December 16, 2024 • 28 mins
Looking for ways to navigate the complexities of time management? Uncover the secrets behind mastering your mental resources and optimizing productivity with insights from this episode of the Barrier Busting Podcast. Join Matt Brooks as he dissects the true power of understanding personal energy patterns and the art of conducting energy and time audits. Discover why those pesky low-value tasks could be sabotaging your efficiency and learn how to prevent them from snowballing into major productivity roadblocks.
Imagine your day like a stand-up comedy routine: well-crafted, smooth, and engaging. That's the magic of list making in action. Explore how the Eisenhower Matrix can transform your task management, helping you prioritize effectively and maintain focus on what truly matters. I'll share my personal strategy of maintaining three dynamic lists to keep everything in check, plus some of my favorite tips on anticipating task durations, planning your next day every evening, and the importance of taking those essential brain breaks.
Picture your mind as a cluttered closet—it's time to declutter and prune. By eliminating non-essential tasks and creating an efficient workspace, you can free up mental real estate and minimize distractions. Embrace the power of technology to automate and streamline your workflow, but remember to manage those device distractions with boundaries. Don't forget the importance of buffers and breaks to handle life's unpredictability, keeping you productive and on the move.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Are you feeling stuck ?
Is something holding you back?
Are there obstacles in your way?
Well, let's smash through thoseobstacles so that you can live
your best life.
Hi, I'm Matt Brooks, founder ofMatt Brooks Coaching, and I'm
fascinated with how peopleovercome barriers and achieve
success.
Join me for insights,strategies and inspiring stories
(00:35):
as we explore practical tipsand powerful tools to unlock
your full potential.
This is the Barrier BustingPodcast.
All right, hello, welcome backeveryone.
(00:58):
I'm Matt Brooks and welcome tothe Barrier Busting Podcast.
This is part two of mydiscussion about time management
skills.
If you listened last week, youheard me discuss this from more
of a philosophical kind ofperspective than a particular
task or practical perspective.
I talked about how importanttime management is, not just for
productivity, but for stressreduction and overall physical
(01:21):
and mental health.
So if you didn't hear thatpodcast, you might want to go
back and check it out.
I also talked about howimportant it is to tailor-make
your own system, that there's alot of information out on the
internet about how to manageyour time, how to create great
systems for time management, butthe fact of the matter is it's
generic information.
It's all good, all stuff thatshould be considered, but that
(01:44):
you really need to tailor, makeit to you.
And how do you do that?
You first have to know yourself.
You have to know your circadianrhythm.
What does your body clock worklike?
When are you energetic and whenare you not energetic?
What's the best time of day foryou to get the most high value
tasks done and what's the worsttime of day to do that?
(02:05):
So I recommended doing anenergy audit and a time audit,
both things you can learn aboutif you didn't hear last week's
episode by going back andchecking it out.
They're both really importantin terms of helping you figure
out how to use your time best.
I also talked about notdiscrediting low-value tasks.
We often do that.
(02:25):
We think about the tasks thatare really important to us, the
ones that will really bring usthe most value, but it's those
low-value tasks that can reallyget in the way if we let them
build up over time.
So that's something I thinkwe've got to think about when
we're trying to think about howto be the most productive, when
to get those low-value tasksdone, so that they're out of the
(02:47):
way, they don't build up andcreate more problems for us
going forward.
Low-value tasks, just to beclear are those things you look
at, and when you look at them,you say, oh, that can wait, that
can wait, that's a low-valuetask.
All right, these can be thingsboth at home and at work, okay,
so emails that you need torespond to, but aren't really
(03:08):
that important.
Or, you know, washing thecurtains in your bedroom or
something that's going to take alittle bit of time, that's not
really that important, but thatyou know, if you let things like
that build up, you're going tohave a problem.
So I suggested do those thingsduring your low energy periods
or on your off days, days wherenothing's working, and we all
(03:30):
have days like that too.
So let's pick it up from thereand continue with some more
methods for improving your timemanagement skills.
The first thing I want to talkabout is your systems.
This is really important.
What your systems are, are theysound, are they in place, are
they good?
Are they solid right Now?
In one of my prior podcasts, Iwas talking about habits and I
(03:53):
quoted James Clear, who wrote abook called Atomic Habits, by
saying, quote we don't rise toour goals, we fall to our
systems.
It's our systems that are thesupport we need to succeed at
anything but, in particular,time management, and by systems
I mean not just what systems arein place for completing our
(04:14):
tasks, but what our system oftime management is itself.
This part speaks to somethingknown as ego depletion theory.
I know I'm getting heavy withthe theories again.
Ego depletion theory, okay, butwhat that is is.
It states that self-control orwillpower draws upon conscious
(04:34):
mental resources that can betaxed to exhaustion when in
constant use with no reprieve.
That's what ego depletiontheory is okay.
And just like our basal ganglia, that part of our brain that
records our behaviors and makesthem automatic, so that our
brain is not overloaded, we needsystems in place to fend off
(04:54):
mental exhaustion.
If we rely on our willpoweralone, we will most undoubtedly
fail because our mental reserveswill quickly be used up and our
brains are just going to shutdown from exhaustion.
This is precisely why systemsare so important.
So here's some practical tipsto improve our systems and
improve how productive we arewith our time.
(05:16):
Thing number one, which is, Ithink, the most critical, is
lists Making lists, becomingreally good at making lists, if
you ask me.
It's all about this.
Lists keep us focused anddriven and they make us think If
you don't write it down and ina way that makes sense, it ain't
(05:38):
going to happen.
It's just not going to happen,or at least it won't happen in
any kind of efficient manner.
Just not going to happen, or atleast it won't happen in any
kind of efficient manner.
I have spent decadesexperimenting with list making
and I continue to adapt andimprove it, although I gotta say
I think I do have it finallydown pretty good To me.
I look at list making as an artform.
It takes both creativity andpractice.
(06:01):
A comedian, a famous comedian,for instance, will spend months,
months if not years, working onjust a couple minutes of
material until it's perfected.
They play small clubs to workthose things out, and they do
this for a long time before theymake their HBO stand-up special
.
