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Why time management is ruining our lives

theguardian.com

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Re: Why time management is ruining our lives

#201

Post by ikeyany »

tedmiston wrote: post #157
iagooar wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May I ask you how you did the jump to self-employment? Did you build up your network while working for a salary and then switch to your own company? I know I'd love to be my own boss, but it seems tough to find enough clients in order to pay yourself a salary.

Pretty much what you said. For client sourcing I just asked a few founder friends if they would be interested in contracting a part time dev and they were. That was unituitively one of the easiest parts. Also, the market rate as a contractor is quite a bit higher than as an employee which helps cover some of the time that isn't billable.

> I just asked a few founder friends

Ah. It all seems so simple when phrased like that. To be an insider...

Re: Why time management is ruining our lives

#202

Post by inovica »

WWKong wrote: post #136

I would like to share this method that I'm experimenting with and have found good success with. Last week of each quarter quantify your last quarter and write-up your OKRs for next quarter. Delete everything in your to-do list and clear out your inbox. Start from zero. It helps to think about it like you are quitting your job and starting a new one. I call it Q-boot.

You're quite low down in the comments list, but I actually like this and do something similar. I actually put all my files somewhere else - just in case I need them I can find them in a search. I then focus

Re: Why time management is ruining our lives

#203

Post by jonathonf »

junto wrote: post #51

One of my bosses had a good way of dealing with emails. He would only write one single short replies. No "Dear/Hello Blah", no sign off, just one single terse sentence that was straight to the point. He detested my wordy, time laboured and well formatted emails that looked like letters. He had a point. He treated email like a messenger application, whereas many of us still see it as an electronic replacement for the…

One tactic I use for opening emails is to write the question or point in the subject line (e.g. not "Meeting" but "Today's meeting is at 10:00 in 94a").

For the majority of situations this means easier comprehension/scanning and zero redundancy. It also provides good practice for anything that needs more than a single line.

For longer emails I also like to put a summary at the top, then an expanded details below as necessary, and make sure each paragraph starts a new point or item.

Re: Why time management is ruining our lives

#204

Post by tedmiston »

ikeyany wrote: post #201
tedmiston wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much what you said. For client sourcing I just asked a few founder friends if they would be interested in contracting a part time dev and they were. That was unituitively one of the easiest parts. Also, the market rate as a contractor is quite a bit higher than as an employee which helps cover some of the time that isn't billable.

> I just asked a few founder friends Ah. It all seems so simple when phrased like that. To be an insider...

I wouldn't necessarily say that. I live in a third- / fourth-tier startup ecosystem and started here from scratch about 3 years ago. Taking a job for a company still working in the space provided by the accelerator (which happens to host lots of meetups) was one of the best things to happen to me though, even if that company ultimately failed.

(I got that first job blindly off AngelList with no connections.)

Re: Why time management is ruining our lives

#205

Post by caseysoftware »

I got into some habits a few years ago that I'll share here:

- First, I "write" everything down. Every task goes on my Trello board. (one personal, one for work)

- The first columns of my boards are always: In Progress, Next, and Done. Those are the most important ones. I have other ones for Considering, Learn More About, and usually project specific.

- There is never more than one thing on my In Progress board. Sometimes I have to move another task into it but then the other thing has to move out, usually to Next.

- When I finish something, it goes into the Done column and another task (usually from Next) moves into In Progress.

- Each Monday morning, I review my Done board from the last week. If it's really done, I archive all the cards and start fresh. Sometimes tasks move back into In Progress or Next.

- I don't set due dates just to have a deadline. Either there's a deadline or there's not.. less self-imposed stressed.

- Recurring meetings and tasks never continue past December 31st. After that, I re-evaluate and recreate the necessary ones.

- Around Dec 31st, I go through my notes on projects and ideas. If it's still valuable, I keep it. If not or if I'm not going to work on it, I archive them. Less self-imposed stress.

