Publication of advice on reworking life schedule from "The Book of Lost Time" by Laura Vanderkam. "You have more time than you think," says her author, who has released her bestselling books, What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast and What The Most Successful People Do On The Weekend. The writer has three children, writes for leading American publications (Fortune, Fast Company, USA Today) and directs a choir.
Each week is your 168 hours
Set aside the responsibilities and concerns that you currently have. Imagine a completely blank weekly calendar with 168 hourly graphs.
If this is a new concept to you, I encourage you to spend a few hours thinking about it. When I made a spreadsheet with 168 cells, my first thought was this: if you start from scratch and add all the main components, 168 is surprisingly large. There is definitely time in 168 hours to sleep 8 hours a day (56 hours a week) and work 50 hours a week if you so desire. In total, it goes up to 106 hours, and there are 62 hours a week left for other things.
Write down what took your time
If you want to squeeze the most out of your 168 hours in the future, it's helpful to know where you are spending them now. To do this, you can use the table below, download it on the Lauravanderkam website. com, create your own, create a document in a word processor, or record your actions in a small notepad. Try to fill in the fields as much as possible. Both "work" and "calling a potential client" are allowed, but the latter will give you more information to analyze. Start whenever you want, but count the time within 168 hours. If you feel that the week you recorded was unusual, you can start over, but “typical” weeks are rare.
Analyze the received data
As soon as you have primary data for a week or more, divide it into several categories. Write down how much time you spend per day and per week on all the main categories that matter to you (each includes travel time):
1. Personal care (with a subcategory "Sleep")
2. Food and drink
3. Household chores
4. Purchase of goods and services
5. Taking care of pets
6. Caring for and helping others
7. Work and work-related activities
8. Activities related to education
9. Organizational, civic and religious activities
10. Leisure and sports
11. Phone calls, mail and email
12. Other activities
List 100 Things You Dream About
What would you like to do in your 168 hours? Write down as many things as possible that you would like to accomplish in your life. Are there any of the activities listed there that set you ambitious goals and captivate you to such an extent that time passes imperceptibly? Does the essence of these activities make you happy? Write it all down. Over the next six months, start thinking about ways in which you can incorporate these things into the work of your life, change that job, or find a team or organization that will give you more support.
Are you happy at work?
We spend a significant portion of our 168 hours on work, so it is very important that it suits us. To find out if the job is right for you, ask yourself the following questions:
1. Is my work related to my intrinsic motivation (things that I liked as a child or that I would do for free)?
2. Does my work provide sufficient autonomy?
3. Do I need to regularly solve problems at the limit of my capabilities?
4. Do the work environment, organization, and colleagues help me achieve better results?
5. If I answered “no” to any of these questions, what can be changed? Next week? Next year?
6. Can I create a suitable job for myself in my organization? Or in another organization? Or will you have to act on your own?
If you're pretty sure the job is right for you, try asking yourself the following question: If I were suddenly offered a large sum to never deal with the “core” of my job, how would I feel about that offer? If so, then it's time to ask an additional question. If you broke the bank, but you could still do your job essentially, what parts of it would you keep? If you never had to work against your will again, what would you do more and what would you knock off your plate? Take some time to ponder these questions and write down these tasks and the changes you would make.
Schedule your tasks with exact timing
Once you understand what the ideal situation looks like, you can begin to change the work component of 168 hours to bring it closer to ideal. On Sunday night or before the start of the work week, sit down and make a list of doable tasks you need to do to progress towards your career goals. And then you need to do the most important thing: schedule them, knowing exactly how long they will take.
According to Stephanie Wikoski, managing partner at Drinker, Biddle & Reath LLP's New York office, many people "don't know how long it takes to get the subway from mid-Manhattan to South, even though they travel that route every day." Wickoski, a bankruptcy attorney, made a science out of it. She always thinks "when to start to get things done, taking into account not only today, but the whole week." For example, if she needs to submit documents before 15:00, and she cannot start until the day of delivery, but knows that it will take four hours, then she must start at 9:00. Why not at 11:00? “I always leave a buffer,” says Vikoski. Another client may call, and then she will be able to allocate him five minutes at once or much more - after 15:00. If she finishes before 3:00 pm,
Set aside time for unimportant things
I recently met a woman who told me she sets aside a time slot on Friday morning to make the necessary, but not the most important, calls. When someone asks to set a time for him, she connects an assistant and says: “We will definitely contact you. Is Friday right for you? "For the assistant, this is a code, which means that the case does not apply to priority and such calls can be scheduled for Friday block one after the other.
Schedule a few “waste of time” breaks per day, or when you find yourself wandering aimlessly, put a note in your notebook and force yourself to return to your current business. Make a game out of this. If you can cut your tags in half, reward yourself with a 30-minute visit to Facebook.
Work until the moment of diminishing returns
To work an hour, you need to arrive at the location - even if you work from home - understand what needs to be done now and start solving the problem. All of these actions require effort, which means that if you work an hour a week, you will not achieve much. But the second, third and fourth hours are more productive. Every hour brings additional benefits: you deal with projects, you get into optimal working condition, you start looking for new opportunities. At some point, these benefits stop accumulating as the work intensity drops. But up to this point, every extra hour has a tremendous return.