I like to take the sameapproach to my lists Now.
(06:22):
List making is also aboutdeciding on priorities, and not
just high priorities, but whereall your tasks rank, because I
said in my last episode, thoselow value tasks should not be
ignored.
So you need to decide whatneeds to be done now, what can
wait and what is a completewaste of your time and should
(06:44):
just simply be forgotten or justdiscarded.
Now there's a great system forthis.
If you need help figuring thisout, it's called the Eisenhower
Matrix.
You can check this out online.
Just Google it, it'll pop rightup.
But it's great.
And there's other systems too,but I like this one the most.
All right, this was a systemthat was used by none other than
Dwight David Eisenhower, the34th president of the United
(07:06):
States and the man who, as afive-star general, served as
supreme commander of alliedforces in Europe in World War II
.
He's the guy that planned theD-Day invasion.
He did a lot of amazing thingsin his life.
He was a pretty impressive dudeand he did not get where he got
in life by being inefficientwith his time.
(07:28):
He had superb time managementskills and the system he had in
place worked brilliantly for him.
Utilizing the Eisenhower matrix,you simply assign your tasks
and activities to one of fourclassifications.
Here they are Important andurgent, important and not urgent
(07:49):
, not important and urgent, notimportant and not urgent.
The first important and urgentshould be obvious.
Those are the things we have toget done Right now.
They're really critical.
We got to get them done Now.
Important and non-urgent aretasks that need to get done, but
(08:10):
not necessarily today or in theimmediate future.
There are things or projects wegot to do, but there's not a
deadline of three days from now.
We have time to get them done,but they're still really
important.
Non-important and urgent aretasks that you should delegate
and, by the way, learning todelegate is a key factor in
successful time management.
(08:30):
This is knowing what to give toother people or to technology
to do for you Delegate.
As for the final category notimportant and not urgent these
are things that should just beditched, just delete them, just
get rid of them.
And not urgent these are thingsthat should just be ditched,
just delete them, just get ridof them.
These hamper your time andcloud your focus.
Just get rid of them.
Now, I believe these fourcategories create a perfect
(08:51):
basis for your daily and generalto-do lists, but here's how I
do it.
I do it slightly different, butthe same kind of idea.
Okay, I keep three separatelists One that I write out every
night for the next day.
I plan the next day every night.
One that's a list of thingsthat I'd like to get done soon,
(09:12):
but that are mostly simpler,low-value tasks.
And I keep a third list that ismore general things I need to
get done, some of which could behigh-value tasks or more
involved projects, but thatdon't need to be done in the
immediate future.
For the record, I'm changingthese lists often, I'm always
updating them, I read them allthe time, and I keep updating
(09:34):
and adapting them and changingthem around, so none of this is
set in stone.
Every night, at some pointduring the evening, I plan out
my next day.
Now I don't use a planner or atemplate for this, but there are
certainly plenty of those outthere.
If you wish For me, I just usea legal pad.
(09:56):
Or these days, I use an e-inknotebook with a legal pad
template.
Each space on that padrepresents a half an hour, and
so I will estimate how much timeeach task takes and put it down
accordingly.
So, say, a task might take anhour and a half.
I'll write the task on thefirst line and then an arrow
through the next two, and onething I make sure to always do
(10:19):
is I always overestimate thetime a task will take, at least
by a little.
I want to create buffers in myschedule for unexpected things
that come up and, frankly, somebrain breaks.
What I mean by that is if it'ssomething where if I bust my
butt will only take me 40minutes.
I'll plan a full hour.
All right, that way, if Ifinish early, I either have more
(10:41):
free time or more time to getside tasks done, or I'll just
keep going down my list and geteverything.
I either have more free time ormore time to get side tasks
done.
No-transcript.
Now, on a second page I keep mygeneral to-do list.
This is on a separate page.
These are the things I need toget done, but that don't need to
be done immediately.
(11:01):
I can add those things to mydaily list as time permits and
going forward.
But back to the first page, theone where I list my daily tasks
.
On this page I also make a thincolumn on the right, the
right-hand side of the page.
That column lists simpler,low-value tasks and things that
(11:22):
I need to do sooner rather thanlater.
Now, the reason I do this inthis way is so that if free time
opens up during my day, I justglance over and choose something
I can get done in that freetime.
But also seeing that on thepage all the time keeps me on
track with all those smaller yetannoying, time-consuming tasks
that can get in the way ofaccomplishing bigger goals.
(11:43):
If I procrastinate too much,they're not going to get done.
So having them on the pagewhere I can see it all the time
helps me not procrastinate, andI will also include on that side
list important things that Ineed to get done in the very
near future, you know, likesomething that needs to be done
in the following week, forinstance.
I also have to say that thishas been a long process of
(12:05):
experimentation for me.
I can see, because I make theselists.
I can see at the end of eachday what was checked off and
what didn't get done, what wascompleted and what I didn't have
enough time allocated for.
This allows me to constantlyreevaluate my approach, and
that's really important in allof this.
This system has really kept meon track and it forces me to
(12:28):
really think about it every day.
By doing it this way, I takenothing for granted.
I don't trust my brain toremember.
I write everything down.
My brain to remember, I writeeverything down and I mean
everything.
I hope this gives you a fewideas about how to improve your
list-making system.
We're going to take a quickbreak and when we come back
(12:48):
we're going to talk aboutseveral other techniques for
improving your time management,for improving your time
management, feeling overwhelmed,struggling to find balance in
your daily life?
Speaker 2 (13:04):
At Matt Brooks Coaching, we get it and we can
help.
With over 25 years of nonprofitexecutive experience and an MSW
with a clinical focus, mattBrooks offers personalized
coaching designed to help yourise above your challenges and
live your best life.
Whether you aim to advance yourcareer, enhance your skills or
simply find more clarity andpeace, matt is here to be your
(13:28):
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Visit mattbrookscoachingcom tobook your free discovery session
today.
Take the first step towards abrighter tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Okay.
So the next thing in terms ofdeveloping great time management
skills is something that Ithink can actually be really fun
.
