Time Hacks
Success is always found in the road least travelled.
Here are 5 Effective Strategies you can practice to MAXIMIZE your TIME.
#1 Prioritize
Everyone has a different priority. A single individual who doesn't have a partner/pets/children will have a very different set of priorities that someone who has one or all those things.
First off, identify what is important to you.
According to the Pareto Principle AKA the 80/20 Rule, 80% of your life's outcomes result from the 20% of your inputs.
The 20% usually is the hardest tasks that you have to do that most of us, tend to push aside, ignore or delay, because they usually aren't as fun the 80%.
Very few people realize this because the pull of the fun 80% is so strong that a lot of us gravitate to it by default.
You actually have to practice awareness in order to refocus yourself on the not so fun 20%.
Do you remember when you were in school?
The education and knowledge you acquire from your studies/hard work input = 20%
The hobbies, hanging out, and other fun activities that don't require much effort = 80%
Now apply the compounding formula to those two.
If you put in 80% of your time and energy on acquiring that 20%, that will pay off in gold after you apply the rule of compounding.
Maybe you get a job faster than your peers who prioritized differently.
Maybe you learn through your mistakes faster, because you have more education.
Maybe you become more successful, because you know how money works because you took the time to learn it instead of just spending it.
This leads me to our #2 topic...
#2 Minimize
practice categorizing your prioritize/tasks into...
A - If I can only do 1 thing right now. What is that 1 thing that will move me towards my ultimate goal? Usually this 1 thing isn't easy.
B - These are usually tasks that have minor consequences, such as..."My partner might be irritated if I didn't wash the dishes right this minute." Most of us have dishwashers but you get the point.
C - Tasks which has no consequence at all, such as attending parties (nobody will die if you don't attend a party. However, if you fail to show up at work and you are a surgeon, now that's a different story).
D - Delegate - You only have 24 hours in a day and YOU CANNOT DO EVERYTHING! Nobody can, that's why there's services out there to help you, such as hiring a cleaner, gardener, or meal service.
E - Be creative at eliminating tasks. Automate! We are lucky to live at this point in time where automation is easily accessible. You can automate pretty much everything. I personally invest in automation and it frees up so much of my time.
If you can't automate it, eliminate it. A personal example is gardening. I love having my own garden, but only because I have an automatic watering system set up. I never really attend to them, other than to harvest the fruits of the automatic waterer's labor.
#3 Procrastinate
This word has a bad rep, because it's usually used in conjunction with a negative action. But why not use it to help you instead? Procrastination can actually boost your productivity.
Here's an example. I'm sure everyone can relate:
Delay spending time on social media until you've accomplished reading 20 pages of the Investment Valuation textbook. That's me talking to myself. I have a goal of reading at least 1 book per week and in practicing procrastination, I have actually accomplished more than my goal and have read so many books and learned so much year after year, on top of having multiple jobs at one point, and spending adequate time with family and friends.
I've now also procrastinated on things such as chores, which I used to prioritized. I can't stand undone chores back then, but slowly I started assigning a time in the day (after my high value tasks would be finished) for each of them and I included a time limit. Now they no longer get in my way of becoming productive.
#4 Systematize
Create a system to make your life easier. If you have to think about what you need to do every day out of thin air, you are making yourself work hard for no reason. I started creating a to do list that I plan to accomplish the day before so that when I wake up my brain is already programmed to do these things in that order. Most of the time, I do not even need to refer back to my list. I also started utilizing my calendar for everything. My calendar became my greatest assistant. It reminds me to do things I need to do so I don't miss any deadlines. This includes not just work but also checking in with family and friends, as well as self-care.
When you work for yourself, i.e. not an employee, you can easily immerse yourself into what you are doing. Nobody will tap your shoulder telling you that you need to take a break. This is why being an employee really is an easier route.
It's really helpful to take adequate breaks by setting alarms and creating time limits so that you don't burn yourself out and you stay focused and productive.
#5 Build Habits
I'm gonna be honest, this is not easy. But, if you know the process and you just keep on keeping on, you will get it done. Push through the pain. A lot of people make the mistake of giving up too early when things start to get real tough, so they never get to see the other side of the mountain.
One of the habits I wanted to build a few years ago was to start waking up a couple of hours earlier so I can accomplish more while everyone is still sleeping. I set alarm to wake up at 5am everyday so that my body will get used to it eventually. The first month was insanely hard. This was difficult because I used to wake up late in the morning. I also had a habit of staying up very late in order to catch up on things I couldn't do earlier in the day. However, it wasn't very effective. I noticed that the first few hours of the day is when I have my best focus, so it really made a stark difference in my success, when I started planning everything the night before and waking up early.
The good news is that it gets easier. Everything is hard before it gets easy. Don't focus on the negatives. You can accomplish anything if you just take it one step at a time and DO NOT STOP and DO NOT GIVE UP. This momentum builds and compounds and will propel you towards your goals. Remember the story of the Tortoise and the Hare?
There's only 24 hours in any given day and a big chunk of that time is already used for sleeping and recuperating. If you sleep 8 hours, and you need to go to work for a certain length of time, including your commute time, then how much time do you really have left per day? When you start looking at life this way, your perspective on what's really important will change. We start to realize that a lot of us spend our time at our jobs and communting more than anything else. And a lot of us do this for multiple decades.
The very little time left in that day is extremely precious, so beware of time thieves.
I hope this helps you manage your time better.
Love your life the way you envisioned it.
Get off the someday isle.
No more excuses.
Live by the Pareto Principle.
Time is the great equalizer so use it to your advantage.
Tell me your strategies for time management in the comments section. I would love to hear your side of the story.
That is all for now.