For this book and other projects, I've talked to hundreds of people about careers and learned that it's very difficult to make progress in most areas - realizing that you're developing skill, finding new opportunities, and making a name for yourself - if you work less than 30 out of 168 hours.
Don't be intimidated by multitasking
By combining activities that require different parts of the brain, especially if one does not require active mental activity, you can both improve relationships with others and fill the day with meaningful things - or generally fit more enjoyable activities into one day. This happens naturally when you dine with a friend. You talk over food (and you have to eat anyway). This alignment is much easier and better for a relationship than talking to a friend during a conference call or posting a photo on Facebook at the same time. Time flies faster with a running or training partner. Review what you plan to do for 168 hours and consider where there are opportunities to combine. Even a phone call while washing the dishes can help maintain a relationship.
Plan time with your kids
It is necessary to organize work taking into account the regime of children. It is best to distribute your work hours in such a way as to free yourself up chunks of your day. To do this, you need to do this: make the hours between 17:00 and 20:00 (or 17:30 and 20:30, or 18:00 and 21:00 if you have owl children) sacred. This is family time. Highlight it in your planner and use it to do the things most important to you with your kids. Set aside several nights a week at the same time, from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm or 11:00 pm, when the kids are already in bed to work.
Use your leisure time efficiently
Once you've put together a spreadsheet that makes it clear where you are spending 168 hours, find the time you can reserve for leisure. You need to plan the duration of each session as accurately as possible. Jogging will take an hour and painting lesson will take longer. Determine what and how many times a week you will be doing.
When planning your weekend, you need to change the approach, because often you are not carving out time, but deciding how to spend unstructured hours. Some families turn their weekends into a cavalcade of children's competitions and activities. Other people are not planning anything, and their weekends are consumed by TV, the internet, or ineffective bouts of work activity (such as checking their email every hour on their smartphone). Balance is important here because there is no reason to plan every minute.
Fill small chunks of time with what makes you happy
To spend time meaningfully, you should go back to the “List of 100 Things I Dream About” and choose some activity elements to fit into your day. Make two lists - one with activities of half an hour or more and one with activities of 10 minutes or less. Then figure out how to make both options as easy as taking a smoke break or watching a piece of TV show.
Keep track of the lined up schedule
Check your current situation regularly (for example, every 168 hours) to make sure the weeks go by as they should. If something is wrong, take one of 168 hours to figure out how to make all possible changes. This is far more effective than the other 167's toiling. This last step is important because it takes real discipline to create the life you want in 168 hours.
Each week is your 168 hours
Set aside the responsibilities and concerns that you currently have. Imagine a completely blank weekly calendar with 168 hourly graphs.
If this is a new concept to you, I encourage you to spend a few hours thinking about it. When I made a spreadsheet with 168 cells, my first thought was this: if you start from scratch and add all the main components, 168 is surprisingly large. There is definitely time in 168 hours to sleep 8 hours a day (56 hours a week) and work 50 hours a week if you so desire. In total, it goes up to 106 hours, and there are 62 hours a week left for other things.
Write down what took your time
If you want to squeeze the most out of your 168 hours in the future, it's helpful to know where you are spending them now. To do this, you can use the table below, download it on the Lauravanderkam website. com, create your own, create a document in a word processor, or record your actions in a small notepad. Try to fill in the fields as much as possible. Both "work" and "calling a potential client" are allowed, but the latter will give you more information to analyze. Start whenever you want, but count the time within 168 hours. If you feel that the week you recorded was unusual, you can start over, but “typical” weeks are rare.
Analyze the received data
As soon as you have primary data for a week or more, divide it into several categories. Write down how much time you spend per day and per week on all the main categories that matter to you (each includes travel time):
1. Personal care (with a subcategory "Sleep")
2. Food and drink
3. Household chores
4. Purchase of goods and services
5. Taking care of pets
6. Caring for and helping others
7. Work and work-related activities
8. Activities related to education
9. Organizational, civic and religious activities
10. Leisure and sports
11. Phone calls, mail and email
12. Other activities
List 100 Things You Dream About
What would you like to do in your 168 hours? Write down as many things as possible that you would like to accomplish in your life. Are there any of the activities listed there that set you ambitious goals and captivate you to such an extent that time passes imperceptibly? Does the essence of these activities make you happy? Write it all down. Over the next six months, start thinking about ways in which you can incorporate these things into the work of your life, change that job, or find a team or organization that will give you more support.
Are you happy at work?
We spend a significant portion of our 168 hours on work, so it is very important that it suits us. To find out if the job is right for you, ask yourself the following questions:
1. Is my work related to my intrinsic motivation (things that I liked as a child or that I would do for free)?
2. Does my work provide sufficient autonomy?
3. Do I need to regularly solve problems at the limit of my capabilities?
4. Do the work environment, organization, and colleagues help me achieve better results?
5. If I answered “no” to any of these questions, what can be changed? Next week? Next year?
6. Can I create a suitable job for myself in my organization? Or in another organization? Or will you have to act on your own?