I call it declutter and prune.
Right, this goes to the fourthpart of the Eisenhower matrix,
the part where not important andnot urgent tasks are things
(14:03):
that should just be ditched ordeleted.
Okay, now, when looking atvarious things you've got on
your to-do list, ask yourself isthis vital?
If not, it might be somethingthat you can just forget about.
Right?
I mean, there are non-vitalthings that do need to get done.
But try to prune away themetaphorical dead branches on
(14:24):
your to-do list.
Get them out of your way.
They're just cluttering up yourbrain and they're going to
clutter up your time.
So declutter them, just likeyou would say, you know,
declutter a closet of oldclothes.
Free up some space.
Another thing you can do iscreate and this is also really
important, I think create anefficient workspace and an
efficient set of systems, yourworkspace.
(14:47):
Think about what your workspaceis like.
All right, it's got to be aplace that's designed to put you
in the right headspace for youto fully succeed, but it also
needs to be rid of distractions.
Get rid of unnecessarydistractions.
Make that space about focus.
Clean off your desk and set itup in a way that works best for
you.
Make the space itself a placethat inspires you to be
(15:12):
productive.
Also, make sure that yourscheduling, your filing, your
organizational systems are allefficient and automate whatever
you can.
The less your brain needs tothink about the better, the less
you'll forget and the lessyou'll be tempted to put off
things to another time.
You know we're living now in atime of technology.
(15:35):
That's just astounding.
I mean, there's so much outthere that will automate our
tasks for us, that will simplifyour life.
These are things we shouldthink about.
I mean, in my own practice, forinstance, I do several things
that are automated.
Okay, a simple one is automatedappointment reminders.
Somebody has an appointmentwith me.
They're going to get an email aday before that, 24 hours
(15:57):
before that appointment.
That's automated.
I don't have to think about it.
If someone makes an appointmentwith me, I also have Zoom
integrated into my practicesoftware so that the minute an
appointment is made, it'llimmediately generate a Zoom
meeting.
I don't even have to thinkabout that.
I don't have to do anything, Ican just let it go.
My brain doesn't need to beweighed down by all that stuff.
(16:22):
So, you know, use thetechnology that we have today to
automate as much as you can inyour systems.
You're going to be grateful youdid.
Another thing, if possible, isminimize, if not eradicate,
distractions that come from yourdevices your phone, your iPad,
your computer.
Man, those devices can bedevious this way.
They are designed to distractus, they are designed to draw
(16:43):
our attention to them.
But if we're going to beproductive, you got to find ways
to not, you know, be tempted.
Okay.
So where do we find those ways?
Primarily for me is innotifications.
Do we find those ways?
Primarily for me, is innotifications.
I literally don't allow soundsor banners into my life at all,
with the exception of a coupleof things.
(17:03):
So you know, I have a bannerthat'll flash across if it's my
ring doorbell, if it's a textmessage, but otherwise I will
set so for my emails, forinstance, instead of having a
banner come across the top of myscreen every time an email
comes in, I just have the badgesset up.
I use Apple products, so I havethe badges set up, so I'll
(17:24):
notice a little red circle on myemail icon that tells me I have
emails.
I can check that later, but Idon't have things popping on my
screen.
I try to just get rid ofanything that's just going to
pop up at any moment on myscreen.
In fact, it's one of thereasons I purchased an E-Ink
notebook.
The one I have is the Remarkable2, and I'm real excited because
(17:46):
I have the Remarkable Paper Procoming on the way, but this is
a device where I can emailthings out, but nothing can come
in unless I decide to uploadsomething to it or download
something on it, so nothingdistracts me.
There's no notifications.
It really is what they marketit as, as a thinking device.
So it's perfect for me becauseit just gets me away from
(18:07):
anything that's going todistract me, all right.
More over than just that,though, you got to set some
boundaries with these devices.
You got to limit the time youspend checking emails and
messages and social media I'mtalking about.
If you're going to beproductive, you just got to do
this, all right.
So one good approach to this isto set specific times during
(18:27):
the day for checking emails orchecking your messages or
checking your social media.
I know this is really hard toactually pull off, but at least,
if you can be aware of notletting those distractions into
your life.
If you can somehow push themaway, you're going to do better.
They're going to rob you ofyour time and your focus.
(18:48):
As I tell my son, it's amachine, not a person.
Don't allow it to control you.
You control it All right.
Next up, I want to talk a littlebit about buffers and brakes.
This is being ready for shit togo wrong.
It's that simple.
That's why we need buffers andbrakes.
Okay, first, use yourunscheduled downtime.
(19:10):
What do I mean by thatUnscheduled downtime?
Well, things happen that willforce you to be sitting around
waiting or not able to use yourtime the way you would like to.
And this is one of the reasons,by the way, I love cloud
services because everything Ineed is on my phone or my iPad
(19:31):
or my laptop everything.
So if I have unscheduleddowntime and I have one of those
devices with me, I can stillget stuff done, all right.
This is for those times whereyou are kind of held hostage by
a situation that you did notprepare for.
You know, you get a call fromthe school, your kid's sick, you
got to go pick him up and takehim to the doctor's office and
(19:52):
you're sitting in a waiting roomwasting time in your day.
You're not wasting it becauseyou're taking care of your kid,
of course, but you're not beingproductive at your desk.
You can still get a few thingsdone while you're sitting in
that waiting room If you have adevice with you that has a cloud
service.
And there's other ways to dothat too if you just keep things
in a briefcase that you can tagalong with you.
But it's why I love the cloudservices.
(20:15):
Okay, let's say, your basementfloods and you need to stay home
for the day, but you spend mostof that day just sitting around
waiting for the insurancecompany to show up or for the
workers to finish the workthey're doing.
You're literally held hostage.
You have to be there, butyou're not at your desk.
You can still get a lot done.
So you know, make the most ofthat unscheduled downtime
(20:38):
whenever it happens.
Okay, put things in yourmetaphorical bag of tricks that
you can get done during thesetimes instead of just wasting
valuable time, okay.
Next tip schedule in breaks foryour day.
Don't overschedule yourself.
