In the last 40 minutes before reading this newsletter, I spent some time with family as they woke up for the day, and then played a video game. That being said, I think that's a valuable way to spend my time, because it aligns with my plans for the day.
My goal this year is to treat productivity more as "routines" than as "meeting deadlines." Instead of trying to set productivity goals for each week, I try to make sure that every day, I go through the same routine of working toward various "big picture" goals. Some weeks I get more done and some weeks less... But every week there's progress, and I think that's more important than meeting arbitrary self-assigned deadlines. (There's a place for that, for sure, but this isn't the season of my life where that's helpful.)
One thing I'm finding particularly useful is to set "tentpole" activities, rather than trying to rigorously schedule every minute of every day. This leads to a certain flexibility, while still ensuring that I get through everything I intended to do in the day. Today, I got through my business-related activities a little earlier than usual, so I had some time to fill. If I were tired, I'd take a nap. If I were inspired, I'd add another session of working on my novel. Today, I felt like I could use some "goof off" time, so I did that, and now I'm writing this comment. :)
Since my next "tentpole" is at 10am, I don't have to worry about getting sucked into comment reading/writing land. I don't have to worry about feeling like the time was wasted, but I still have some freedom and flexibility to work within the ebb and flow of my physical and mental energy.
So far in January, I've finished 4.5 chapters on my novel, and I expect to finish another before the end of the month. That's more than I've done in the last two years combined, so this system seems to be working for me!
I woke up feeling anxious, way behind, overloaded with things I want to do but also things on the schedule I have to do (not that that those scheduled things are bad), and because of that, I was down on myself. There’s this specific question that’s been lingering for weeks. There’s so many answers. And I just key going back and forth on which one to choose.
I decided I was just gonna take a recovery day. I wasn’t gonna focus on anything except what was on the calendar (this is therapy and a reading group, good stuff). This then freed up my morning, so I went to a cafe to get a breakfast burrito and a cortado. And would you know it... in the hour, I’ve been here, I’ve answered the question and actually gotten really excited about the next steps!
I find, sometimes, you have to first give yourself the freedom and then in the freedom you decide to “work.”
The most important thing I did in the last 40 minutes was to NOT google "time blindness" and go down whatever hole that would open for me. I'll wait for your explanation. The start of my day is pretty rhythmic and purposeful and it feels like being on a log ride where I'm just enjoying the experience, but know pretty soon I'm going to launch down a chute and likely be soaked by the end of the day. I think it's important for me to think about the things I didn't do as much as what I did do.
I've had a cold the past week, and yesterday I realized that there IS a lot of wisdom in loading up with fluids. So, in the last 40 minutes, I prepared myself a protein-rich iced coffee and enjoyed it on the couch while watching my cats. I also did some maintenance on my 3D printer.
While these specific activities don't seem like much, it's nice to reflect on the importance behind them. I cleaned my 3D printer so it would work better on a project that I'm building (a mini printing press!). This will get me closer to having the finished product to play around with.
The cats are important because I've been trying a lot of things to improve some of their behaviors, so in a way I was observing how well that's working.
And of course, giving myself plenty of liquids is something I'm doing in hopes of helping myself heal more quickly, or at least feel a little better while doing so.
I think it's having some positive effects! I saw my orange cat (who usually picks fights) licking the other cat's head and that was nice. As with most things, I expect incremental change but I also like to appreciate the small wins!
Spent the last 40 minutes on IG, discovered the Christ the redeemer tunnel in South America and also ruminated.
I have time blindness I discovered a few months ago. If I’m keeping track of something, I can “forget” and a few days will go by while it seems like I tracked the metric yesterday.
I love your emphasis on what is “valuable to you”. I think a lot of productivity “gurus” put emphasis on money and career. I love how you offered lots of different ways to measure value. Thank you!
I tried to do a lot of things at once in the last 40 minutes — share my latest Substack post, catch up on other newsletters I love, read and respond to Slack messages from my coworkers, root around in the kitchen for a snack, open the different apps on my phone with notifications . . . it's been a bit all over the place 🫠 Reading this reminded me that I do really well with a "flexible container" of time — like time blocking but with a little more freedom. So, in the next 40 minutes, for example, I'll give myself the choice of responding to questions from a colleague, preparing for my upcoming seminar, or taking a break to read for a bit. I might even do all three, but at least I won't be doing a little bit of *everything*.
I spent the last forty minutes reviewing notes from last nights reading (I'm a writer so I take notes when I read), looking up words I was unfamiliar with, and organizing notes on my novel so I can begin my next chapter. I'd say it was time well spent.
