead of the idea-sparking kind. Now I've started spending some time in
the evening with my notebook open before I fall asleep on the couch watching Netflix.

Your low-energy time is often when your willpower is lowest, so if you want to use that time
to spark ideas, make it easy on yourself. Ease in with a short time of reading, walking, talking,
or whatever tends to get your ideas flowing. Then ask yourself to spend just a few minutes
recording those ideas.

5. Setting Up Routines, Quotas, and Other Helps

Routines, rituals, and quotas can help you to make the most of your time blocks and adjust to
managing your tasks by energy rather than urgency.
Set Up Routines & Rituals

Regular routines save your brain a lot of decision making. Setting time blocks, and then
sticking to them on a fairly consistent basis, is a routine itself. The more routine you make
your work hours, the easier it is for your brain to get right to work. You can use routines that
enhance the type of work you're about to tackle, as well: post-exercise can be a great time for
creative work (as can post-sleep) so you might schedule a workout or a short nap before a
high-energy time block.

You can also set up rituals to move from one energy level to another, cuing your brain that it's
time to switch from one type of task to another. If you start a time block in a low or medium
level of energy, you could spend time on those low or mid-level tasks, then use your ritual to
get you going on high-level tasks. Rituals can be simple: pouring a cup of coffee, stretching
for a few minutes, moving to a different work position or area, or opening up a specific
program on the computer. Make each ritual specific and easily repeated. You don't want
something so generic that it's meaningless, nor something so complicated that you avoid it.

Use Quotas and Cues

Quotas can help you get started and stay focused. If you're goal-oriented, having a specific
daily or weekly quota is motivational. I love working toward a specific daily word count, and
feeling like I've won if I meet it or, better yet, beat it. You could set a quota to finish a certain
amount on a project each day, each week, or during each time block. Or you could ask
yourself to complete X number of high-level tasks per hour or day. If you use quotas, track
your progress; it's motivating to see what you've done.

Cues like keeping a notebook open on your desk, playing a certain type of music, or
designating some screen-free time can help you make the most of non-optimal time. If you
start noticing what triggers ideas and inspiration, you can put more of it into those low-level
hours.

Try, Test, Adjust

Nothing's perfect, especially not on the first time around. Set your schedule according to what
you think you know about your creative energy, try it for a week, and then assess your
progress. You might find that your energy levels are not what you thought, and that you'll
need to adjust your schedule.

The goal is not just to be productive: you can force yourself into productivity with great
systems and imposing deadlines. But you want to enjoy your work, not suffer through it. The
goal is to give yourself a work life that enables flow and inspiration rather than stress and
burnout. By mapping your creative energy, categorizing your tasks, and fitting each task to an
appropriate time block, you can do just that.
Resources

Graphic Credit: Flow icon designed by Yamini Chandra from the Noun Project.

Why You Should Schedule for Energy, Not Time

Most of us schedule our tasks based on when we're free.
When you forget to complete a task, you schedule it for first thing in the morning.
When there's free time in the afternoon, you use it to write a new article.
You're probably thinking, this seems like I'm making the most use of my time. And
you'd be right.
The problem is, you're not making the best use of your energy.
What's the difference?

Scheduling around your time means doing things solely based on when you're free to
do them.

Scheduling around your energy means doing a specific task that your body or mind is
most optimized for during a specific part of the day.
Our body and mind are optimized for different activities at different times. And you
can accomplish more in less time if your energy levels match the specific task at
hand.

For example, most writers get their best work done in the morningbecause that's when
our brain is most creative. Scott Adams, the founder of Dilbert, claims he can get
more writing done from 4-5 a.m. than in the entire afternoon.
Some of us schedule time to learn new skills in between chaotic meetings and
presentations. If you're learning how to speak Spanish, your mind will struggle to get in
language learning mode with an important meeting coming up. Scheduling
your Spanish lessons when your mind is less distracted, say early in the morning or late
at night, would allow you to learn faster in less time.
The point is, we should be paying close attention to our energy levels throughout the
day, and scheduling specific tasks around it. If you find yourself having meetings
when you're exhausted, or writing when there's no creativity, take it as a sign to
adjust your schedule.
The good news is, our daily energy levels won't change often. You'll only have to do it
once to reap the long-term benefits of getting more done, with more energy, in less
time.