This is a common mistake.
Our eyes are too big for ourstomachs when we think about
(21:02):
time management.
Don't overschedule, purposelyschedule in breaks.
You need to have periods ofrest to recharge your brain.
Plan for these, okay.
If you're not giving yourselfenough time to recharge your
brain, plan for these, okay.
If you're not giving yourselfenough time to recharge your
brain, that's a recipe forfailure and a recipe for stress.
Now, there's several techniquesout there that can help you with
(21:22):
this.
One of them that I really likeis something called the Pomodoro
technique.
Okay, this is basically you'resetting up your day, uh, in 25
minute chunks.
So you work for 25 minutes,then you that's uninterrupted,
then you take a five minutebreak and then, I think, after
(21:43):
you do that for a couple ofhours I can't remember off the
top of my head but then you takea 30 minute break.
So it's a system that designsbreaks in your day for you.
You may not like that system,but read about it and take from
that the concept and adapt it toyour own set of circumstances,
your own way of doing things.
Okay, also helpful for whencircumstances arise that are
(22:06):
unavoidable are these settingtimes for breaks Because, like I
said earlier, if you have extratime built into your day, you
might have time to handle someof these unexpected things
without it causing a realdisruption to you.
All right, most circumstancesthat interrupt our days are not
major events.
They're minor ones, right?
So if you've given yourself alittle wiggle room in your
(22:27):
schedule, you'll typically havetime to deal with those
unavoidable circumstanceswithout it causing, you know, a
real problem for your overallproductivity.
But don't con yourself intothinking you're a superhero man.
Schedule those breaks again.
Be kind to yourself, right.
Think.
Think about this from an honestperspective.
(22:49):
Don't don't set your sights toohigh so that they're
unachievable.
All that's going to do is makeyou feel terrible about yourself
and cause more stress, and thisis not going to help.
All right.
So set some brakes, berealistic, all right.
Another thing that's reallyimportant about being effective
here in time management is notworrying about perfection.
(23:10):
This is common.
You'll read about this inanything you read about time
management or most things.
Perfectionism is just going toweigh you down.
You're going to end up beinguber focused on something and,
before you know it, hours havegone by when you really needed
those hours to get other thingsdone.
Perfection boy, that's hard toachieve, so I wouldn't be too
(23:30):
focused on that.
Keep moving forward.
That's what you should befocused on, if you ask me.
One last item that relates toall this that I think we should
add here is free time.
What happens when you suddenlyhave free time?
I know that doesn't happen thatoften, but what happens when
you get ahead of your scheduleand you suddenly have free time?
(23:51):
What do you do with that time?
Do you just, you know, chill?
Do you do nothing?
Do you just lie on the couchand watch TV?
What do you do with that time?
Now, sometimes that lying onthe couch and watching TV is
really important.
You need that rest.
But for me, more often than not,when I have free time like that
, I like to look at my schedulefor the upcoming.
(24:12):
I might look three months downthe road and see what's coming
up, and I might use some of thatfree time to work on something
that I don't have to completefor a couple of months.
So in my old line of work Iwould give speeches and lectures
a lot, right.
So if I had a free afternoon inSeptember and I'm looking at my
calendar and I see that inDecember I've got to give a
(24:33):
speech, I might take some ofthat free time and start working
on that speech.
Get some of it done.
I'm not talking about writingthe speech that day, but I might
do some research or I mightgather information, or I might
sketch out what I'm going to do,work out a few things.
That's what I like to do,because what's great about doing
it that way, what's great aboututilizing free time to sort of
(24:56):
do advanced work for your life,is that at some point you're
going to get ahead of yourself,and when you get ahead of
yourself, you know what happens.
You have a lot more free time.
You're on the golf course more,which is what I was doing.
So you get ahead if you usethat free time.
Don't let free time completelygo to waste.
If you're going to just chillout or if you're going to waste
(25:17):
that free time, make sure it's aconscious decision.
Think it through, because thattime could really be valuable in
the long run.
All right, the last area I wantto talk about in terms of time
management is stress and yourhealth.
Okay, if you're looking toimprove your time management,
productivity in general, wecan't avoid talking about
(25:38):
physical health, diet, stressmanagement.
I know you don't want to hearit.
We hear it all the time but,frankly, to be efficient, you
need your brain and your body tobe efficient.
You need energy to focus.
You need this stuff.
So you already know this.
But you can boost your energylevels with a healthy diet and
exercise.
Okay, if nothing else, you'llfind you'll sleep better, and
(26:02):
that alone makes a hugedifference, because I'm sure
you're like me If, say, you hada night where something woke you
up in the middle of the night,you couldn't get back to sleep,
you didn't get adequate sleep.
You're a mess the next day.
You're not really effective atanything.
So, eat right, exercise.
These things go a long way in,at the very least, managing
stress.
(26:22):
All right, and we're going tohave stress.
We already know that Stress isa part of our lives.
My question is how debilitatingis that stress for you?
What is the effect on not justyour productivity but your
relationships at work and home?
I'm going to do some episodeson stress management in the near
future, but for now, pleasejust pay attention to your
stress levels and seek help ifit's becoming a hindrance to you
(26:46):
.
It's amazing how many thingsstress will affect.
Keep an eye out for it and dowhat you can to minimize it.
Part of doing what you can isto eat a good diet, regularly
exercise.
Those are powerful tools formanaging stress.
Be good to yourself and you'llbe surprised with the results.
My final thought for the day isif you're really committed to
(27:07):
improving your time managementskills, what I've shared here,
along with many other tools thatyou can find on the internet,
should be a huge help to you.
However, at the end of the day,you're going to have to
challenge yourself to bedisciplined.
You won't always fully succeedat this, and remember when that
happens, be sure to giveyourself some grace.
If you listen to my series onhabits, I was talking about what
(27:32):
happens if you fall off a habitfor a day.
It's okay, it's no big deal.
One day is a blip, but missingtwo days in a row is the start
of a new habit.
So you know what?
Just allow yourself the abilityto screw up, but you have to
accept the fact that you'regoing to need discipline.
