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Time Management or Activity Management?

by rcritchett
10 replies
I've found that you really can't manage time. It manages itself. So many people say "there isn't enough time in the day," and what they're really saying is "I don't effectively manage the time I spend on ACTIVITIES, or I'm an entrepreneur held hostage (an Eben Pagan phrase).

There are better ways, especially for us webpreneurs who have blogs, info and other kinds of products and make a full time living on the web.

I personally use a very simple system of activity management.

80/20

What are the best result producing activities you can engage right now? Identify them EVERYDAY, write out the list and email it to yourself before you go to sleep the night before.

Allot 30 minutes for each task. If it takes longer than 30 minutes, fine. I've found that most tasks can be broken down into 30 minute to 1 hour increments of actions. This isn't to say it's always like this, and this is the cure-all, it's just one precise way to manage your activities and the time you spend on them.

Monitor your own conditioning. For those of us who work from home, full time on the net, we spend a lot of time in front of our machines! It's easy to get caught up and end up on some random website an hour later and have totally wasted time.

It has helped me tremendously to break out of stimulus response conditioning, understand the brain science behind it, and literally train myself to always be working on mission critical tasks!

That alone seriously works for me! Activity Management!

Thanks for reading,

It's RC!

#activity #management #time
  • Profile picture of the author CyberSorcerer
    I just manage the time I spend on the computer because that's where I'm at 15 hour out of the day.

    I use a program called TimeSnapper which will play back my activity for me throughout the whole day along with keeping a good time log of activity.

    I then import this log into an Excel spreed sheet that I've made to further break everything down.
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    • Profile picture of the author rcritchett
      Originally Posted by CyberSorcerer View Post

      I just manage the time I spend on the computer because that's where I'm at 15 hour out of the day.

      I use a program called TimeSnapper which will play back my activity for me throughout the whole day along with keeping a good time log of activity.

      I then import this log into an Excel spreed sheet that I've made to further break everything down.
      Very interesting stuff! I'll check that out, I've heard about it.. in fact, someone just said something about this on Twitter like an hour ago. Hmm. Thanks for replying!
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  • Profile picture of the author Roland Hop
    I like to manage my energy not time.
    But since we're on the topic, anyone who does have a problem with managing themselves should check out Eben Pagan. He's a very smart guy.
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    • Profile picture of the author polrbearz
      Thanks for the practical advice. There are so many trumped-up time management "systems" out there but my feeling is that if you have time to committ to something with so many bells and whistles you really are not properly engaged with your goals.

      Your simple technique doesn't require any new systems. It's an easy upgrade of the timeless "to do" list.

      I'm in information overload right now so any reminders like this are useful. I will definitely check out Eben Pagan. Jason Fladlien is another person who seems to have a good grasp of "activity management."
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      • Profile picture of the author rcritchett
        Originally Posted by polrbearz View Post

        Thanks for the practical advice. There are so many trumped-up time management "systems" out there but my feeling is that if you have time to committ to something with so many bells and whistles you really are not properly engaged with your goals.

        Your simple technique doesn't require any new systems. It's an easy upgrade of the timeless "to do" list.

        I'm in information overload right now so any reminders like this are useful. I will definitely check out Eben Pagan. Jason Fladlien is another person who seems to have a good grasp of "activity management."
        I'm totally with you. This is a great response! You're right.. there are so many "systems" and you nailed it, if you need a crazy system like that, you're not engaged in your outcomes properly. Super well put.
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    • Profile picture of the author rcritchett
      Originally Posted by Roland Hop View Post

      I like to manage my energy not time.
      But since we're on the topic, anyone who does have a problem with managing themselves should check out Eben Pagan. He's a very smart guy.
      Absolutely. I think the guy is a genius. A very high information dude. Thanks for commenting!
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  • Profile picture of the author mikemcmillan
    RC,
    When I think of time management I think of the book, The Langoliers, by Stephen King. A plane leaves LAX for Logan airport in Boston. It goes through a time riff and lands finding no life. The place is void of both the form and substance of anything related to life.

    It turns out that these hairy, toothy creatures, The Langoliers, the timekeepers of eternity, are marching through the woods toward the plane, devouring time (the past) on their approach. The idea being that time, just like organic material, is too valuable to be simply left intact--it must decay and be devoured and recycled.

    My favorite part is after they go back through the riff to LAX, they arrive there a few moments before the present time had arrived. Nothingness as they stand in the terminal. Then a young girl pulls on her father's sleeve and says, "Look daddy, the new people, the new people!" As the camera pans across the terminal the present time is starting to arrive, people are starting to come into focus, and within seconds the present arrives along with the hustle of the normal activities of the airport.

    The reason I like this is the idea that time wasted can be thought of as being devoured. It becomes unavailable for use after it passes. Time wasted is lost forever. The future becomes the present, but only for a moment, and then it's the past. It's the infinite number of "present times" passing through our lives that must be grasped and used or they become lost forever.

    Believe me, Captain, immortality consists largely of boredom.
    - Zefram Cochrane, Star Trek The Original Series

    It's the fact that we are not immortal, the fact that we have only so much time at our disposal that makes it so precious. The most precious commodity in the universe and we toss it out like yesterday's garbage. Sad! --Mike
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    • Profile picture of the author polrbearz
      Mike:

      I'm a sci-fi fan so I really enjoyed your references. Another angle on time that I often think of was expressed by one of the Greats (It as either Emerson or Whitman--I don't want to pretend to be more literate than I am )

      It goes something like : " I need TWO lives---one to learn how to live, and one to actually live." You are so right about time wasted being forever gone. I personally am working very hard to live in the "present" these days.
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      • Profile picture of the author charlesgosu
        Activity management... What's the point of having so much time when you don't have enough energy to make quality work.. imo though...
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        • Profile picture of the author polrbearz
          Charles:

          Good point. Time without energy is like having water but no way to drink it

          Having energy is a key assumption behind being present that a lot of personal growth cheerleaders don't address realistically.

          When they do address it, they tend to focus (rightly !) on the basics of good rest and nutrition. A lot of the rest of it comes from being in touch with goals that themselves inspire and energize. Then there's the energy drains: the wrong friends, the wrong habits, dysfuctional patterns in key relationships.

          In my own life just being disorganized wastes vast amounts of energy. My ideas always outrun how I'm organized to carry them out. I've made the most improvement in this area by moving toward new ways of thinking: Don Aslett (The Clutter Cure) and The Four Hour Workweek have been inspirational to me. I've got a long way to go though
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