Time Management is a Myth – Manage THIS instead

Time management is a myth.

There is no such thing as time management. You and I get 24 hours in each day – 168 of
them in a week. No more and no less. The seconds in an hour are a fixed resource that no one
can manipulate or manage or finagle or cajole or multiply. So let’s all stop focusing on
” time management ” and do something MUCH more productive instead.

Manage Your Priorities and Intentions Instead - and create more work-life
balance this week.

Does this feel familiar. .. You have had a very busy week filled with LOTS of activity – at
work and at home. And as you sit here on the weekend you reflect on “Gee, I sure wish I
could have had a date night with my spouse/significant other this week” and you begin to
judge yourself or your career because that didn’t happen?

You may find yourself longing to

 Exercise more frequently

 Read a book

 Have some alone time with each of your children

 Take a vacation

 Go for a walk

 Plant or weed your garden

  (fill in your desires here ____________ )

The reasons these things did not happen has nothing to do with your skills at Time
Management.

Let me go out on a limb and make a bet with you here. I will bet that you long for these things
and have not made them a priority. You didn’t set a conscious intention to put them into this
week and they did not appear anywhere on your schedule/calendar as the days rolled by.

“Be assured that you’ll always have time for the things you put first.”
~ Liane Steele
4 Steps to Get More of What You Really Want This Week
with Priority Management

[ Click Here for a .pdf download of the priority management steps ]

Most over stressed physicians will spend the weekend feeling bad about the things you did not
accomplish in the last seven days. We tend to cop to the belief that, “I am no good at time
management”.

If you really want to exercise more or spend some alone time with your kids, here are four
steps to get that to actually happen … no matter how busy your life and practice are.

Step 1: Write down the things you want more of – make a list

I encourage you to make your list with a pen on paper. I admit I am old school on this and
here is the reason why. When you transfer a desire into a phrase written in ink on paper …
that is a step of creation. You have translated your desire into physical reality – perhaps for
the first time. Somehow typing it into a computer and having a printer make the hard copy is
just not the same.

Step 2: Pick just one of them to do this week

Pick JUST ONE to put into action this week. You are working on the skill of implementation
here. You will probably want all of them at once and you will fail if you choose more than
one at this point. Once you nail that one … you can move on to the next … and start with just
one. Circle it on your list. Use a colored marker if that makes this more fun (I do).

Step 3: Make it a Priority

I know your priorities by the schedule you carry with you. I suspect you carry one
calendar/schedule with you right now … probably on your phone. I will also bet the only
thing on there is your work schedule.
The key to getting more LIFE in your week is NOT time management … it is having that life
activity on a schedule that you are carrying at all times. Here is a Schedule HACK training on
exactly how to do this (with no tech skills).

Get your chosen activity on your schedule and in your phone.

Step 4: Do It – Savor It – Celebrate It

=> Do It:
When your scheduled time rolls around, make this activity your #1 Priority and Intention in
that time slot. Don’t let anything (short of some life threatening emergency) stop you from
carrying out your plan.

=> Savor It:

When your time arrives, take a deep breath and let go of the stress and strain of the day.
Become completely present for whatever this activity is. Invite it to soak into all the right
places in just the right amounts. Savor it. Make a memory.

=> Celebrate It:

When you are done, give yourself a big pat on the back and congratulations. Be grateful for
the experience and acknowledge yourself for your skills of Priority Management!

REPEAT that sequence weekly

With this four step Priority Management Process … I guarantee you will get more of
whatever you choose to make a priority in your life … this week.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT … on how you bust the time management myth in
your life as a busy doctor and the one thing you want more of this week.

