samng.me

Managing one's time

My sons,

A characteristic of the modern world that we live in is that we always seem to be short on time. We never seem to quite have enough time for all the things that we want to do, and the time we do have seems to slip through our fingers in a manner that leaves us not remembering what we’ve been up to, and wondering where all our time actually goes.

Whether we’re talking about our professional life (there never seems to be quite enough time to finish all our features, to fix all the bugs, to polish all the user experiences, or to ensure we’ve got the right metrics) or our personal life (how many of us are happy with the amount of time we spend on social engagements, with family, and with loved ones?), we never seem to quite have a handle on our time. The older we get, the busier life gets and the more problematic this becomes.

When time was a luxury

When we were younger, we had what felt like an abundance of time, especially when compared to the lack of other resources (such as money) and minimal commitments and responsibilities that demanded our time. We could therefore trade off time for other things. I distinctly remember in my college years standing at the corner of Albert and Columbia where I lived, and contemplating walking the 45 minutes to Conestoga Mall or spending the 3$ to take the bus. I walked. Yikes.

Not only were there fewer taxes on our time back then, but there were fewer things for us to do with that time. For the majority of us, the only real available options were hanging out with friends, studying, playing sports, playing video games, or eating. Or sleeping I suppose, but that’s one thing college students never feel like they need to do much of. Maybe give or take a few more things. But realistically, there were not that many options for us to balance between, and so we had plenty of time at our disposal.

Subservient to the system

Fast forward a number of years, and we find ourselves with more things to do than we can mentally keep track of. Things ranging from replacing dead lightbulbs to remembering kid birthday parties, from scheduling a follow up dental appointment to remembering to congratulate a friend on their promotion. Everywhere we look there is something we need to be doing, something we need to remember.

And that’s just the things we have to do. What about the things that we want to do?

What about finding time to have a heart to heart with a loved one, or to read that self-help book that’s been so highly recommended for you, or to try that new restaurant, or to simply sit and think? With all the taxes on our time, is it a surprise that most of our wants and desires go unfulfilled and unsatisfied?

60% of Americans feel they are too busy to enjoy their lives most of the time, while 12% feel they are too busy all of the time. That means that one in ten of us feels that we never have the time to enjoy our lives, that we are always too stressed to make forward progress in the things that we desire to do.

If this isn’t subservient to the system, I don’t know what is.

The important over the urgent

It is universally accepted that when push comes to shove and our time constraints squeeze more tightly, the things we trade off are the non-urgent but important things. This is the tyranny of the urgent, and happens in both our life and in our work.

In life, how many of us have traded off our personal reading and development time because we’re too busy? How many of us have told our kids to come back later when mommy or daddy isn’t working on something urgent that came up? How many of us have showed up late to a friends’ gathering and left early to rush home for that work call instead of showing up early to support and build that relationship? What about healthy eating and home cooked meals? What about daily exercise and meditation?

In work, how often do we make the short term fix instead of the right long term architecture? How many times have we swarmed to some urgent and tactical problem rather than spending the time to develop the right long term team and skill sets? How about burning a bridge with a partner team by escalating and effectively forcing them to get what you need done? How often do we focus on the transactional rather than spending the time to build ~non-transactional relationships~?

Managing the time you’ve got

It is true that much of our time is not our own. Time is a networked resource and gains value expressly because there are others that can make demands on it. As we grow in our lives and in our careers, there become more demands of our time that truly are outside of our control. How we manage the demands, and most importantly, how we manage the remaining time we have left is crucially important.

So how do we do this effectively?

1. Ruthlessly prioritize what you need to be in top shape

Perhaps the hardest one to do, it is also the most important. We need to take the time to thoughtfully determine what the daily requirements are for us to be in top shape. Have you ever shown up to a meeting fully prepared but not feeling your best self? You know your stuff, but it just doesn’t come out right. That’s because you’re not at your best self.

Take the time to figure out what that means, and be unapologetic about it.

Personally, I never leave my bedroom in the morning without having showered, groomed, dressed well, and made my bed. I spend at least 30 minutes a day reading, and spend as much if not more time than that thinking. With a few allowed exceptions, I also need to eat healthy. I need to exercise daily (this one’s been a struggle… but I’m working on it). I need to have quality sleep for at least 7 hours a night.

I am uncompromising in these, as without them for prolonged periods I am not able to be my best, and everything else suffers as a result.

2. Dedicate time to thinking

Another characterization of an overloaded life is that things are frantic, frenetic, and unorganized. We jump from urgent thing to urgent thing and run at a break neck pace for as long as we’re able. We spend all our time doing, and as a result end up decreasing our effectiveness by not thinking enough.

Most of us live reactionary lives. We react to the incoming torrent of tasks, demands, and requests made of us. We don’t spend the time to deeply think about what, and more importantly why we are doing what we’re doing.

Thinking deeply requires time. It requires dedicated, uninterrupted time. Our brains are bad at multitasking, and can easily get distracted. In order to be our best selves and to be the most effective and efficient in our endeavors, we need to spend time thinking. Whether we’re thinking about our intentions, our options, the possible alternatives, how to develop our staff, or our strategic advantages, we need the time to thoughtfully pore over our thoughts, data, and inputs.

Bill Gates used to have Think Weeks where he would go off himself to a secluded place with no interruptions and dedicate the week to reading, learning, and thinking about the business. While we may not all have the luxury of clearing out a full week like Bill could, we can certainly block off time throughout our week to think, and to remove the distractions and notifications while we’re doing it.

3. Learn

Above all things, we need to make sure we are learning. As our world evolves around us, we too must grow and evolve with it. Our thinking needs to adapt and mature. Our reactions need to consider new inputs and alternatives. Our plans have to accommodate the shifts in technological advances that are underway.

As such, we need to ensure that we are carving out time to learn. Whether it is a weekly time block, a quarterly retreat, or an annual reading goal, it is imperative that we dedicate time to our own learning and enhancement.

Putting it all together

As a manager, I need to get better about creating time and space for my teams to do these things. I can help by sharing more context, reducing meetings, and empowering more decisions to be made lower in the organization. As an employee, I need to be willing to take responsibility for the immediate outputs that I have balanced against the long term growth that we’ve been discussing. As a person I need to think about the big picture not only of what I’m accomplishing, but more importantly who I am becoming.

And above all, I have to have the patience to see this through, knowing that the tweaks I make in my life won’t produce results overnight, but will set me up for a lifetime of greater success and happiness.