I will share the best time management tips that I use to have a work-life balance, although I am working for 4 companies at the moment. I got these tips from my favorite productivity YouTuber named, Ali Abdaal.
We own all of our time.
Once you realize this first step, it will change your “I need more than 24 hours a day” mindset. Ali Abdaal shares a quote that opens my eyes. It says…
At any given moment, you are doing what you most want.
This sentence enlightens me that I’m the one at the sail. I’m the master of my sea. I do everything that I wish to. Earlier this morning, I watched Ted talks on youtube instead of writing new posts and editing my Linkedin profile. I don’t make excuses because bla bla bla, my reason is I don’t want to do that, that’s it.
Like right now, I’m writing this blog post because this is what I want to do. I won’t say I don’t have enough time to edit my Linkedin profile today. Instead, I’m choosing not to make the time to edit my Linkedin profile today.
Fundamentally you are the one who has control of your time. If you don’t have the time to do something, that something it’s just not a priority, which is fine but doesn’t pretend like the reason you’re not doing it is ’cause you genuinely don’t have the time.
Hell yeah or no
There’s a book Titled “Hell Yeah Or No What’s Worth Doing.” by Derek Sivers. When we are younger, we tend to say yes to most things. Sometime we got overwhelmed because these “Yes” habits mainly took all of our weekends. But you know, as we get older and as soon as we get to the point where we’re starting to get more inbound leads, we have time available. We need to begin operating with a hell-yes or no maxim.
When my friend invited me to hang out this weekend, I felt like, “Idk whether I should go or not, but it sounds fun,” my default position was no. But when my other friend invited me to her birthday party and I felt “Hell yes,” I’m gonna do the thing.
If there is a sad part on your mind, even for the smallest amount, you must learn to say no.
The daily highlight
It’s actually a simple concept where you choose one task to be your highlight of the day. This task is the only thing you need to get done by the end of the day. I got random jobs every day, and I can multitask some of them, but by the end of the day, I can’t finish every single job properly. There’s always a revision when I do my old method.
Then I’m starting to pick the most hated activity as my highlight of the day: writing a blog. I will ignore another task until I’m done with my blog post. Because I’m so focused, I tend to write super fast and finish early, so I have more than enough time to work on my other task. And, of course, no revision.
Use to-do list
I’m in a love-and-hate relationship with this point. You will add a stacking activity to your to-do list when you don’t fully understand how a list works. Usually, it’s not an activity you need to do but want to do. You will start to be irrational and put up to 10 movements a day, and yes, you’ll feel guilty when you can’t finish the task. This is not how you do it.
The general principle of productivity is that our brain is for having ideas, not holding them. A big part of why we let stuff slip through the cracks when it comes to managing our time and productivity is ’cause we haven’t written them down.
So, use a to-do list, but be rational and logical about what you write on it.
Time blocking
Apparently, Elon Musk is doing this method, so whenever you need to do something, you put a block in your calendar. But don’t put all of your to-do lists on your calendar. Just put your highlight of the day.
Because you know, when I write down my to-do list on my calendar, I spend more time making it looks neat and pretty than really doing it. So yep, great tips; Combine The daily highlight and time-blocking method, and it will boost your productivity.
Parkinson’s law
Parkinson’s law sounds like “work expands to fill the time that we allocate to it.” For example, today, I dedicated myself to writing this blog post, then I will use my whole day to get this thing done. If my boss gives me 6 hours to write 10 new posts, I can do that too.
So here are the tips from Ali, set your own artificial deadline for a task that doesn’t have an actual deadline. Today, since I hate writing a blog posts so much, I will get things done in 4 hours (including research, writing, and editing), and I blocked 4 hours of my time today to get things done. And that’s an artificial deadline, which means the course will get done.
If you just had it in your mind or on your to-do list without a deadline or schedule, it would never get done.
Protected time
We usually mention it as my time. I wake up at 4 am, take a bath and pray. Right after that, I will do whatever I want until 9 am in the morning. This protected time is actually crucial in time management skills. Especially when you are a CEO or business owner, you can use this time to think clearly without any intervention from any of your tasks of the day.
Delegation
Typically, when you say delegate, people imagine, “Oh, well, I can’t afford to delegate something. “or “I don’t have enough money to hire someone.” And sure, that’s probably true but let’s think of it…
Let’s say your teams’ hourly rate is $25 each, and the task is overloaded 🙂
Assume that you are the game company’s art director; what is the dollar value of each team’s time? How much is their workload? When is the deadline?
You’ll have to consider hiring an outsourcing company to help with your game assets. And this is the ads part; in MOCCA and 4CROWS DIGITAL, we provide 2D and 3D animation outsourcing services. Currently, our work capacity lies around 11-13 minutes/week (full-length animation) and 30 minutes/week (animated character). We are passionate about delivering results as best as possible for our clients.
Automated scheduling
I usually find difficulties when it comes to scheduling zoom calls. I need to go back and forth to my calendar and change it manually. Sometimes I have to reschedule up to 15 zoom calls, which is a lot of work.
But now I use called to automate schedules and reschedule any meeting, and yes, it works like a charm.
The choice to be satisfied
If you are obsessed with productivity or just lazy, you will find the most efficient way to get things done, and voila, your to-do list is made. But despite it, It’s effortless for us to get to the end of the day and to just feel chronically dissatisfied with what we’ve accomplished (Not me, of course).
Some people go like “I finished one report today, but I actually can do 5,” and bla bla bla, but you know what? It’s actually you who decide and have control of yourself and your happiness. Remember, work hard, but don’t burn out. Be realistic and get things done most efficiently.