Myths about Time Management

Myth #1: “We can manage time.”
Reality: We cannot manage time. Nor can we save it. We can only control OURSELVES and
our CHOICES in what we do! Time ticks away in spite of our efforts to control it. We are
provided with 24 hours of time each day to use as we like. The key is in how we use that
time. We can use it wisely or waste it, but we can never save it. We get a set amount and at
the end of the day, it’s gone.

Myth #2: “My life is completely controlled by external events.”

Reality: You can have some control over many aspects of your life, but only you are
responsible for
initiating that control. Learn to recognize what you can and can’t control before making your
choices.
Anticipate the future and clarify the external demands that must be faces. From there, it is
easier to
determine what can be done, and within what time frame, despite the demands.

Myth #3: “I should meet everyone’s expectations.”

Reality: The needs and demands of others may be inappropriate for you and your lifestyle.
They may be poorly times, highly questionable, or simply unattainable. They may be of a
different priority than your own. By trying to meet the expectations of others, you may be
shortchanging yourself and your needs. First become clear about what your needs are. Once
you do this and work toward those needs, stress is reduced and satisfaction increases. Then
you can consider what others expect of you.

Myth #4: “I should have no limits.”

Reality: We all have limits…failure to acknowledge this may cause to become
perfectionistic in your expectations. Perfectionists are especially prone to procrastination
because the perfection they demand is impossible. For example, no paper will ever be
perfect in all ways. The immediate consequence of turning in an imperfect paper may be
brief, acute anxiety, but the long term consequences of procrastination- e.g.,
inconveniences, academic or career losses and lingering self-doubts are usually more
devastating.

Myth #5: “Time management involved getting more done in less time.”
Reality: Some people may believe that, but effective time management refers to getting
done fewer
things of greater importance. We cannot possible do everything we want to do or all the
things that
there are to do. Proper planning doesn’t even allow us to do it all, neither does multitasking
(at least not well!). We must accept that we can’t do it all. When we prioritize what there is
to do, and focus on completing the priorities to the exclusion of everything else, we
will be more effective (and less stressed!)

Myth #6: “To-do lists help get things done.”

Reality: “To do” lists do nothing to further a project or task. They simply remind us of our
intentions.
However, putting thought into how much time tasks take and scheduling time in your
planner for specific tasks for a specific time frame helps get them done. “To do” lists
are intentions; scheduled blocks of time are commitments.

Myth #7: “It’s more efficient to stick to one task until it’s completed.”
Reality: It may be more efficient, but it’s not more effective, for seldom will you have time to
finish it. It’s more effective to break large projects into small one or two-hour chunks and
work at them for a brief period each day. Working on priorities involved frequent brief
sprints, not occasional marathons.
The Myth of Time Management – Tyler Smith –
Medium

Time management is simply focusing on your priorities. Productivity is when you work on
those priorities.

Image via gratisography.com

I don’t want to be another person adding to the chatter of how to better manage your
time.There are a ton of different strategies for time management and while I haven’t
researched all of them, I would venture to guess that they all say pretty much the same thing:
plan, schedule and prioritize.

But here’s my contrarian belief: time cannot actually be managed. We can’t stop it and we
can’t manipulate it. Time keeps on ticking, regardless of our attempts to control it (and until a
time-traveling Delorean becomes a reality we have to settle with the current system).

Imagine the cliché Pinterest post, “We all have the same 24 hours in a day.” It’s so obvious,
it’s almost annoying. Like a tetris game, we are all given the same amount of space. Each task
is an 8-bit block and we have to figure out how to fit it into the allotted space. It’s not how we
manage the time that we have, it’s how we manage the immense amount of things that we
have to do.

The most successful people have a system in place that helps them be efficient and
productive. Like brushing their teeth or tying their shoes, it’s routine. And that is what is
important.

Popular belief says that it takes 21 days to form a habit but a recent study from the University
College London says it takes about 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic. You can
read every article, self-help book and blog post about time management techniques but if you
don’t actually put any of those strategies into practice, you are going to continue to suck at
getting shit done.