If you're pretty sure the job is right for you, try asking yourself the following question: If I were suddenly offered a large sum to never deal with the “core” of my job, how would I feel about that offer? If so, then it's time to ask an additional question. If you broke the bank, but you could still do your job essentially, what parts of it would you keep? If you never had to work against your will again, what would you do more and what would you knock off your plate? Take some time to ponder these questions and write down these tasks and the changes you would make.
Schedule your tasks with exact timing
Once you understand what the ideal situation looks like, you can begin to change the work component of 168 hours to bring it closer to ideal. On Sunday night or before the start of the work week, sit down and make a list of doable tasks you need to do to progress towards your career goals. And then you need to do the most important thing: schedule them, knowing exactly how long they will take.
According to Stephanie Wikoski, managing partner at Drinker, Biddle & Reath LLP's New York office, many people "don't know how long it takes to get the subway from mid-Manhattan to South, even though they travel that route every day." Wickoski, a bankruptcy attorney, made a science out of it. She always thinks "when to start to get things done, taking into account not only today, but the whole week." For example, if she needs to submit documents before 15:00, and she cannot start until the day of delivery, but knows that it will take four hours, then she must start at 9:00. Why not at 11:00? “I always leave a buffer,” says Vikoski. Another client may call, and then she will be able to allocate him five minutes at once or much more - after 15:00. If she finishes before 3:00 pm,
Set aside time for unimportant things
I recently met a woman who told me she sets aside a time slot on Friday morning to make the necessary, but not the most important, calls. When someone asks to set a time for him, she connects an assistant and says: “We will definitely contact you. Is Friday right for you? "For the assistant, this is a code, which means that the case does not apply to priority and such calls can be scheduled for Friday block one after the other.
Schedule a few “waste of time” breaks per day, or when you find yourself wandering aimlessly, put a note in your notebook and force yourself to return to your current business. Make a game out of this. If you can cut your tags in half, reward yourself with a 30-minute visit to Facebook.
Work until the moment of diminishing returns
To work an hour, you need to arrive at the location - even if you work from home - understand what needs to be done now and start solving the problem. All of these actions require effort, which means that if you work an hour a week, you will not achieve much. But the second, third and fourth hours are more productive. Every hour brings additional benefits: you deal with projects, you get into optimal working condition, you start looking for new opportunities. At some point, these benefits stop accumulating as the work intensity drops. But up to this point, every extra hour has a tremendous return.
For this book and other projects, I've talked to hundreds of people about careers and learned that it's very difficult to make progress in most areas - realizing that you're developing skill, finding new opportunities, and making a name for yourself - if you work less than 30 out of 168 hours.
Don't be intimidated by multitasking
By combining activities that require different parts of the brain, especially if one does not require active mental activity, you can both improve relationships with others and fill the day with meaningful things - or generally fit more enjoyable activities into one day. This happens naturally when you dine with a friend. You talk over food (and you have to eat anyway). This alignment is much easier and better for a relationship than talking to a friend during a conference call or posting a photo on Facebook at the same time. Time flies faster with a running or training partner. Review what you plan to do for 168 hours and consider where there are opportunities to combine. Even a phone call while washing the dishes can help maintain a relationship.
Plan time with your kids
It is necessary to organize work taking into account the regime of children. It is best to distribute your work hours in such a way as to free yourself up chunks of your day. To do this, you need to do this: make the hours between 17:00 and 20:00 (or 17:30 and 20:30, or 18:00 and 21:00 if you have owl children) sacred. This is family time. Highlight it in your planner and use it to do the things most important to you with your kids. Set aside several nights a week at the same time, from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm or 11:00 pm, when the kids are already in bed to work.
Use your leisure time efficiently
Once you've put together a spreadsheet that makes it clear where you are spending 168 hours, find the time you can reserve for leisure. You need to plan the duration of each session as accurately as possible. Jogging will take an hour and painting lesson will take longer. Determine what and how many times a week you will be doing.
When planning your weekend, you need to change the approach, because often you are not carving out time, but deciding how to spend unstructured hours. Some families turn their weekends into a cavalcade of children's competitions and activities. Other people are not planning anything, and their weekends are consumed by TV, the internet, or ineffective bouts of work activity (such as checking their email every hour on their smartphone). Balance is important here because there is no reason to plan every minute.
Fill small chunks of time with what makes you happy
To spend time meaningfully, you should go back to the “List of 100 Things I Dream About” and choose some activity elements to fit into your day. Make two lists - one with activities of half an hour or more and one with activities of 10 minutes or less. Then figure out how to make both options as easy as taking a smoke break or watching a piece of TV show.
Keep track of the lined up schedule
Check your current situation regularly (for example, every 168 hours) to make sure the weeks go by as they should. If something is wrong, take one of 168 hours to figure out how to make all possible changes. This is far more effective than the other 167's toiling. This last step is important because it takes real discipline to create the life you want in 168 hours.