You won't always nail it, butin time and with discipline and
(27:53):
willpower, you will experiencetremendous growth.
You will become more effectiveat time management and guess
what you will find?
You have more free time, whichwill all lead to a healthier and
happier work-life balance, anddon't we all want that we do.
All right, well, that's all fortoday.
Thanks for listening.
I really appreciate you beinghere.
(28:15):
All right, well, that's all fortoday.
Thanks for listening.
I really appreciate you beinghere.
If you enjoyed it, please hitthe subscribe button or the
follow button so you'll knowwhen my next episode drops.
For now, be well, and I'llcatch you next time on the
Barrier Busting Podcast.
Thank you.
Are you feeling stuck ?
Is something holding you back?
Are there obstacles in your way?
Well, let's smash through thoseobstacles so that you can live
your best life.
Hi, I'm Matt Brooks, founder ofMatt Brooks Coaching, and I'm
fascinated with how peopleovercome barriers and achieve
success.
Join me for insights,strategies and inspiring stories
(00:35):
as we explore practical tipsand powerful tools to unlock
your full potential.
This is the Barrier BustingPodcast.
All right, hello, welcome backeveryone.
(00:58):
I'm Matt Brooks and welcome tothe Barrier Busting Podcast.
This is part two of mydiscussion about time management
skills.
If you listened last week, youheard me discuss this from more
of a philosophical kind ofperspective than a particular
task or practical perspective.
I talked about how importanttime management is, not just for
productivity, but for stressreduction and overall physical
(01:21):
and mental health.
So if you didn't hear thatpodcast, you might want to go
back and check it out.
I also talked about howimportant it is to tailor-make
your own system, that there's alot of information out on the
internet about how to manageyour time, how to create great
systems for time management, butthe fact of the matter is it's
generic information.
It's all good, all stuff thatshould be considered, but that
(01:44):
you really need to tailor, makeit to you.
And how do you do that?
You first have to know yourself.
You have to know your circadianrhythm.
What does your body clock worklike?
When are you energetic and whenare you not energetic?
What's the best time of day foryou to get the most high value
tasks done and what's the worsttime of day to do that?
(02:05):
So I recommended doing anenergy audit and a time audit,
both things you can learn aboutif you didn't hear last week's
episode by going back andchecking it out.
They're both really importantin terms of helping you figure
out how to use your time best.
I also talked about notdiscrediting low-value tasks.
We often do that.
(02:25):
We think about the tasks thatare really important to us, the
ones that will really bring usthe most value, but it's those
low-value tasks that can reallyget in the way if we let them
build up over time.
So that's something I thinkwe've got to think about when
we're trying to think about howto be the most productive, when
to get those low-value tasksdone, so that they're out of the
(02:47):
way, they don't build up andcreate more problems for us
going forward.
Low-value tasks, just to beclear are those things you look
at, and when you look at them,you say, oh, that can wait, that
can wait, that's a low-valuetask.
All right, these can be thingsboth at home and at work, okay,
so emails that you need torespond to, but aren't really
(03:08):
that important.
Or, you know, washing thecurtains in your bedroom or
something that's going to take alittle bit of time, that's not
really that important, but thatyou know, if you let things like
that build up, you're going tohave a problem.
So I suggested do those thingsduring your low energy periods
or on your off days, days wherenothing's working, and we all
(03:30):
have days like that too.
So let's pick it up from thereand continue with some more
methods for improving your timemanagement skills.
The first thing I want to talkabout is your systems.
This is really important.
What your systems are, are theysound, are they in place, are
they good?
Are they solid right Now?
In one of my prior podcasts, Iwas talking about habits and I
(03:53):
quoted James Clear, who wrote abook called Atomic Habits, by
saying, quote we don't rise toour goals, we fall to our
systems.
It's our systems that are thesupport we need to succeed at
anything but, in particular,time management, and by systems
I mean not just what systems arein place for completing our
(04:14):
tasks, but what our system oftime management is itself.
This part speaks to somethingknown as ego depletion theory.
I know I'm getting heavy withthe theories again.
Ego depletion theory, okay, butwhat that is is.
It states that self-control orwillpower draws upon conscious
(04:34):
mental resources that can betaxed to exhaustion when in
constant use with no reprieve.
That's what ego depletiontheory is okay.
And just like our basal ganglia, that part of our brain that
records our behaviors and makesthem automatic, so that our
brain is not overloaded, we needsystems in place to fend off
(04:54):
mental exhaustion.
If we rely on our willpoweralone, we will most undoubtedly
fail because our mental reserveswill quickly be used up and our
brains are just going to shutdown from exhaustion.
This is precisely why systemsare so important.
So here's some practical tipsto improve our systems and
improve how productive we arewith our time.
(05:16):
Thing number one, which is, Ithink, the most critical, is
lists Making lists, becomingreally good at making lists, if
you ask me.
It's all about this.
Lists keep us focused anddriven and they make us think If
you don't write it down and ina way that makes sense, it ain't
(05:38):
going to happen.
It's just not going to happen,or at least it won't happen in
any kind of efficient manner.
Just not going to happen, or atleast it won't happen in any
kind of efficient manner.
I have spent decadesexperimenting with list making
and I continue to adapt andimprove it, although I gotta say
I think I do have it finallydown pretty good To me.
I look at list making as an artform.
It takes both creativity andpractice.
(06:01):
A comedian, a famous comedian,for instance, will spend months,
months if not years, working onjust a couple minutes of
material until it's perfected.
They play small clubs to workthose things out, and they do
this for a long time before theymake their HBO stand-up special
.
I like to take the sameapproach to my lists Now.
(06:22):
List making is also aboutdeciding on priorities, and not
just high priorities, but whereall your tasks rank, because I
said in my last episode, thoselow value tasks should not be
ignored.
So you need to decide whatneeds to be done now, what can
wait and what is a completewaste of your time and should
(06:44):
just simply be forgotten or justdiscarded.
Now there's a great system forthis.
If you need help figuring thisout, it's called the Eisenhower
Matrix.
You can check this out online.
Just Google it, it'll pop rightup.
But it's great.