Stop spending time checking your email. Stop hanging out at the water cooler. Stop doing
the menial stuff. Do the hard stuff. Do the stuff that is actually going to move you forward.
What is your vision? What steps do you need to take to accomplish your vision? I guarantee
those steps do not include checking Facebook 15 times an hour.

Think about your day. How much time do you spend not completing your goals? 1 hour? 4
hours? 6 hours? Add up the hours per day that you spend doing low-priority tasks. An hour a
day = 5 hours per workweek. That’s 20 hours per month or 240 hours per year. 240 hours per
year is 6 weeks!
What could you do with 6 weeks? Maybe learn a new language? Learn to code? Hell, you
could even start a company. Whatever you do, do something that matters. Do somethings that
makes you better. Do something that helps you accomplish your vision. Or… beat candy
crush.

(5) Why Time Management is a Myth And What

Truly Matters Instead

I'm sorry they lied to you.

'They' are pundits who knew no better.

I'm sorry they made you burn yourself up trying to manage 'your' time. I'm sorry they made
you believe that the more you did, the better you managed time. That to become an effective
time manager, you had to juggle hundreds of tasks, and sacrifice what you truly loved.

Lies. Lies. Lies. All of it.

In the past few weeks, I've spoken to over a dozen people who wanted help with managing
their time. In each case, without exception, time wasn't the challenge. It was always
something deeper, something within.

I've never been an advocate of managing time. How can we manage something that doesn't
belong to us? We now should switch to something more effective.

"There is no such thing as time management. What matters is task management." - Tim
Ferriss

We live in a culture which prides itself on working long hours. We run in circles and work
harder, frantically ticking items off our to-do list. And yet, this nagging feeling of
dissatisfaction exists. It sticks to our flesh like a thorn.

Our culture has lost the plot when it comes productivity today.

What is Productivity?
Productivity is about getting things done without sacrificing everything we care about along
the way. – Charles Duhigg.

Distinguishing between urgent and important today is like separating noodles from spaghetti.
We make heroes out of people who sacrifice more, who are always busy, who want us to
'chase them' (whatever that means).
But in truth, being busy is often a guise to avoid critically important but uncomfortable
actions.

This post is a continuum in my effort to help you develop more effective productivity. You
shouldn't just do what others want, but also enjoy life the way you want to. It's time to let go
of the archaic concept of time management.

Proven Productivity Improvement Techniques

Productivity is just about one thing - managing your tasks effectively. It's about identifying
what you must do and what you must avoid. It's about taking the 80/20 Rule as seriously as
you take your partner.

To get there, all you need to do is implement certain techniques. They are:

1. Ask Yourself Why

Productive people are driven by purpose. Copy them to enhance your ability to do what's
important to you.

Ask yourself why you want to do something. Is it because somebody wants you to? Or is it
because you want to do it? Choose what falls under the latter. The more you do what you
love, the more motivated you’ll be to do it.
Your ‘why’ will keep you going when you want to give up. Over time, it will also make you
an expert in the next point.

2. Say "No"

We ignore important actions because we suck at saying ‘no.’ We’re afraid of being judged by
others, of missing out on something good, of being left alone. As a result, we keep saying yes
to people and tasks which pull us away from ourselves.

Productive people, on the other hand, spend 80 percent time working on what’s important to
them. They say ‘no’ to everything else.

Be assertive and guilt-free when you deny others’ requests. Secure your oxygen mask first.
You can only help others when you don’t neglect your own needs. Research shows that
people are not as offended when you say ‘no’ as you think.

“If you’re not saying “HELL YEAH!” about something, say ‘no.’ – Derek Sivers

Related: 5 Proven Ways to Say "No" Without Hurting Their Feelings

3. Reduce Consumption

Consumption is a task we invent to stay away from what’s important. News, social media,
mainstream media, email and more, place us in the comfort zone. They let us judge others
rather than being judged for what we create.

Judging is easy. Creating is difficult. Judging makes us feel empowered. Creating makes us
afraid. But creating also makes us more productive.