Now I will be enabling Freedom (my all time favorite app) which blocks the internet for a specified amount of time so I can have a distraction free period of writing. :)
A little meditation mixed with cheering up my sister long distance was how I spent the last 40 minutes. Not a bad start to a good day of creating art. I quite like this fresh look at productivity.
Hi Chris, the 40 minute productivity test really wasn’t helpful for me, because I spent it stuck in traffic after fetching my child from school.
I think it’s more useful to think of the last 24 hours. When I remember to do it, I imagine that I’m about to die. I look back on my last 24 hours and ask myself if I used them well. I got this technique from Sadhguru and while it may seem a bit morbid to some, it’s fits really well with my existential philosophical roots.
Last year I barely made my Goodreads reading challenge. Not because I don't like to read, quite the opposite, but I didn't make time to read. So the past 40 minutes I have been reading. Reading more is on my goals list for the year - not a large number of books, but just because I sometimes forget if I don't put it on my schedule for the week. So I have been doing something I love and enjoying the amateur sleuths which are my favourite genre. :)
I definitely have time blindness. I either think I’ve been working on something for a long time to realize it’s only be 20 minutes of dedicated time, or time just slips away and I have no idea where it went. In general though, I feel time is an illusion. It’s the constructs we place on time that make it feel like we don’t have enough or that we’re waiting and waiting. I love in The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks how he talks about Einstein Time. The time that exists when you’re in your zone of genius. You’re in complete flow and nothing else matters. I find the same is true when you catch up with an old friend after not seeing them for a while. It feels as if there was no time in between. So when I apply that to the task and areas of importance to me, it takes a lot of pressure off. I can still stay active within my goals without feeling like I need to do everything in one sitting (which my mind always thinks it can). 😄✨
I'm a Great Grandmother (& boomer with computer access); with a bit of brain fog.
Can it be the last 60 minutes? I walk/think a bit slower now. Unless research says 40 is better then an hour. I can adapt...
(ps Last hour got a phenomenal amt of stuff done, fed dogs, hens, fish, me; fine tuned the schedule for the day, fine tuned new diet plan for today recording breakfast,, glanced over my Turkish lessons for the morning, planned an afternoon drive, drank some really good hot tea) , at a slow pace.
Haha, I feel called out. ;) (J/k)
In the last 40 minutes before reading this newsletter, I spent some time with family as they woke up for the day, and then played a video game. That being said, I think that's a valuable way to spend my time, because it aligns with my plans for the day.
My goal this year is to treat productivity more as "routines" than as "meeting deadlines." Instead of trying to set productivity goals for each week, I try to make sure that every day, I go through the same routine of working toward various "big picture" goals. Some weeks I get more done and some weeks less... But every week there's progress, and I think that's more important than meeting arbitrary self-assigned deadlines. (There's a place for that, for sure, but this isn't the season of my life where that's helpful.)
One thing I'm finding particularly useful is to set "tentpole" activities, rather than trying to rigorously schedule every minute of every day. This leads to a certain flexibility, while still ensuring that I get through everything I intended to do in the day. Today, I got through my business-related activities a little earlier than usual, so I had some time to fill. If I were tired, I'd take a nap. If I were inspired, I'd add another session of working on my novel. Today, I felt like I could use some "goof off" time, so I did that, and now I'm writing this comment. :)
Since my next "tentpole" is at 10am, I don't have to worry about getting sucked into comment reading/writing land. I don't have to worry about feeling like the time was wasted, but I still have some freedom and flexibility to work within the ebb and flow of my physical and mental energy.
So far in January, I've finished 4.5 chapters on my novel, and I expect to finish another before the end of the month. That's more than I've done in the last two years combined, so this system seems to be working for me!
This is excellent! Thank you for sharing. 🏆
I woke up feeling anxious, way behind, overloaded with things I want to do but also things on the schedule I have to do (not that that those scheduled things are bad), and because of that, I was down on myself. There’s this specific question that’s been lingering for weeks. There’s so many answers. And I just key going back and forth on which one to choose.
I decided I was just gonna take a recovery day. I wasn’t gonna focus on anything except what was on the calendar (this is therapy and a reading group, good stuff). This then freed up my morning, so I went to a cafe to get a breakfast burrito and a cortado. And would you know it... in the hour, I’ve been here, I’ve answered the question and actually gotten really excited about the next steps!
I find, sometimes, you have to first give yourself the freedom and then in the freedom you decide to “work.”
The most important thing I did in the last 40 minutes was to NOT google "time blindness" and go down whatever hole that would open for me. I'll wait for your explanation. The start of my day is pretty rhythmic and purposeful and it feels like being on a log ride where I'm just enjoying the experience, but know pretty soon I'm going to launch down a chute and likely be soaked by the end of the day. I think it's important for me to think about the things I didn't do as much as what I did do.
