Time management for mortals

Notes

These are my notes from following the course Time Management for Mortals, by Oliver Burkeman, on the Waking Up platform. I highly recommend everyone take this course and sign up for the service.

To get you started here is a conversation with Burkeman and Sam Harris in the form of a podcast.

The course is based on Burkeman’s book, Four Thousand Weeks which is a delightful read.

Facing finitude

Finitude means we are all finite, with finite resources. Time is finite, and our lives are finite. We choose how we spend our time.

Escaping the efficiency trap

Productivity hacks, systems, and tricks are not really helpful. The more you get done this way, the more work you create for yourself. The faster you answer an email, the faster the reply comes back. The more you get done, and you are known for getting done, the more will be put on your shoulders. Do have a system and a structure to keep track of things, but don’t do it to try to get MORE things done.

The joy of missing out

As opposed to the fear of missing out, we can find joy in not trying to do ALL the things. Social media gives us endless possibilities of things we could do and places we could be. By making choices, and not exploring all possible paths, we can live a more fulfilling life. It is not about trying to get to the end of a to-do list, it is about enjoying the things we have chosen to do. We will miss out because it is embedded in human nature. We just have to accept that without blaming ourselves for it.

Deciding

We are constantly faced with making decisions. There are decisions in everything we do. Every choice we make, or choose not to make, is a decision in itself. Making decisions drains us, and there are strategies to minimize the number of decisions we have to make. Simplify your world by premaking some decisions, just as Obama had the same color shirts and suits. Being at the split of a road is uncomfortable, and spending part of your life there is not worth it. Once you have chosen a path, there is no telling what that other path might have led you to, so don’t dwell on it. Imagine how much energy you could spend on other things if you did not constantly worry if the decision you made was right. There are few decisions in our life that are completely irreversible.

Limiting your work in progress

Classic tip of productivity — do one thing at a time. Actually — we CAN only do one thing at a time. There is no multitasking, it is just rapidly switching focus. So complete one thing at a time. Create an open list with everything you would ever want to do, a closed list with a WIP limit — say 10 — and only remove things if they are completed (or you won’t do them, or are blocked).

The art of saying no

You will inevitably have to say no to things. We all know this, but it is often portrayed as we have to say no to the boring, hard things. The problem is rather that you will be faced with too many fun and interesting things, and will be forced to choose only a few.

The trick is to say no to the right things. So what is right? Know your goals, and what supports them, and say no to everything else. Things in the midrange. Things that feed the friendship you don’t really care about, the novel or the tv series that you mostly follow out of stubbornness. Instead, prioritize spending time on things that are really valuable to you. Dare to say no. We need to make more decisions, not less. In human nature, we avoid closing off possible paths. That brings us back to productivity hacks of trying to do everything. By daring to say no, and daring to make the decision, we will instead focus our efforts.

Distractions

If it doesn’t puncture your attention, is it really a problem?

Humans are designed to look for distractions. It is a vehicle for us to avoid uncomfortable situations. Conversations we don’t want to have, work we don’t want to do. That makes us turn to distractions. Hence it is not so much about blocking social media or staying away from your phone. We are sure to find other distractions. It is rather about becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable situation. Be aware of when you are in such a situation, be mindful of it, and persist. Take it one step at a time, and focus on finishing the task at hand.

My own thoughts are that it will also help to raise the bar for distractions to happen. Avoid carrying your phone around, turn off notifications. Using single-purpose devices (such as old-fashioned wristwatches) is a great way to avoid being pulled into another distraction. Make it a bit harder to jump on a distraction and find your excuse.

Planning

We don’t own time. We don’t have it, or control it. The only thing we have and control is the current moment. That means no matter how much we want it, no amount of planning will give us complete certainty about the near future. We have to shift the way we view planning. It is nothing but an idea, a stated intention. It is no certainty about a future outcome. We should continue creating our plans and goals, but disconnect them from the belief of a known future, and hold our plans lightly, ready to be changed, altered to fit a new reality.

Not mentioned here, but I like to view plans as bets. Some of these ideas are presented in Annie Duke’s great book Thinking in Bets.

