How do you manage your time?

I'm often asked, "How do you manage your time?" I use a multitude of techniques, including using my calendar, increasing efficiency, budgeting, delegating, not repeating myself, and making steady progress.

I use my calendar as a simple time tracking tool. In addition to meetings, I schedule work time on my calendar and then use categories and a script to periodically tally up my time spent. If that's too tedious to do with high precision, then I can also get insights by just estimating.

As Covey wrote, "The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." That means it's just as important to decide what I'm not going to do as what I am going to do. I just make sure I'm explicit about it, and notify anyone who's dependent on me for something that I'm not going to do.

I like to decline meetings where I'm not getting or adding value. I also like to search for an existing solution I can adopt or buy before I jump in and build something that might be reinventing the wheel. And I unsubscribe from mailing lists that I don't need to be on.

I also look for ways to be more efficient with time while maximizing impact. In computer science notation, I look for the activities that are O(1). Writing is one example. The time it takes me to write something is constant, but the impact it could have is only limited by the number of people who read it.

Time is a great equalizer. We all have the same number of hours in a day and days in a week. Reportedly, Warren Buffet keeps a largely empty calendar, because his time is precious to him. He can buy anything he wants, but he can’t buy more time.

So I periodically assess my schedule to make sure I’m investing my time wisely. I look for activities that I can do uniquely, that no one else is doing. And I prioritize things that I can do best by leveraging my strengths.

I made a big mistake early in my career by not managing my time effectively and setting limits on my time at work. I neglected my family for the sake of spending way too much time at work. I lost precious months with my newborn baby that I will never get back to do over. I still regret it. I finally decided to cut back my work hours from 80-100 hours/week to a more reasonable 50-60 hours/week.

I learned that I need to manage my time as carefully as I manage my dollars. It’s absurd to think about leaving my bank account open for people to take out dollars. So I should be equally vigilant in preventing people from taking my time just by dropping an invite on my calendar. I now apply some rigor to time management by setting up time budgets, much like financial budgets.

I have a terrible memory, so I have to write down things that I need to do or else I’ll forget. To prevent my to do list from becoming overwhelming, I leverage the idea of maintaining a not-to-do list. I also maintain an Inbox Zero policy and mark things for follow-up if necessary.

Delegation helps me manage my time too. One definition of delegation is to “entrust (a task or responsibility) to another person.” Trust is pretty important. I have to trust that the person to whom I'm delegating will carry out the task to my satisfaction.

It may not be exactly how I'd do it, though. I also have to accept what Charles-Guillaume étienne wrote: “On n'est jamais servi si bien que par soi-même”, or “If you want something done right, do it yourself”. These days, I find that when I delegate, people do things better or at least faster than I could. So I get twice the benefit: more time and higher quality.

I often get asked a related question: how do you have time to write? I usually respond by saying that I don’t have enough time to not write. By that I mean that without writing, I’d end up repeating myself every time someone asks me the same question. Like the DRY (don’t repeat yourself) principle, repeating myself is an anti-pattern. By writing, I can just point folks to a previous post where I’ve answered the question.

I prefer smaller regular activities over larger irregular effort. Of course, emergencies happen, and slow and steady is rather boring, but that’s just what I prefer. For lengthy tasks, I’d rather schedule small 1-2 hour blocks of time rather than cramming it in at the last minute.

But it’s challenging to stick to prescheduled time. My brain is oriented towards instant gratification over long term goals. I don’t feel the immediate benefit of chipping away at a task. But I do feel the pain when my steady progress slips.

I've felt the urge to sell my holdings during a downturn in the US stock market. I've over-indulged in food over the holidays and made new years’ resolutions to start a diet and exercise. And I seem to make the same resolution year after year. I struggle with motivation to exercise so I like to keep in mind Edward Stanley who said: “Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.”

One last thought: I try not to forget to set aside time to recharge so that I'm more effective in tasks that drain me. There’s a story about a lumberjack who’s struggling with chopping down a tree. Someone notices that his axe is dull and suggests that he sharpen it. He responds, “I don’t have time to sharpen my axe. I’m too busy cutting down this tree!” Similarly, Abraham Lincoln said: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

So that’s how I answer the question, "How do you manage your time?":

• use my calendar as a time tracking tool
• schedule my priorities, don’t prioritize my schedule
• increase impact faster than effort
• remember that time is precious
• budget my time like I budget my money
• maintain a not-to-do list and a zero inbox
• delegate effectively
• don’t repeat myself
• make steady progress
• sharpen my axe by recharging

Hope that helps. What do you think? Do you have any other questions I can answer? Let me know in the comments!

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