Time management isn't a skill to be mastered
If you’re a chronic self-improvement reader like me, you might be just as inundated with articles, podcasts, data, and emails preaching versions of the same, COVID lockdown-induced wisdom. “Use this time for reflection and introspection. Take time for self-care and self-acceptance. Evaluate how you’ve been spending your time and realign it to your goals and priorities.”
Time. It’s a common thread in this advice, and in most productivity and self-improvement advice. It's the non-renewable resource that helps us pursue our dreams or dig ourselves into a hole. You can spend it or waste it. It’s equally distributed among individuals but finite.
I’ve decided to approach managing my time like yoga or meditation: a lifelong practice, with no “getting it right” or final mastery. One day I’m productive, focused, and employing all the tricks in the book to “hack” my day to its fullest. And the next it’s suddenly 4 pm, and I’m unreasonably annoyed at myself for failing to meet some self-imposed condition of a productive day.
Like yoga, I must listen to my body and my mind, and what it says today. Like yoga, there is no striving, no comparison to others, or to my previous practices. There is just today, and I’m on my mat, and that’s all the matters.
Reply to this to share with me your thoughts or what you are working on!
Alissa
Illustration by Karthik Srinivas
Time Confetti and the Broken Promise of Leisure
This article from Behavioral Scientist perfectly illustrates how we often fill out time without feeling like we are doing anything. The author defines “Time Confetti” as the bits of information we receive via notification pings from our devices that interrupt long blocks of potentially free time. Even if processing all of this information only adds up to minutes or even seconds over an hour, it fragments a previously free block and undermines the quality of whatever you were trying to do instead. This is damaging over the long term, especially if what you were trying to do is relax and recharge.
How to leverage yourself using SOPs
SOP or Standard Operating Procedure, is a simple framework to scale your time and profits. According to Khy Hy, the author and newsletter writer I learned this from, it provides businesses redundancy against mistakes and staff turnover. For a solopreneur, it can provide autonomy and kickstart delegation.
In the article, Venture Capitalist Bill Trenchard explains: for anything you do more than three times, write down your process in detail. The result will be a series of instructions to take a workflow from inception to completion. This document can then be used by anyone to replicate what you do to the same level of perfection. Then, delegate away, and bask in your newfound freedom and leisure (in an ideal world).
Design freebies, kits, icons, and more from UI8
Even though I’m writing more than designing these days, I find myself opening emails and browsing design downloads from UI8 all the time. There are plenty of free gems to be found, but their paid content isn’t too pricey if you find the right asset to save time on your project.
A great place to start for inspiration.
Thanks for reading! I’m a UX designer and writer, and design-adjacent content writer. If you’d like to be featured in the next issue of UX Adjacent, send me a short bio and links to your website or profiles.