And there's other systems too,but I like this one the most.
All right, this was a systemthat was used by none other than
Dwight David Eisenhower, the34th president of the United
(07:06):
States and the man who, as afive-star general, served as
supreme commander of alliedforces in Europe in World War II
.
He's the guy that planned theD-Day invasion.
He did a lot of amazing thingsin his life.
He was a pretty impressive dudeand he did not get where he got
in life by being inefficientwith his time.
(07:28):
He had superb time managementskills and the system he had in
place worked brilliantly for him.
Utilizing the Eisenhower matrix,you simply assign your tasks
and activities to one of fourclassifications.
Here they are Important andurgent, important and not urgent
(07:49):
, not important and urgent, notimportant and not urgent.
The first important and urgentshould be obvious.
Those are the things we have toget done Right now.
They're really critical.
We got to get them done Now.
Important and non-urgent aretasks that need to get done, but
(08:10):
not necessarily today or in theimmediate future.
There are things or projects wegot to do, but there's not a
deadline of three days from now.
We have time to get them done,but they're still really
important.
Non-important and urgent aretasks that you should delegate
and, by the way, learning todelegate is a key factor in
successful time management.
(08:30):
This is knowing what to give toother people or to technology
to do for you Delegate.
As for the final category notimportant and not urgent these
are things that should just beditched, just delete them, just
get rid of them.
And not urgent these are thingsthat should just be ditched,
just delete them, just get ridof them.
These hamper your time andcloud your focus.
Just get rid of them.
Now, I believe these fourcategories create a perfect
(08:51):
basis for your daily and generalto-do lists, but here's how I
do it.
I do it slightly different, butthe same kind of idea.
Okay, I keep three separatelists One that I write out every
night for the next day.
I plan the next day every night.
One that's a list of thingsthat I'd like to get done soon,
(09:12):
but that are mostly simpler,low-value tasks.
And I keep a third list that ismore general things I need to
get done, some of which could behigh-value tasks or more
involved projects, but thatdon't need to be done in the
immediate future.
For the record, I'm changingthese lists often, I'm always
updating them, I read them allthe time, and I keep updating
(09:34):
and adapting them and changingthem around, so none of this is
set in stone.
Every night, at some pointduring the evening, I plan out
my next day.
Now I don't use a planner or atemplate for this, but there are
certainly plenty of those outthere.
If you wish For me, I just usea legal pad.
(09:56):
Or these days, I use an e-inknotebook with a legal pad
template.
Each space on that padrepresents a half an hour, and
so I will estimate how much timeeach task takes and put it down
accordingly.
So, say, a task might take anhour and a half.
I'll write the task on thefirst line and then an arrow
through the next two, and onething I make sure to always do
(10:19):
is I always overestimate thetime a task will take, at least
by a little.
I want to create buffers in myschedule for unexpected things
that come up and, frankly, somebrain breaks.
What I mean by that is if it'ssomething where if I bust my
butt will only take me 40minutes.
I'll plan a full hour.
All right, that way, if Ifinish early, I either have more
(10:41):
free time or more time to getside tasks done, or I'll just
keep going down my list and geteverything.
I either have more free time ormore time to get side tasks
done.
No-transcript.
Now, on a second page I keep mygeneral to-do list.
This is on a separate page.
These are the things I need toget done, but that don't need to
be done immediately.
(11:01):
I can add those things to mydaily list as time permits and
going forward.
But back to the first page, theone where I list my daily tasks
.
On this page I also make a thincolumn on the right, the
right-hand side of the page.
That column lists simpler,low-value tasks and things that
(11:22):
I need to do sooner rather thanlater.
Now, the reason I do this inthis way is so that if free time
opens up during my day, I justglance over and choose something
I can get done in that freetime.
But also seeing that on thepage all the time keeps me on
track with all those smaller yetannoying, time-consuming tasks
that can get in the way ofaccomplishing bigger goals.
(11:43):
If I procrastinate too much,they're not going to get done.
So having them on the pagewhere I can see it all the time
helps me not procrastinate, andI will also include on that side
list important things that Ineed to get done in the very
near future, you know, likesomething that needs to be done
in the following week, forinstance.
I also have to say that thishas been a long process of
(12:05):
experimentation for me.
I can see, because I make theselists.
I can see at the end of eachday what was checked off and
what didn't get done, what wascompleted and what I didn't have
enough time allocated for.
This allows me to constantlyreevaluate my approach, and
that's really important in allof this.
This system has really kept meon track and it forces me to
(12:28):
really think about it every day.
By doing it this way, I takenothing for granted.
I don't trust my brain toremember.
I write everything down.
My brain to remember, I writeeverything down and I mean
everything.
I hope this gives you a fewideas about how to improve your
list-making system.
We're going to take a quickbreak and when we come back
(12:48):
we're going to talk aboutseveral other techniques for
improving your time management,for improving your time
management, feeling overwhelmed,struggling to find balance in
your daily life?
Speaker 2 (13:04):
At Matt Brooks Coaching, we get it and we can
help.
With over 25 years of nonprofitexecutive experience and an MSW
with a clinical focus, mattBrooks offers personalized
coaching designed to help yourise above your challenges and
live your best life.
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simply find more clarity andpeace, matt is here to be your
(13:28):
partner and ally.
Visit mattbrookscoachingcom tobook your free discovery session
today.
Take the first step towards abrighter tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Okay.
So the next thing in terms ofdeveloping great time management
skills is something that Ithink can actually be really fun
.
I call it declutter and prune.
Right, this goes to the fourthpart of the Eisenhower matrix,
the part where not important andnot urgent tasks are things
(14:03):
that should just be ditched ordeleted.
Okay, now, when looking atvarious things you've got on
your to-do list, ask yourself isthis vital?
If not, it might be somethingthat you can just forget about.
Right?
I mean, there are non-vitalthings that do need to get done.
But try to prune away themetaphorical dead branches on
(14:24):
your to-do list.
Get them out of your way.
They're just cluttering up yourbrain and they're going to
clutter up your time.
So declutter them, just likeyou would say, you know,
declutter a closet of oldclothes.
