Look at how full my calendar is, look how productive I am because I have no time or flexibility between calendar notifications!
STOP! Look at how much flexibility you have in your life to do things that might really matter NOW.
There was a great blog written by a great man, you might know Marc Andreessen, he only had a major part in changing the internet as we know it today and one of the MOST famous VC funds known as a16z (also a great Podcast). He is an idol of mine, and in my Todoist, I have a recurring event to sit down and read his blog, dated June 7th, 2007. And every time I read it I take a step back and address how I manage my time.
Why I hate my calendar?
Let’s start with a bang: don’t keep a schedule.
Depending on your schedule, depending on your job, and depending on how committed you are to living a little more free, you can have a clean calendar and still be hyper productive.
One simple step:
- Don’t accept future events until they are immediatly relevant (some exceptions might occur like weddings or family holidays). But reject the “Hey David, lets meet for coffee next week?” emails. Refuse to commit to meetings, appointments, or activities at any set time in any future day.
The outcome:
You can work on whatever is most important or most interesting, at any time.
Want to spend a day with the kids? DO IT.
Want to spend all day working on an investor deck? DO IT.
Want to learn to code? DO IT.
Want to setup a side hustle Shopify site? DO IT.
Want to finally read that Elon Musk Biography? DO IT. (Great book)
How can I tell people I am not going to commit?
Simple, when someone emails or calls to say, “Are you free next Wednesday for coffee?”, the appropriate response is: “I’m not keeping a schedule currently, so I can’t commit to that, but give me a call on the day and if I’m available, I’ll meet with you.”
If it’s really important: Do it now! — “Hi, I can’t commit to that, but if it is important, let’s meet now?”. Total schedule flexibility allows this. And honestly, people will say it is not urgent — great, send an email and I’ll get back to you.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s success
This idea is the core to Arnold’s philosophy, want to meet? Sure, drop by — if he is free he will meet you. If not? Sorry, he is only allocating time for items immediately important to him.
The Lists
My life is ruled by GTD. I have adapted the flow proposed by Marc Andreessen to fit my flow, and the tools I use (listed at the bottom).
When you are presented with anything you can have 4 actions for that item, regardless if it’s a: task, email, message, request, anything:
- Trash — It gets deleted or archives. Requests are rejected and the item is forgotten about immediatly.
- Schedule it — Snooze the email, set a reminder, but be careful not to commit unless 100% necessary. Avoid filling the calendar.
- File it — Log the data, save the file to your cloud, add it to your to-do list for a recurring reminder, add it to your Wiki, but put it in a place you can easily get it again if needed.
- DO IT — Someone ask you for a call? Lets go now. Someone ask you for a report or a response to an email? Start writing. Get it off your plate and out of your mind. Then archive it or file it.
Keeping Focus & Feeling Good About it
What makes a day successful? Did you hit “Inbox Zero”? Did you clean your house? Did you make it to the gym? Did you get that really important report done?
Make a list
This will change your life, every day, using some paper, or an app (Todoist is my fav), make a list, no longer than 5 items (5 works for me, but you might like 3 items). And remember, no matter what comes up, do these 5 items. To be on the list, they need to have 2 specific criteria:
- Achievable — Avoid: I will clean my whole house or I will get back to EVERYONE who emailed me. Good: I will clean my bedroom or I will respond to 10 people who messaged me last week.
- Focused — Avoid: I will get fit tomorrow. Good: I will cycle my bike to the shop instead of drive.
Your goal is to complete these tasks. If you do nothing else, then it’s a good day. If you, with your free calendar, do other tasks, then add them to the list, and IMMEDIATELY tick them off. Enjoy the feeling of being productive. You are awesome.
My Productivity Tools:
- Todo List: https://todoist.com
- Notes/Wiki: https://www.notion.so (I just moved from Evernote — no regrets)
- Email: https://superhuman.com (❤) Leave a message if you want an invite.
- Passwords: https://bitwarden.com
- Cloud: http://mega.nz/ & https://www.google.com/drive/
- Others: https://slidepad.xyz/ & https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
