Effective use of time

Be aware of your feelings and intentions about your work and play.

In our little startup there is always more things that need to be done. The list of tasks never ends. This can lead people to say ‘we need to do more’. This is the wrong approach. This is the road to burnout and despair. That is never good.

You should never sacrifice your down time, or tell yourself you need to work harder, instead think smarter and be more intentional. This is a healthier approach. Also be sure to have some fun, or relaxing times during the day.

Be intentional in your work

Before we look at that we need to double-check what ‘success’ looks like. The goal is probably not to do ‘more’. That could be achieved by lots and lots of little tasks. My assumption is that the goal is to feel like we’re making headway, progress, towards our bigger goals.

There are always lots of things you could do with your time on a project: developing the product, exploring the marketing side, posting things on social media, and commenting on other peoples’ posts, as well as thinking and planning on future steps too. Lots of things.

While all of them are important in the long run, they don’t all need to be done now. You need to prioritise your work.

I think the key to spending your time wisely is clarifying a few different aspects about what you need to do, and how you find your energy flows during the day, or week. Within these constraints you organise what you’ll do each day in a general manner.

Focus on the week

I’ve noticed that I need to arrange my work so that I have some longer sessions where I can do more uninterrupted work, and other times when I find it better to do a range of different tasks, including the ones that I don’t like to do, but must. This lets me break up the yucky ones with more fun, or exciting ones.

Alongside this consider when you find your energy to do longer tasks. For me it’s earlier in the day if possible. Smaller things fall more easily into place in the afternoon. Some people I know prefer to work longer in the evening. Experiment if you don’t know your preferences for this. There is no right or wrong answer either. Sometimes you just have to do that longer thing, at a time when you’d rather not. These are just ‘preferences’.

This is how I organise the week in general as I know when other appointments, calls on my time appear. This lets me find the full day to focus on one thing, and the broken day to do smaller tasks. The other ones fit in around these. It also helps that I keep my work as interruptible as possible.

Think a level higher

When I was at the university I would take this to a higher level for the summer. During that time teaching commitments were low, so I would organise the twelve weeks around course revision. I would organise 2 weeks for this course, 3 for that one, etc, and determine the order to do them too. That worked well.

As I delivered each course I’d be keeping notes in a file. This included something about what worked, what didn’t, how something might be revised for the next time the course was delivered. Every time I came across something relevant during the year I’d add it to the file. I’d then review these files in the spring so that I had enough pre-planning, thinking for the summer revision work.

Now something similar happens on a more regular basis. I keep files on topics to capture ideas as they happen, and review those as needed. This helps keep my thoughts organised, and gets ideas out of my head into a place they can be clarified.

These files and thoughts are what feed the week’s work and tasks. When feeling pressured, or even overwhelmed by the number of things that need doing, it is time to clarify what needs to be done now, soon, or left until later.

Moving onto the everyday

You can reduce the overwhelmed feeling by reminding yourself that you can’t do it all, and that not everything needs to be done ‘now’. Your role is to decide what is important and to focus on that.

At the start of the day grab a pen and paper and take five minutes to identify what you would like to do today. This becomes your goal. Prioritise them. Which ones must be done. Which ones would be good to finish, if possible. Work other things around them as you go, and as you find/discover other things that call on your time.

At the end of the day review the list. Either add to it, or start a new one of things that you think you should do tomorrow. This is the note you start with on the next day. You might have realised that something was forgotten, or is suddenly now more important. This happens.

Experiment with different approaches

As you go through these ideas try different ones. Some might work better than others for you. This is what I’ve found works for me. Maybe you want to try them. If you do, then pause after a while and think about. Maybe, have a chat about them with someone else, and compare your approaches.

Whatever you do, be nice to yourself. You’re still learning how to do life.

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