The Deep Life & Time Management

So after my initial attempt, I’m knee deep in Cal Newport’s stuff right now. I’ve watched a few more youtube videos here and here and read a few of his blog posts. I highly recommend his Start Here page.

I like his presentation, I like that he’s to the point. I like that he’s talking about something that’s relevant to literally everybody and approaching it in a way that’s not woo woo. Basically he’s doing what I want to be doing, but just doing it better than I’ll ever do it. Sigh.

He’s super big on time management, task management and how that filters through into the life you want to lead. 

Anyway, some insights from myself…

Work system

At work I have a spreadsheet that I add tasks to, bucket and mark off as complete when I have completed them. I follow this ‘To Do’ spreadsheet religiously. I have been using this system for about 5 or 6 years. Yes, it works well enough in that I capture everything and it means I do everything I need to without forgetting. However, it doesn’t structure the day, week or month and I do often think ‘okay, what am I doing next?’, with a list of 100 items or so that stretch back over a 6 month period. Sometimes it’s difficult to select something from the list.

Upon review, maybe it’s time to evolve this system a little further so I can be more cutthroat than I currently am with my time at work. Maybe that takes the form of building in some formal review time. Maybe my bucketing system needs some form of ‘task-type’ e.g. chasing people, rather than the work stream, because it can get a little baffling at some points deciding what to do next.

I think it would be interesting to see if there is any time at the edges that I can reclaim for non-main work tasks, rather than me thinking about it as ‘from 8.30am-6.30pm that’s work time and you must strictly do that’.

Work vs. Non-Work

Strangely, I have this system which defines how I work, but in all aspects of life beyond work, I have nothing similar at all. I have no system of capturing tasks I need to complete. In my head I’ve been telling myself that I don’t need it. I don’t need that control because it will suck the joy out of life. I don’t want to be dealing with spreadsheets in my personal life, as I already have it at work. More screens. More obligatory work. I like spontaneity. I like fun. I tried to maintain a spreadsheet maybe 4 years ago and it lasted a day. Therefore it’s just not meant to be.

I’m becoming aware that maybe this isn’t entirely true. Maybe I could do it a better way. The way to prove it wrong is to actually try to maintain a to-do list and embed it into my life for at least a few months. If my life is better off, then keep it. If it’s worse off, ditch.

I set up the spreadsheet a few days ago and immediately added about 50 tasks, and in the next 3 days have added another 30. How could I possibly have kept all this in my head as well as do it, as well as work out that I need to allocate the time to it? Yes, I’ve managed to survive without it in my last 30 years which proves it’s not strictly necessary, but if I want to enhance my life, I do believe that this could be a foundation I need to build off. If I know what I’m aiming for, then I can focus on doing tasks that contribute towards it.

It’s a lifestyle

I think what Cal is actually proposing is nothing short of a lifestyle change. I have to change my personal lifestyle from one of an insidious form of ‘going with the flow’, where things pop up out my head and I deal with it immediately or let it linger whenever it comes back into my memory, to living a life of having things written down, tasks to complete, some kind of planning on when to complete it, some kind of short and mid term aims to contribute towards an enhanced life in each of the streams of life I do have.