The more you consume, the less you do. Hence, reduce consumption. Don’t stop it altogether,
but don’t waste time on the useless.

4. Work in Cycles

The popular Pomodoro technique is effective. For the uninitiated, it means working in cycles
to maintain your productivity.

Work deeply for twenty-five minutes followed by a five-minute break. This is one Pomodoro
cycle. Rinse, repeat. Eight cycles like this and you’ll have one hell of a productive day.

Gradually, increase your focused time from 25 minutes to 45. Eight Pomodoro cycles will
give you almost three focused hours more each day. Imagine how much you can achieve with
three extra hours!

5. Focus on Systems

Most people start with good intentions, but cannot sustain their effort. They try different
things. But if something doesn’t work the first time around, they give up.

This acid test is where productive people distinguish themselves. They persevere. They test
and optimize. To discover your optimal process, you must focus on a system too.

Setting goals is good. It reminds you why you’re taking action. But it can overwhelm you too.
A goal of writing a book within a year might appear so daunting that you might never start.
But if you write just 300 words a day, you’ll write over 90,000 words in a year – equal to one
and a half books. (h/t James Clear)
Create systems which improve your efficiency and output. Experiment. Optimize. Find out
what works. Then stick to it.

5. Make Yourself Accountable

For achievers, the fear of not trying outweighs the fear of failing. Hence, they put a gun to
their heads (figuratively). They hold themselves accountable.

Accountability keeps you on track and enables measurement. And what gets measured gets
managed.

Make yourself accountable to achieve short (and long) term goals. It’ll keep you going. If you
can’t put a gun to your head, hand it over to someone trustworthy and ask them to do it to help
you be more productive.

The Shift in Mindset to Task Management

You can't manage what you don't have. Time never belonged to you. The harder you fight this
philosophy, the quicker you sink in quicksand. Believing you can own time like money and
other resources, writes David Cain, always produces stress.

Stop moving a millimeter in a hundred directions. Don't try fitting more work in the time
you've got. Don't try to manage the unmanageable time. Instead, move through it without
trying. Embrace the state of 'flow'. Choose a few tasks, and give them your all.
You won't just become more productive, you'll also become happier. You'll find more time
for yourself and people you love. You'll learn the elusive art of living in The Now.

More time, more meaningful work, more love, more happiness -- doesn't that sound like a
good life?

I’m not selling you a pipe dream. You can achieve all this and more. Follow the techniques
mentioned above and watch your quality of life exceed your own expectations.

Step up on the starting block. Prepare yourself for the race in which you're competing only
with yourself. Become the tortoise. When you do, you'll appear slower. But you’ll make it to
the finish line before the hares.

____

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It's Not Time Management | Manage Your Priorities

Instead

By on April 21, 201428 Comments

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” –
Stephen Covey
If you’re wondering about how you can become better at time management, it’s quite likely
that you’re asking the wrong questions. Much like I mentioned in 50+ Better Questions to
Ask than How to Be More Productive, asking better questions about what we’re doing makes
the doing a lot easier.

Time management, as a concept, is bankrupt. Let’s canvass some of the reasons for this, shall
we?

 You’re only going to have 24 hours in a day no matter what you do. Unless you’re
close to a scientific breakthrough that allows you to personally bend spacetime, you
can’t speed it up, slow it down, optimize it, or maximize it. A second is a second,
though your internal experience of a second can vary considerably. (We need not be
considering extreme or quantum physics scenarios. As Einstein himself remarked,
“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a
pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That’s relativity.” Time doesn’t fly
when you’re having fun – your perception of time changes.) The time metaphors we
live by don’t really track the reality of time.
 The way we think about time also deludes us into thinking that we “use” time. Yes,
we talk that way and we think that way, but we don’t use time any more than a fish
uses water. We do things through time.
 Energy and attention are more scarce than time. This is the main point behind
assessing your TEA: time, energy, and attention.
 Most people will squander “excess time” when they get it. This has led many people
to invoke Parkinson’s Law AND you might want to consider How Parkinson’s Law
blocks your happiness and creativity.

