Be optimally Productive: Mastering your Time
- Elmen Lamprecht
- 15 hours ago
- 9 min read
Time management is a cornerstone of productivity and effectiveness. Whether you love it or hate it, establishing a routine can significantly enhance your productivity. This routine isn't about adhering to a rigid schedule that dictates every second of your day but rather about creating a friendly framework to guide your daily activities. By doing so, you can accomplish more in less time and reduce stress.
In the book The Daily Life of Resolute Beings - Be Resourceful, we discuss seven time-management behaviours is detail. Time management is the skill to allocate the right amount of time for each particular activity that takes you towards your particular goals. In this blog, we will unpack time-management behaviours 2 to 5. This blog follows on another that discussed the first time-management behaviour, namely Creating a To-Do List (Prioritization of tasks).
Time-management behaviour 2: Your daily planner (Understanding Your Energy Cycle)
Once you've created a prioritized To-Do list (refer to Time Management Behaviour 1), the next step is to identify the optimal times in your day or week to tackle these tasks. In his book "Manage Your Time," James Manktelow suggests planning your day around your personal energy cycle. This involves scheduling tasks that require intense concentration and creativity during your peak productivity periods—times when your energy levels are above 75%. Conversely, use your downtime (energy levels below 25%) to relax and recharge. Tasks that require lower concentration should be scheduled for when your energy is between 25% and 75%. When you notice your energy dipping during times that require peak performance, utilize energy boosters like moving around to get the blood flowing, having a snack, listening to upbeat music, taking a short break, or drinking coffee. It's important to recognize that taking breaks is not a waste of time; instead, it helps you recharge and maintain high productivity levels.
The 5 Categories of Work
Everyone's energy cycle is different. Spend a few weeks observing your energy levels throughout the day to identify your peak productivity times. Once you have this information, you can allocate time appropriately across five categories of work that align with your energy levels:
Work category 1: Organization (Energy level between 25% and 75%)
Activities: Planning, preparation work, administration (e.g., responding to emails, compiling reports).
These tasks require mid-level performance. Use this time to create your weekly or daily to-do lists.
Work category 2: Routine Work (Energy level at 50% to 60%)
Activities: Regularly recurring tasks, such as going to the gym, studying weekly team meetings. Over time, the majority of these tasks should take you closer to your life-goals.
The type of routine activity will determine what the best time for these activities are. Going to the gym is an energy booster, so you can do that when your energy levels are normally low and need a pick-me-up. Or, perhaps you have a goal of getting your bachelor’s degree and you have to study everyday to achieve this. Remember the Eat the Frog rule – do the hard things you hate first.
Work category 3: Variable Predefined Work (Energy above 75%)
Activities: Important tasks identified during planning (To-Do List) that move you closer to your goals but vary day-to-day.
These tasks are crucial and require high concentration and creativity, so schedule them when you are normally in peak productivity.
Work category 4: Reactive Work (Energy level at 25% to 50%)
Activities: Unplanned or less important tasks that need attention but don't directly contribute to your goals.
Ideally, eliminate or delegate these tasks, but handle them when necessary. Because you know that life happens, schedule time in your day for these tasks. If on the day you have no reactive tasks, allocate more time to your routine work, or get an energy boost (coffee, exercise) and jump right back into Variable Predefined Work (Work category 3)
Work category 5: Rest (Energy level below 25%)
Activities: Consists of downtime where you allow your body and mind to rest and recover.
The quality of the time spent in this category will impact the quality of work you can to at peak performance.
Below, find a hypothetical example of a Personal Energy Cycle. Observe your own work pace and energy levels over a few weeks. Make notes and identify when you are withing your different energy zones and then schedule each of the 5 work categories in your daily planner accordingly.
Balance and agility
The allocation of time to each work category should not be the same every day. Some days may require longer periods of peak-performance work (e.g., before month-end deadlines), while others may allow for more rest (e.g., weekends). Be realistic when assigning time to tasks or routines. Regularly missing deadlines or failing to make progress on your task list can be disheartening.
Most of your time should be allocated to mid-level tasks (Categories 1 and 2), with peak-performance tasks (Category 3) taking up the second most amount of time. Reactive work (Category 4) should get the least time. However, the balance between these categories depends on your occupation (e.g. highly structured job need more time for Routine Work; unstructured jobs need more time for Reactive Work), your skill at minimizing reactive tasks, and your ability to work at peak performance.
Also keep in mind that life is unpredictable, and your schedule (and personal approach) should be flexible enough to accommodate changes. While successful time management requires self-discipline and minimizing disruptions, it also necessitates the judgment to adapt when needed. There are two types of schedule changes to consider:
Temporary Changes: These changes stem from short-term, often once-off events that cause disruption in your schedule. For example, you might go to the gym everyday after work, but this week your child is ill and cannot go to school, and this requires you to work from home and skip gym for the week. Next week, you are back in the swing of things and could even go to the gym for one extra day. Permit yourself the freedom and flexibility to adjust your schedule when needed, as long as you return to your normal routine as quickly as possible.