Free up some space.
Another thing you can do iscreate and this is also really
important, I think create anefficient workspace and an
efficient set of systems, yourworkspace.
(14:47):
Think about what your workspaceis like.
All right, it's got to be aplace that's designed to put you
in the right headspace for youto fully succeed, but it also
needs to be rid of distractions.
Get rid of unnecessarydistractions.
Make that space about focus.
Clean off your desk and set itup in a way that works best for
you.
Make the space itself a placethat inspires you to be
(15:12):
productive.
Also, make sure that yourscheduling, your filing, your
organizational systems are allefficient and automate whatever
you can.
The less your brain needs tothink about the better, the less
you'll forget and the lessyou'll be tempted to put off
things to another time.
You know we're living now in atime of technology.
(15:35):
That's just astounding.
I mean, there's so much outthere that will automate our
tasks for us, that will simplifyour life.
These are things we shouldthink about.
I mean, in my own practice, forinstance, I do several things
that are automated.
Okay, a simple one is automatedappointment reminders.
Somebody has an appointmentwith me.
They're going to get an email aday before that, 24 hours
(15:57):
before that appointment.
That's automated.
I don't have to think about it.
If someone makes an appointmentwith me, I also have Zoom
integrated into my practicesoftware so that the minute an
appointment is made, it'llimmediately generate a Zoom
meeting.
I don't even have to thinkabout that.
I don't have to do anything, Ican just let it go.
My brain doesn't need to beweighed down by all that stuff.
(16:22):
So, you know, use thetechnology that we have today to
automate as much as you can inyour systems.
You're going to be grateful youdid.
Another thing, if possible, isminimize, if not eradicate,
distractions that come from yourdevices your phone, your iPad,
your computer.
Man, those devices can bedevious this way.
They are designed to distractus, they are designed to draw
(16:43):
our attention to them.
But if we're going to beproductive, you got to find ways
to not, you know, be tempted.
Okay.
So where do we find those ways?
Primarily for me is innotifications.
Do we find those ways?
Primarily for me, is innotifications.
I literally don't allow soundsor banners into my life at all,
with the exception of a coupleof things.
(17:03):
So you know, I have a bannerthat'll flash across if it's my
ring doorbell, if it's a textmessage, but otherwise I will
set so for my emails, forinstance, instead of having a
banner come across the top of myscreen every time an email
comes in, I just have the badgesset up.
I use Apple products, so I havethe badges set up, so I'll
(17:24):
notice a little red circle on myemail icon that tells me I have
emails.
I can check that later, but Idon't have things popping on my
screen.
I try to just get rid ofanything that's just going to
pop up at any moment on myscreen.
In fact, it's one of thereasons I purchased an E-Ink
notebook.
The one I have is the Remarkable2, and I'm real excited because
(17:46):
I have the Remarkable Paper Procoming on the way, but this is
a device where I can emailthings out, but nothing can come
in unless I decide to uploadsomething to it or download
something on it, so nothingdistracts me.
There's no notifications.
It really is what they marketit as, as a thinking device.
So it's perfect for me becauseit just gets me away from
(18:07):
anything that's going todistract me, all right.
More over than just that,though, you got to set some
boundaries with these devices.
You got to limit the time youspend checking emails and
messages and social media I'mtalking about.
If you're going to beproductive, you just got to do
this, all right.
So one good approach to this isto set specific times during
(18:27):
the day for checking emails orchecking your messages or
checking your social media.
I know this is really hard toactually pull off, but at least,
if you can be aware of notletting those distractions into
your life.
If you can somehow push themaway, you're going to do better.
They're going to rob you ofyour time and your focus.
(18:48):
As I tell my son, it's amachine, not a person.
Don't allow it to control you.
You control it All right.
Next up, I want to talk a littlebit about buffers and brakes.
This is being ready for shit togo wrong.
It's that simple.
That's why we need buffers andbrakes.
Okay, first, use yourunscheduled downtime.
(19:10):
What do I mean by thatUnscheduled downtime?
Well, things happen that willforce you to be sitting around
waiting or not able to use yourtime the way you would like to.
And this is one of the reasons,by the way, I love cloud
services because everything Ineed is on my phone or my iPad
(19:31):
or my laptop everything.
So if I have unscheduleddowntime and I have one of those
devices with me, I can stillget stuff done, all right.
This is for those times whereyou are kind of held hostage by
a situation that you did notprepare for.
You know, you get a call fromthe school, your kid's sick, you
got to go pick him up and takehim to the doctor's office and
(19:52):
you're sitting in a waiting roomwasting time in your day.
You're not wasting it becauseyou're taking care of your kid,
of course, but you're not beingproductive at your desk.
You can still get a few thingsdone while you're sitting in
that waiting room If you have adevice with you that has a cloud
service.
And there's other ways to dothat too if you just keep things
in a briefcase that you can tagalong with you.
But it's why I love the cloudservices.
(20:15):
Okay, let's say, your basementfloods and you need to stay home
for the day, but you spend mostof that day just sitting around
waiting for the insurancecompany to show up or for the
workers to finish the workthey're doing.
You're literally held hostage.
You have to be there, butyou're not at your desk.
You can still get a lot done.
So you know, make the most ofthat unscheduled downtime
(20:38):
whenever it happens.
Okay, put things in yourmetaphorical bag of tricks that
you can get done during thesetimes instead of just wasting
valuable time, okay.
Next tip schedule in breaks foryour day.
Don't overschedule yourself.
This is a common mistake.
Our eyes are too big for ourstomachs when we think about
(21:02):
time management.
Don't overschedule, purposelyschedule in breaks.
You need to have periods ofrest to recharge your brain.
Plan for these, okay.
If you're not giving yourselfenough time to recharge your
brain, plan for these, okay.
If you're not giving yourselfenough time to recharge your
brain, that's a recipe forfailure and a recipe for stress.
Now, there's several techniquesout there that can help you with
(21:22):
this.
One of them that I really likeis something called the Pomodoro
technique.
Okay, this is basically you'resetting up your day, uh, in 25
minute chunks.