I've had a cold the past week, and yesterday I realized that there IS a lot of wisdom in loading up with fluids. So, in the last 40 minutes, I prepared myself a protein-rich iced coffee and enjoyed it on the couch while watching my cats. I also did some maintenance on my 3D printer.
While these specific activities don't seem like much, it's nice to reflect on the importance behind them. I cleaned my 3D printer so it would work better on a project that I'm building (a mini printing press!). This will get me closer to having the finished product to play around with.
The cats are important because I've been trying a lot of things to improve some of their behaviors, so in a way I was observing how well that's working.
And of course, giving myself plenty of liquids is something I'm doing in hopes of helping myself heal more quickly, or at least feel a little better while doing so.
That's great. And I'm really curious how this "improving the cats' behaviors" will turn out.
I think it's having some positive effects! I saw my orange cat (who usually picks fights) licking the other cat's head and that was nice. As with most things, I expect incremental change but I also like to appreciate the small wins!
Spent the last 40 minutes on IG, discovered the Christ the redeemer tunnel in South America and also ruminated.
I have time blindness I discovered a few months ago. If I’m keeping track of something, I can “forget” and a few days will go by while it seems like I tracked the metric yesterday.
I love your emphasis on what is “valuable to you”. I think a lot of productivity “gurus” put emphasis on money and career. I love how you offered lots of different ways to measure value. Thank you!
I tried to do a lot of things at once in the last 40 minutes — share my latest Substack post, catch up on other newsletters I love, read and respond to Slack messages from my coworkers, root around in the kitchen for a snack, open the different apps on my phone with notifications . . . it's been a bit all over the place 🫠 Reading this reminded me that I do really well with a "flexible container" of time — like time blocking but with a little more freedom. So, in the next 40 minutes, for example, I'll give myself the choice of responding to questions from a colleague, preparing for my upcoming seminar, or taking a break to read for a bit. I might even do all three, but at least I won't be doing a little bit of *everything*.
I spent the last forty minutes reviewing notes from last nights reading (I'm a writer so I take notes when I read), looking up words I was unfamiliar with, and organizing notes on my novel so I can begin my next chapter. I'd say it was time well spent.
Now I will be enabling Freedom (my all time favorite app) which blocks the internet for a specified amount of time so I can have a distraction free period of writing. :)
A little meditation mixed with cheering up my sister long distance was how I spent the last 40 minutes. Not a bad start to a good day of creating art. I quite like this fresh look at productivity.
Hi Chris, the 40 minute productivity test really wasn’t helpful for me, because I spent it stuck in traffic after fetching my child from school.
I think it’s more useful to think of the last 24 hours. When I remember to do it, I imagine that I’m about to die. I look back on my last 24 hours and ask myself if I used them well. I got this technique from Sadhguru and while it may seem a bit morbid to some, it’s fits really well with my existential philosophical roots.
Thanks for sharing this! Simple and effective, love it.
Last year I barely made my Goodreads reading challenge. Not because I don't like to read, quite the opposite, but I didn't make time to read. So the past 40 minutes I have been reading. Reading more is on my goals list for the year - not a large number of books, but just because I sometimes forget if I don't put it on my schedule for the week. So I have been doing something I love and enjoying the amateur sleuths which are my favourite genre. :)
This is just right 4 me!
I definitely have time blindness. I either think I’ve been working on something for a long time to realize it’s only be 20 minutes of dedicated time, or time just slips away and I have no idea where it went. In general though, I feel time is an illusion. It’s the constructs we place on time that make it feel like we don’t have enough or that we’re waiting and waiting. I love in The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks how he talks about Einstein Time. The time that exists when you’re in your zone of genius. You’re in complete flow and nothing else matters. I find the same is true when you catch up with an old friend after not seeing them for a while. It feels as if there was no time in between. So when I apply that to the task and areas of importance to me, it takes a lot of pressure off. I can still stay active within my goals without feeling like I need to do everything in one sitting (which my mind always thinks it can). 😄✨
I'm a Great Grandmother (& boomer with computer access); with a bit of brain fog.
Can it be the last 60 minutes? I walk/think a bit slower now. Unless research says 40 is better then an hour. I can adapt...
(ps Last hour got a phenomenal amt of stuff done, fed dogs, hens, fish, me; fine tuned the schedule for the day, fine tuned new diet plan for today recording breakfast,, glanced over my Turkish lessons for the morning, planned an afternoon drive, drank some really good hot tea) , at a slow pace.
Spent last 40 minutes running four miles
I'm doing that next!