Money can be managed. People can be managed. Schedules can be managed. Time can only
be accounted for. (Tweet this)

People who think they have time management problems really have priority
management problems, which means, at root, they have self-management
problems. Teams and organizations have the same problem – as a unit, there are only so
many priorities that a given group of people can address in a given slice of time. One of the
chief jobs of the leaders is to ensure that people are addressing the most important priorities in
any given slice of time.

While we’re thinking about priorities, let’s remember that too many priorities mean you have
none. Whether we’re talking about your personal, professional, or business life, a handy
guideline here is 5 plus or minus two. This is intentionally not 7 plus or minus two simply
because we often forget that we are multi-dimensional beings in relationships with other
people and acting on our priorities requires us to evaluate and act on those priorities in a fluid
context, which is considerably harder than just remembering what they are. For instance, we
may be professionals AND parents and need to consider the priorities we have in each domain
and how they align or conflict in different ways at different times.
If all of this sounds complicated and hard to keep up with, then perhaps I’ve adequately
explained the human condition. We are evolving beings in relation to other evolving beings,
each with the capability to remember the past, choose in the present, and plan for the future.

So, the next time you’re thinking about how to manage your time, I hope you’ll consider
changing the frame to how you’re managing your priorities. Here are a few questions to ask
yourself (leaders can make a few changes to ask about their teams) to springboard your
thinking:

1. What matters now? (People change in time, so it’s natural that priorities change in
time, as well. Make sure you’re not acting on yesteryear’s priorities just because you
had them last year.)
2. What actions can I take today, tomorrow, and this week that most reflect my
priorities?
3. What are the priorities of the people around me who matter? (Your family, friends,
boss, coworkers, employees.) Do we have alignment, interdependence, or tension?
4. What’s on my plate that doesn’t reflect my priorities and what needs to happen to
get it off my plate?
5. With whom can I share my priorities so that I receive the support I need to take
action on them?

If you manage your priorities well, you’ll see how you really don’t have a time
management problem. (Tweet this)

Don’t try to manage your time - manage yourself!

Here's an important announcement: There is no such thing as time management.

Think about it; the term is an oxymoron. Time cannot be managed. It cannot be controlled in
any way. Everyone gets the same number of hours and minutes every day. Nobody—no
matter how shrewd—can save minutes from one day to spend on another. No scientist—no
matter how smart—is capable of creating new minutes. Even with all his wealth, someone
like Bill Gates can’t buy additional hours for his day. And even though people talk about
trying to “find time,” they need to quit looking. There isn’t any extra lying around. Twenty-
four hours is the best any of us is going to get. You can’t manage your time. So what can you
do?

Manage yourself! Nothing separates successful people from unsuccessful people more than
how they use their time. Successful people understand that time is the most precious
commodity on earth. And that we all have an equal amount, packed into identical suitcases.
So even though everyone's suitcase is the same size, they get a higher return on the contents
of theirs. Why? They know what to pack.

Essayist Henry David Thoreau wrote, “It is not enough to be busy. The question is, ‘What are
we busy about?’” How do you judge whether something is worthy of your time and attention?
For years I used this formula to help me know the importance of a task so that I can manage
myself effectively. It’s a three step process:

1. Rate the task in terms of Importance.

 Critical = 5 points
 Necessary = 4 points
 Important = 3 points
 Helpful = 2 points
 Marginal = 1 point

2. Determine the task’s urgency.

 This month = 5 points

 Next month = 4 points
 This quarter = 3 points
 Next quarter = 2 points
 End of year = 1 point

3. Multiply the rate of importance times the rate of urgency.

 Example: 5 (critical) x 4 (next month) = 20.

After assigning each task a new number, make a new to-do list. This time list everything from
highest to lowest task management score. THAT’S how you plan your day. How you spend
your time is an important question not only for you but for your team. People tend to take
their cues from the leader when it comes to time management—so make sure there’s a match
between your actions, your business priorities, and your team’s activities.