Re: Why time management is ruining our lives

#206

Post by wyclif »

ryandrake wrote: post #61

I've never actually achieved Zero Inbox, but I'm pretty close. One thing that helps is to create meaningful, actionable folders for your E-mails. I have these: Urgent: Follow-up today in person Follow-up today by E-mail Follow-up this week Waiting for non-urgent response Hound (for people who take constant babysitting, I'll send request daily until it's responded to) Watch (if thread is replied to, I'll need to be on…

"Inbox Zero for Life" is the best actionable guide I've found for processing email:

https://xph.us/2013/01/22/inbox-zero-for-life.html

Your one and only goal for processing your inbox is to make it empty. Not to actually do anything productive, because processing email is inherently anti-productive. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you’re doing work here. Just get it over with as quickly as possible.

Re: Why time management is ruining our lives

#207

Post by braveo »

vizeroth wrote: post #104
Negitivefrags wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see this attitude fairly pervasively in hacker news when it comes to consuming media. When famous tech people like Bill Gates post lists of books, there is almost never any fiction on there. It's like reading is frowned upon as a waste of time unless it's non-fiction. You can get away with literary fiction but only if it's high-brow enough that it still feels like learning. Can I not just read a fantasy book becaus…

American adults read so little that this attitude only comes from a minority of the minority. For the most part, people see it as a waste of time because they may only read 1-4 books a year, so they might feel those books should have some meaningful purpose in their lives (or they only read a book because it is supposed to be great or have some use they can apply to their lives). Read more, worry less about what othe…

I don't read as much as I used to, and when I really think about it I get regretful. I definitely read more than 1-4 books/year, but I just don't have the time to devote to it anymore.

I strongly prefer actual books, but I've been doing a lot of reading on my iphone over the past few years due to being able to read when I have spots of downtime (waiting on oil change, for example).

Re: Why time management is ruining our lives

#208

Post by pmichaud »

sambe wrote: post #81
pmichaud wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like your tactical suggestion at the bottom, but I wanted to say that I rankle at the top. Philosophically, I don't think a request for my attention creates an obligation to give it. Practically, if I responded to every email I received, I'd spend all my time doing nothing but responding to email, then I'd still fail by running out of time. It's actually pretty stressful. I've outsourced a lot of my email to a coup…

If your company pays you to give your attention when requested then it kind of does create such an obligation. I'll grant you that if they have to choose, they probably choose total productivity over all emails answered. However, clearly not every incoming email requires an answer from every recipient. You are not being asked to reply to 100% of incoming emails instantly. Ignoring direct requests for attention is bot…

It seems like you're imagining a different situation than I am. I'm talking about a large volume of outside email, the equivalent of fan mail, essentially. We have other methods of communication for internal stuff, like Slack.

I stand by my original assertion that your request for attention doesn't create an obligation to give any to you, though. I think the cultural norms around it (ie, give attention when asked) make sense at small scales, but break once you cross a certain threshold of people wanting attention.

Re: Why time management is ruining our lives

#209

Post by nowaq »

ilaksh wrote: post #110

My solutions: be unpopular, avoid adding appointments, avoid starting new projects, don't create to-do lists. Instead of long to-do lists I just focus on prioritizing realistically and try to take care of the next few really important things in a thorough way. And I try to make sure feedback loops are relatively tight so I can keep reprioritizing correctly. The lack of popularity is partly on purpose and partly just…

I love your strategy. I employ similar one whenever I can. "Remove myself from the equation" is a good mantra to go by.

I'd add that priorities are key to being productive but not overwhelmed.

Re: Why time management is ruining our lives

#210

Post by nowaq »

jimmaswell wrote: post #54
andyidsinga wrote: post #12

I suspect that the notion of managing one's inbox creates a sort of kruger-dunning effect with the inbox owner in terms of perceived productivity. I've given up active or structured management of my inbox : I read a few times during the work day, try to keep up, but don't get worried about missing 40% of things that come through. I'm at-ease with the notion that important communications have a way of finding me (emai…

Why not just set up phone notifications and deal with emails as they come in when you happen to use your phone? You never miss anything that way. Works great in my experience.

Brilliant way to turn your brain into jelly/scrambled eggs! Never finding flow, never having a deeper thought, always be interrupted... I can't understand how someone could want to function like that :O
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