1 00:00:00,800 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Ah the to do list. If you hear the word productivity, 2 00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:06,640 Speaker 1: the to do list is probably the first thing that 3 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:11,119 Speaker 1: comes to mind. It's a symbol of organizational ambition, and 4 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 1: it's at the heart of almost all productivity advice in 5 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:17,880 Speaker 1: one way or another. If the goal is to improve 6 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:20,080 Speaker 1: the way we work, then the to do list is 7 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:23,600 Speaker 1: the most important tool in the get But you know 8 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:27,040 Speaker 1: that already, don't you. And you also probably know that 9 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:29,479 Speaker 1: even the best to do list doesn't really work on 10 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:32,720 Speaker 1: its own. You can nail down exactly what the most 11 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: important tasks on your plate are on any given day 12 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:38,280 Speaker 1: and still goes up shop at five point thirty feeling 13 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:41,879 Speaker 1: like you barely made a dent. Nailing the to do 14 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: list is one thing, but how do you nail the execution. 15 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: My name is doctor Amantha Imba. I'm an organizational psychologist 16 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 1: and the founder of behavioral science consultancy invent Him, and 17 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: this is how I work, a show about how to 18 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: help you do your best work. Welcome to your favorite 19 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:10,639 Speaker 1: tips across ten bite size episodes. I'll be sharing tips 20 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:13,959 Speaker 1: from some of the world's best thinkers that you, the listeners, 21 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 1: have found the most useful. We're covering everything from creating 22 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:21,639 Speaker 1: better to do lists to setting more effective boundaries around 23 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 1: your time, and you'll be hearing from people like best 24 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: selling author Sally Hepworth, Corona Cast host and journalist Norman Swan, 25 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:35,200 Speaker 1: and Google's executive productivity advisor Laura may Martin. Today's favorite 26 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 1: tip comes from Trudy, and she writes, I loved hearing 27 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:42,319 Speaker 1: Callen Newport talk about how he uses time blocking and 28 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 1: his weekly system around diary planning. Well, I love this too, Trudy. 29 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:51,400 Speaker 1: This excerpt is back from twenty nineteen when I first 30 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:54,240 Speaker 1: had cal on the show, where he shared his method 31 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:56,400 Speaker 1: for weekly and daily planning. 32 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:00,800 Speaker 2: I'm a big believer in both weekly and daily. I 33 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 2: think you need to spend time to understand the contours 34 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:06,640 Speaker 2: of your week, what's happening on each day, what day 35 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 2: is really crowded, what days have open space, so that 36 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 2: you can start moving things around at that scale and recognize, Hey, 37 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:15,519 Speaker 2: Monday is pretty open. That's probably going to be a 38 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 2: good time to make a lot of progress on this 39 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:19,160 Speaker 2: hard thing, even though that hard thing's not due till Friday. 40 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 2: But you're seeing on the calendar that Wednesday and Thursday 41 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:23,080 Speaker 2: have a lot of meetings, right, and so looking at 42 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 2: the whole week and trying to plan out what's going 43 00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 2: to happen when I think that's important. Believer in time 44 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:32,359 Speaker 2: blocking on a particular day. Give your time a job. 45 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:35,120 Speaker 2: Here's the hours i've available. What am I doing with 46 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 2: this hour? What am I doing with this thirty minutes? 47 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:38,120 Speaker 2: What am I doing with this three hour block? Give 48 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 2: your time a job. As opposed to just approaching your 49 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 2: day with a generic to do list, you're much more 50 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,240 Speaker 2: effective at getting things out of your day if again, 51 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 2: you look at the free hours of the day and 52 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:50,600 Speaker 2: reconfigure them, move them around, and figure out how can 53 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 2: I get the most out of this? And then I 54 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 2: often am a believer in ad hoc systems and rituals 55 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:00,720 Speaker 2: that match what's going on at the time. So if 56 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:02,680 Speaker 2: you have, let's say, a big event coming up, do 57 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 2: you have to do a lot of planning for you 58 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 2: might just say, here's what I'm doing. It's thirty minutes 59 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 2: after launch every single day, thirty minutes every single day 60 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:13,400 Speaker 2: just checking in, moving things, seeing what's going on or whatever. 61 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: Right. 62 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:17,519 Speaker 2: But this idea of having temporary systems that you put 63 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:19,480 Speaker 2: into place to help you make a lot of progress 64 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 2: on important non permanent things in a way that doesn't 65 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,360 Speaker 2: have you just completely an ad hoc looking at a 66 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 2: tasklic type mode. So if you do weekly planning, daily 67 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 2: time blocking, build temporary systems and rituals as needed for 68 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:36,480 Speaker 2: temporary but large obligations, that usually combines to help you 69 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 2: get a pretty effective use of the time available. 