Long-term Improvements: Sometimes we create a daily or weekly planner with the best intentions, just to find later that it is not really working for us. To increase your productivity, make the needed improvements to your schedule when you notice that it is not working for you. For instance, if lunchtime gym sessions are frequently interrupted by extended meetings, consider going to the gym earlier in the day or over the weekends to maintain flexibility during the week.
Time Management Behaviour 3: Organization
If procrastination is the thief of time, disorganization is its partner in crime. Wasting time searching for items can add up significantly. If you spend only 10 minutes every day looking for your wallet and car keys, you would waste 150 days for your life on this! Now add the 10 minutes you spend looking for the shoes you want to wear to work, the 10 minutes you spend searching for that important piece of paper within all the clutter on your office desk. Suddenly, you have wasted one and a half years of your life just looking for things! By being more organized, you can save time and use it for activities you enjoy, such as exercising or pursuing hobbies.
Start decluttering your life by assigning a dedicated place for everything: keys, files, shoes, etc. Develop the habit of placing items in their designated spots. Secondly, remove things from your life that you don’t use often. It’s amazing how much stuff we stockpile around ourselves that serve no purpose other than cluttering our lives. Yes, they had a purpose at some point in time, but they have no real function anymore and need to be re-purposed. If they can be of use for someone else, give it away. If they are useless junk, throw it in the trash. Lastly, physical clutter is not the only form of dis-order. By allowing things to mull through your mind over and over you create mental dis-order. Instead of concentrating on the important things, your attention is shared with the clutter in your head. Whenever you think of something that you must do, write it down in a journal or your To-Do list. Don’t carry it around in your head. Write it down and forget about it. By writing it down, you have scheduled to think about it at the opportune time, you will improve your focus and effectiveness.
Time Management Behaviour 4: Working Smart
The most basic premise of Resolute Time Management is that you need to be as effective as possible, not as busy as possible. In the process of reaching your goals, there comes a point where working harder would not bring better results. Investing more time in doing something is not always the answer to accomplishing your goals. Sometimes you must learn how to do something better, faster and smarter.
Working smart involves finding new ways to get better results in less time. Finding a clever way of managing your resources will lead to saving you time. Investing time now learning a new skill will save you thousands of hours in the future.
James Manktelow’s advice is: “If you are serious about a goal, the time spent learning is time well spent”.
Going on that computer software course might take a couple of hours but will make you more effective in your work, saving you time and the energy wasted on being frustrated. Learning now to use gym equipment properly will slow your exercise at first, but over time exponentially boost your fitness with the same amount of effort. Studying part time now might require you to rest and relax less for the next two years, but the career growth you will get from it would make you more money than working overtime in your current job for the rest of your life.
Time Management Behaviour 5: Be Proactive
The more time you spend dealing with urgent things, the less control you have over your time. Running frantically from one crisis to another hands over control of your time to your tasks instead of you taking control by allocating time to your tasks. Be proactive by dealing with issues before they become urgent. This why the Category 1 work (Organizing, planning and admin) is so important. Through proper planning, you can proactively complete tasks and reach goals before they become a crisis. It also helps to spend more time in the Green Quadrant (Eisenhower Method) and become more effective.
Overcoming the Barriers to Time Management
Absolutely everyone, no matter how good you are with time-management, will be confronted by three barriers that block your efforts to keep your schedule. The barriers are: interruptions, perfectionism, and procrastination. Here's how to overcome them:
Interruptions: Evaluate interruptions based on validity and urgency. If they meet both criteria, address them immediately. If an interruption is deemed invalid, diplomatically communicate to the individual that a) they possess the capability to resolve the matter independently, b) guide them to someone else capable of providing assistance, or c) express disinterest in a clear but kind and friendly manner. If the interruption lacks urgency, schedule a future meeting time. Essentially, the ability to assertively decline is integral to managing interruptions effectively.
Perfectionism: Perfectionism is nothing more that the habit of over-completing tasks (according to its importance in reaching your goals), Focus on the big picture and how tasks align with your goals. You must cultivate the art of perspective in managing tasks. Evaluate each task's alignment with your overarching Personal Intent (life-goals). If a task doesn't contribute significantly to your objectives, consider minimizing your investment in it. Focus on meeting the minimum requirements for that task and be prepared to be comfortable with that level of performance. Set personal deadlines and avoid over-refining tasks. This ensures efficient use of time and resources.
Procrastination: This barrier to effective time-management is about delaying the completion of tasks because they seem unpleasant or overwhelming. Break down large tasks into smaller, manageable steps. Completing each step builds momentum and confidence, making it easier to tackle the entire task. Confronting arduous, tedious and unpleasant tasks is like pushing a vehicle on a level surface: The very first few steps demand the utmost effort, but as it builds momentum, the required exertion diminishes, and pushing the vehicle becomes easier.
Final words
Creating an effective day planner involves understanding your energy cycle, organizing tasks according to energy levels, and maintaining flexibility. When you master this skill, together with the skills of organizing your life, working smart and being proactive, you are well on your way to optimal productivity. Remember to overcome common barriers like interruptions, perfectionism, and procrastination to maintain control over your time and maximize your effectiveness.
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