How I’m Killing Time-Wasting Work

My New Tool For Killing Time-Wasters

How I'll waste less time this quarter

I’ve just started my quarterly review.

This is where I take an in-depth look at how I spent my time last quarter and the results those efforts produced.

I’ve already noticed three ways that I’m wasting time.

1. I won some awards, which distracted me because they opened many new doors.

2. I left business problems unresolved for large parts of the quarter because of the former.

3. I spread myself thin, taking time away from my most important work.

One way I’m going to try and catch this stuff without waiting for my quarterly review is by adding a tag TWED to my time entries in Toggle.

(If you are wondering how I track my time for productivity, you can read this article.

TWED = Time Wasting Eliminate or Delegate

At the end of each day, I’ll add TWED to my uses of time that haven’t helped me progress towards my goals.

Then the following week, I will try to eliminate or delegate these activities.

I need to focus on the highest priorities in each of my companies and nothing else.

Notes: We live in a world where inputs are overabundant. If you feel like you are not getting the results you are looking for, ask yourself whether I am being active or productive. Last quarter I was active but not productive.How I help myself keep more commitments

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool." - Richard Feynman.

"I'm going to exercise tonight"...." Actually, I don't have much time; ten minutes will do"..... "I don't want to be tired at my friend's dinner, so I'll just go for a walk"..... "I'm walking to my dinner, so I don't need to go for a walk"... "I'll exercise this weekend instead"... Cycle repeats.

It's too easy for us to twist our words and shift goalposts when we make vague commitments to ourselves.

I do this myself and see many others do it too.

We like to shift our goal posts so we don't have to admit failure and risk upsetting our egos - but this is the exact opposite approach we should take if we want to get more done.

I like to get specific to keep myself accountable and force myself to acknowledge when I'm dropping the ball.

"I'll go for a 5km run today at 4.30 pm" - is a goalpost that is much harder to shift.

Sure I can push it out to 5 or 6 pm easy enough but justifying a walk to dinner instead of a 5km run, even to myself, is a tough do.

It isn’t fool-proof but it’s a start.

Notes: You will achieve more of your intentions by getting specific.

INSIGHTS FROM OPERATORS

“Only those who are asleep make no mistakes. Making mistakes is the privilege of the active.

The fear of making mistakes is the root of bureaucracy and the enemy of development.

It is always the mediocre people who are negative, who spend their time proving that they were not wrong. The strong person is always positive and looks forward."​
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- Ingvar Kamprad (IKEA Founder)

Who Makes Good Company

A thought about the easiest way to achieve personal growth.

We've all heard the platitude "Surround yourself with people smarter than you".

It makes a ton of sense, right - it'd be tough to be around people all the time that know more than you about a topic and not learn from them.

But smarter is one-dimensional, just one part of the human experience.

Some folks are fitter, more spiritual, wiser, creative, and so on.

A while back, I brought a gym and coincidentally moved in with a personal trainer around the same time.

Guess what happened? Within a short time, I started taking my physical health way more seriously, and now mid 30's, I'm a lot fitter, stronger etc... than I've ever been.

I can't pretend that was an intentional move by me - we actually connected on naughtier activities like getting high and eating junk food. But it did show me first-hand how this sorta immersion works.

I think this is the cheat code for growing in whatever direction you want to go. Positively or negatively, whoever and whatever we immerse ourselves in rubs off.

Notes: If you want to learn more about yourself and push those boundaries, get outside your click.+