Patience as a superpower

The ability to be patient, and give up efforts of trying to control the speed of reality becomes a superpower. As things speed up we are more and more frustrated that we can do a lot of things ALMOST instantly. The closer we get to instant actions, the more frustrating it gets. We should give up trying to control the speed, and let things take the time they take. There are two suggested approaches:

• Creative waiting. When confronted with a problem — stop. Don’t rush into a solution. Instead wait for it, observe. Spend some time looking at the problem from different angles before getting involved.
• Stop your work. Stopping matters just as much as starting. Resist the temptation to carry on beyond the finish line, or beyond your allotted time. Even if you are on a roll. Discipline yourself to walk away, and train the muscle of patience to return to your work. Again and again.

The done list

A lot of people, especially the ones who care about productivity, suffer from starting the day with debt. The success of the day becomes dependent on the number of things that get crossed off the list. What if we turn that around, and always start the day with zero on the balance? That every single thing we achieve becomes a plus on the account. It is a shift in mindset to see yourself, on a very basic level as an acceptable human being, even if you don’t achieve anything that day. A trick for this is to keep a done list, that keeps growing. If you are struggling, you can start adding the most mundane tasks, like brushing your teeth to this list. Little by little it will grow, and so will the positive balance on your account. By shifting this way, we can choose what things we want to do for other reasons than “we have to”. How about choosing to do things because they are fun instead?

The three-to-four-hour-rule

Distractions are always going to happen. Distractions are life. Don’t overestimate your ability to shield your day from interruptions. They are part of your work. If we got rid of all distractions, we would have no life. Therefore, try to create a limited space without distractions. Three to four hours per day of focused work. Perhaps in chunks, and save the distractions for later. The big challenge is not to get people to leave you alone but rather to stop at the end of the timebox and get back to the world filled with distractions.

Time with others

Traditional time management says to shut others out to be in complete control of your own schedule. Taken to an extreme, this would make you very lonely. Time is more of a network good than a budget good. It gains value when being well coordinated with others. Time is more valuable when someone else has the same free time slot. If you follow very rigid routines, it will make it harder for you to adapt to other people’s schedules. Instead, be open to changing plans, and just going with other people’s suggestions. Also — sign up for something. Join an organization that does something at a specific time, and surrender your individual freedom to a common commitment.

This is it

The paradox is: if you try too hard to use your time well, you will end up using your time very poorly. You will be living for a future moment, and never really be present now. It is the “when I finally” mindset. This is fueled by trying to make the best effort of our time. We have come to treat everything we do as valuable only insofar as it lays the groundwork for something else. To constantly live for the future is like living as we will never die. But we need to realize that the life we live, right here, now, is it. Otherwise, your finite life will come to an end without ever finding meaning. Don’t TRY to be in the moment, just realize that you are already living in the moment. Life happens here and now, no matter how you deal with it. If there are things you want to do with your life, you will have to stop living in the future and do it now. Choose one thing. One thing that really matters to you. And then, actually do it! Today! Even though there are all sorts of other things you should be doing. There is no moment of truth coming in the future when you are in total control. Instead do meaningful things now. Then another, then yet another to build a meaningful life.

Cosmic insignificance therapy

How many lifetimes do you have to go back to significant historical events? 60 people to the dawn of civilization? The life of Jesus? Napoleon. Your own life is completely insignificant in the light of this. No matter what you do with your life it will count for almost nothing. This is liberating. Everything you worry about matters very little on this timescale. Don’t take yourself to be so important. When it comes to your own life, the stakes aren’t that high. No one really cares. So make bold choices and do the things you want to do. What is there to lose? Don’t adopt a meaning in life that is way too big for a finite human. Let go of a definition of meaning that only accounts for the astonishing. Adopt more mundane things. Things you have already done might already be very meaningful. Refuse to define only the remarkable as meaningful. Don’t try to go for something that makes a difference in a cosmic sense, go for things that make a difference in a human sense.

Living in deep time

In medieval times, the abstract concept of time was rarely understood. Life was not moving too fast or too slow, and you were never too busy. Modern life assumes that you are in a relationship with time. Always trying to make the upper hand. In medieval times there was no need for an abstract concept of time, you adapted to nature. Your life and time were the very same thing. You just live your life, experience your experience. Maybe time is not separate from us. Perhaps time is not something we have, but something we ARE. You ARE this very moment. Hence you never have to take responsibility for anything else but this moment. The past and the future are none of your business. We make ourselves miserable trying to do something that is impossible for a finite human. And we miss the things that actually count. Instead, assume there will always be too much to do, you will always miss out. Pour your time and energy into what is possible instead.