A weekly newsletter where I help people apply values-based productivity principles and systems for personal growth, primarily using Obsidian. Subscribe if you want to make more of your notes and ideas.
I used to hate the phrase “make time.”
From a technical perspective, it’s impossible. We all have the same 24 hours in a day.
No matter who you are or what you do, you’ll never get more than that.
But it is the best metaphor available for purposeful time management. When you are intentional about how you spend your time, it does feel like you're able to "make" more time for the things that are truly important.
The other option available is “finding time.” And we all know that if take this approach, we’ll never have enough time for what we really want to do.
So I’ve come around to the idea of “making time” as I think it is the best way to regain control over your time (the real goal anyway).
So how do you “make” time?
You rethink your defaults and protect time for what really matters.
The way to protect time for the important stuff is to create a time-blocked plan for your day.
A time-blocked plan is basically a budget for your time. By giving every hour a job, your brain is free to focus on the task at hand instead of trying to think about the all other important things that you “should” be doing instead.
When you time block, you basically just map out what you’re going to be doing for every hour of your day on a timeline:
It’s a simple practice, but it helps me focus and eliminates the compulsive feeling to go check the inboxes because I’ve already decided on the best of use this time.
It takes me about 5 minutes to time block my day, but it easily buys back hours worth of focus each day.
The net result is that when I time block I feel like I “make” more time.
I time block in a notebook with a fancy fountain pen, but you could also do it in a calendar app or even Obsidian. In fact, my latest YouTube video walks through how to time block in Obsidian:
But regardless of what method you use, I highly recommend you time block your day. Here are a few tips to help make it stick:
Also, remember that a time-blocked plan is just that - a plan. And plans never go perfectly. One of my favorite quotes is from Dwight Eisenhower, who said:
Translation: The act of creating the plan is more important than the plan itself. By creating the plan in the first place, you’ve decided where to focus your attention and you’re much better equipped to roll with the punches if/when things go sideways.
— Mike
P.S. Make Time is also the title of a great book by John Zeratsky and Jake Knapp. I read this a while back for the Bookworm podcast. Here are my notes if you’re interested.
by Mike Schmitz
A weekly newsletter where I help people apply values-based productivity principles and systems for personal growth, primarily using Obsidian. Subscribe if you want to make more of your notes and ideas.
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