70 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 1: And can I ask with time blocking because it's something 71 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 1: I've experimented with myself and I feel like the cognitive 72 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 1: biases that either cause you to overestimate or underestimate how 73 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:53,200 Speaker 1: long something takes, I've found can be my downfall with 74 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 1: time blocking, where let's just say I've completely overestimated how 75 00:03:57,440 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: long something will take, but I set aside three hour. 76 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:01,800 Speaker 1: Is I finished it in an hour and a half, 77 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: and then like what like how does that work. 78 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 2: In your will? Right? Well, I mean I should say 79 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 2: at the bigger point is that one of the nice 80 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:13,080 Speaker 2: things about time blocking is that it's practiced to make 81 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:16,240 Speaker 2: you better at estimating how long things take because there 82 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 2: is some pain to when you get it wrong. It 83 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:21,240 Speaker 2: requires some extra effort and so you have an to 84 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:22,680 Speaker 2: try to get it right, and you get a lot 85 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:26,920 Speaker 2: of feedback, so you see consistently not giving myself enough 86 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:29,599 Speaker 2: time for this type of activity, you get that feedback 87 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:32,840 Speaker 2: or I'm always giving myself too much time, so that 88 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:35,120 Speaker 2: gets better. But then what do you do in the moment, Well, 89 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 2: if you don't give yourself enough time, then you know 90 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:39,880 Speaker 2: if you keep going till you finish what needs to 91 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:41,839 Speaker 2: get done, and then you just adjust your schedule for 92 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:44,640 Speaker 2: the rest of the day, which is fine. And one 93 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:46,800 Speaker 2: of the ways that people get time blocking wrong is 94 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:48,599 Speaker 2: they think that it's a game where you win the 95 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 2: gold medal if you never have to change your schedule. 96 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:53,040 Speaker 2: But there's actually no prize you get for getting your 97 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:56,240 Speaker 2: schedule exactly right and never having to change it. You 98 00:04:56,320 --> 00:04:58,159 Speaker 2: probably might have to change it three, four or five times. 99 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:00,960 Speaker 2: The goal is not to have a perfect schedule. It's 100 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:03,040 Speaker 2: to always have some intention about what you're doing with 101 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 2: the time that remains of the day. Same thing if 102 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 2: you underschedule, so you have a couple options here. You 103 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 2: could add something new, or you could take advantage of 104 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:15,520 Speaker 2: that time just to relax, or to do something that's 105 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:19,039 Speaker 2: going to get you a dogative rest like that's actually 106 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:20,919 Speaker 2: kind of a nice scenario. But the point I always 107 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:24,040 Speaker 2: make about time blocking is that regardless of what you do. 108 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 2: Having a good understanding of how long things take is 109 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:29,200 Speaker 2: crucial because if you don't, regardless you're time blocking or not, 110 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:30,840 Speaker 2: you're just going to keep getting yourself in the trouble, 111 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:34,000 Speaker 2: and you're going to keep having colliding deadlines, You're going 112 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:35,960 Speaker 2: to keep having late nights, You're going to keep having 113 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:39,000 Speaker 2: these sort of stressful moments when you realize a lot 114 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:41,800 Speaker 2: still needs to get done and I'm not there. And 115 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:45,000 Speaker 2: time blocking trains you to better appreciate how long things 116 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:46,960 Speaker 2: take and then otherwise just be comfortable with the fact 117 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:49,039 Speaker 2: that you might have to change your schedule several times 118 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:52,039 Speaker 2: throughout the day and that that's not negative, that's actually 119 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:53,120 Speaker 2: how the system works. 120 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 1: I must say, after all the different productivity tips that 121 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 1: I hear is part of my work. Time blocking has 122 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:04,320 Speaker 1: got to be one of the most fundamental things that 123 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:07,799 Speaker 1: has transformed my work. So if you have not tried 124 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 1: time blocking in your life, I wholeheartedly recommend that you 125 00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:16,200 Speaker 1: give it a go today. As the listener of How 126 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:18,680 Speaker 1: I Work, you've hopefully picked up a few tips on 127 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 1: this show to help you work better, But do you 128 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:24,720 Speaker 1: want more? And maybe in a book form, because let's 129 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:28,280 Speaker 1: face it, books are the most awesome thing on the planet. Well, 130 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:32,600 Speaker 1: now you can. In my new book, time Wise, I 131 00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:36,440 Speaker 1: uncover a wealth of proven strategies that anyone can use 132 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:40,800 Speaker 1: to improve their productivity, work, and lifestyle. Time Wise brings 133 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: together all of the gems that I've learned from conversations 134 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:47,640 Speaker 1: with the world's greatest thinkers, including Adam Grant, Dan Pink, 135 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:52,039 Speaker 1: Mia Friedman, and Turia Pitt and many many others. Time 136 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:55,400 Speaker 1: Wise is launching on July five, but you can pre 137 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:59,200 Speaker 1: order it now from Amantha dot com. And if you 138 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 1: pre ordered time Wise, I have a couple of bonuses 139 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:05,760 Speaker 1: view First, you'll receive an ebook that details my top 140 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:11,240 Speaker 1: twenty favorite apps and software for being time wise with email, calendar, passwords, reading, 141 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:15,320 Speaker 1: cooking ideas and more. You will also get a complementary 142 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:18,160 Speaker 1: spot in a webinar that I'm running on June twenty nine, 143 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:21,240 Speaker 1: where I will be sharing the tactics from time Wise 144 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,200 Speaker 1: that I use most often, and also some bonus ones 145 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 1: that are not in the book that I use and love. 146 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:32,320 Speaker 1: Hop onto Amantha dot com to pre order now. How 147 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:35,600 Speaker 1: I Work is produced by Inventium with production support from 148 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: Dead Set Studios and thank you to Matt Nimba. Who 149 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:41,800 Speaker 1: does the audio mix for every episode and makes everything 150 00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:45,000 Speaker 1: sound so much better than it would have otherwise. See 151 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:45,560 Speaker 1: you next time.