So you work for 25 minutes,then you that's uninterrupted,
then you take a five minutebreak and then, I think, after
(21:43):
you do that for a couple ofhours I can't remember off the
top of my head but then you takea 30 minute break.
So it's a system that designsbreaks in your day for you.
You may not like that system,but read about it and take from
that the concept and adapt it toyour own set of circumstances,
your own way of doing things.
Okay, also helpful for whencircumstances arise that are
(22:06):
unavoidable are these settingtimes for breaks Because, like I
said earlier, if you have extratime built into your day, you
might have time to handle someof these unexpected things
without it causing a realdisruption to you.
All right, most circumstancesthat interrupt our days are not
major events.
They're minor ones, right?
So if you've given yourself alittle wiggle room in your
(22:27):
schedule, you'll typically havetime to deal with those
unavoidable circumstanceswithout it causing, you know, a
real problem for your overallproductivity.
But don't con yourself intothinking you're a superhero man.
Schedule those breaks again.
Be kind to yourself, right.
Think.
Think about this from an honestperspective.
(22:49):
Don't don't set your sights toohigh so that they're
unachievable.
All that's going to do is makeyou feel terrible about yourself
and cause more stress, and thisis not going to help.
All right.
So set some brakes, berealistic, all right.
Another thing that's reallyimportant about being effective
here in time management is notworrying about perfection.
(23:10):
This is common.
You'll read about this inanything you read about time
management or most things.
Perfectionism is just going toweigh you down.
You're going to end up beinguber focused on something and,
before you know it, hours havegone by when you really needed
those hours to get other thingsdone.
Perfection boy, that's hard toachieve, so I wouldn't be too
(23:30):
focused on that.
Keep moving forward.
That's what you should befocused on, if you ask me.
One last item that relates toall this that I think we should
add here is free time.
What happens when you suddenlyhave free time?
I know that doesn't happen thatoften, but what happens when
you get ahead of your scheduleand you suddenly have free time?
(23:51):
What do you do with that time?
Do you just, you know, chill?
Do you do nothing?
Do you just lie on the couchand watch TV?
What do you do with that time?
Now, sometimes that lying onthe couch and watching TV is
really important.
You need that rest.
But for me, more often than not,when I have free time like that
, I like to look at my schedulefor the upcoming.
(24:12):
I might look three months downthe road and see what's coming
up, and I might use some of thatfree time to work on something
that I don't have to completefor a couple of months.
So in my old line of work Iwould give speeches and lectures
a lot, right.
So if I had a free afternoon inSeptember and I'm looking at my
calendar and I see that inDecember I've got to give a
(24:33):
speech, I might take some ofthat free time and start working
on that speech.
Get some of it done.
I'm not talking about writingthe speech that day, but I might
do some research or I mightgather information, or I might
sketch out what I'm going to do,work out a few things.
That's what I like to do,because what's great about doing
it that way, what's great aboututilizing free time to sort of
(24:56):
do advanced work for your life,is that at some point you're
going to get ahead of yourself,and when you get ahead of
yourself, you know what happens.
You have a lot more free time.
You're on the golf course more,which is what I was doing.
So you get ahead if you usethat free time.
Don't let free time completelygo to waste.
If you're going to just chillout or if you're going to waste
(25:17):
that free time, make sure it's aconscious decision.
Think it through, because thattime could really be valuable in
the long run.
All right, the last area I wantto talk about in terms of time
management is stress and yourhealth.
Okay, if you're looking toimprove your time management,
productivity in general, wecan't avoid talking about
(25:38):
physical health, diet, stressmanagement.
I know you don't want to hearit.
We hear it all the time but,frankly, to be efficient, you
need your brain and your body tobe efficient.
You need energy to focus.
You need this stuff.
So you already know this.
But you can boost your energylevels with a healthy diet and
exercise.
Okay, if nothing else, you'llfind you'll sleep better, and
(26:02):
that alone makes a hugedifference, because I'm sure
you're like me If, say, you hada night where something woke you
up in the middle of the night,you couldn't get back to sleep,
you didn't get adequate sleep.
You're a mess the next day.
You're not really effective atanything.
So, eat right, exercise.
These things go a long way in,at the very least, managing
stress.
(26:22):
All right, and we're going tohave stress.
We already know that Stress isa part of our lives.
My question is how debilitatingis that stress for you?
What is the effect on not justyour productivity but your
relationships at work and home?
I'm going to do some episodeson stress management in the near
future, but for now, pleasejust pay attention to your
stress levels and seek help ifit's becoming a hindrance to you
(26:46):
.
It's amazing how many thingsstress will affect.
Keep an eye out for it and dowhat you can to minimize it.
Part of doing what you can isto eat a good diet, regularly
exercise.
Those are powerful tools formanaging stress.
Be good to yourself and you'llbe surprised with the results.
My final thought for the day isif you're really committed to
(27:07):
improving your time managementskills, what I've shared here,
along with many other tools thatyou can find on the internet,
should be a huge help to you.
However, at the end of the day,you're going to have to
challenge yourself to bedisciplined.
You won't always fully succeedat this, and remember when that
happens, be sure to giveyourself some grace.
If you listen to my series onhabits, I was talking about what
(27:32):
happens if you fall off a habitfor a day.
It's okay, it's no big deal.
One day is a blip, but missingtwo days in a row is the start
of a new habit.
So you know what?
Just allow yourself the abilityto screw up, but you have to
accept the fact that you'regoing to need discipline.
You won't always nail it, butin time and with discipline and
(27:53):
willpower, you will experiencetremendous growth.
You will become more effectiveat time management and guess
what you will find?
You have more free time, whichwill all lead to a healthier and
happier work-life balance, anddon't we all want that we do.
All right, well, that's all fortoday.
Thanks for listening.
I really appreciate you beinghere.
(28:15):
All right, well, that's all fortoday.
Thanks for listening.
I really appreciate you beinghere.
If you enjoyed it, please hitthe subscribe button or the
follow button so you'll knowwhen my next episode drops.
For now, be well, and I'llcatch you next time on the
Barrier Busting Podcast.
Thank you.
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