Introducing
Your new presentation assistant.
Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.
Trending searches
How to be more productive and focus
27,930
HOW TO BE MORE
PRODUCTIVE AND FOCUS
Prezi presentation adapted from content by Nir Eyal; original available at: https://www.nirandfar.com/schedule-maker/
Although Seneca’s words are more than two thousand years old, they are just as applicable today.
Time
Why you should be stingy with your time
Time
Seneca, the Roman Stoic philosopher, wrote, “People are frugal in guarding their personal property, but as soon as it comes to squandering time, they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.”
Reflection
Reflection
Take a moment and think of all the ways people steal your time.
Morning Plan
Did you plan to wake up and pray or meditate?
Morning
Plan
But your teenager can’t find
the shirt they wanted to wear
to school today. What do you do?
Did you abandon your plans to join the hunt?
At Work
At Work
When you get to work and sit down at your desk to work on that new client proposal, you’re interrupted by Jim in Accounting.
Emails
Emails
After you finish your chat with
Jim, you see your email inbox is overflowing with 30 new messages.
Reaction
You’re reacting to demands on your time that distract you from what you were supposed to do this morning.
Reaction
Priorities
Priorities
Of course, other people love
the fact that you pivot to their priorities and away from your own.
Employer
Employer
Your employer loves knowing you’ll respond to every email, even if it means working long nights and weekends.
Family
Family
Also, your family loves knowing you will do things for them they could have done themselves.
Teenager
Teenager
And finally, your teenager could have looked for their own shirt.
Decisions
Decisions
Why do we make decisions that lead to this sort of overworked, over-stressed, and ultimately unproductive day?
Many of us claim we just don’t have enough time in the day to get everything done, but is that true?
Leisure
The average American spends
Leisure
Calculate the time you spend browsing the web, watching TV, and doing other miscellaneous non-work related tasks, and chances are you will find the time you’re missing.
5.5
hours
per day on leisure.
Protect Your Time
Seneca noted that people protect their physical property in all sorts of ways, but most do little to protect their time.
Protect
Your Time
Daily Schedule
Daily
Schedule
A study by PPAI Research found that only one-third of Americans use a daily schedule. This means the vast majority of people wake up every morning with no real plans for how they want to spend their day.
Saving Time
Saving
Time
People don't guard their most precious asset: their time. Instead, they leave it for the taking. The fact is if you don’t plan your day, someone else will.
Traction &
Distraction
Traction & Distraction
What is the difference between traction and distraction?
The opposite of distraction is traction.
What’s the
difference?
A distraction is something we do that moves us away from what we want. Traction is something we do that moves us towards what we want. The difference between traction and distraction is intent.
Intention
Intention
Any action can be either a distraction
or traction depending on what we
intend to do with our time. Relying
upon our feelings at the moment is risky.
Planning
Planning
The only way to know what we want is to define our wants by planning in advance.
Difficulty
Difficulty
According to research, countless people share the struggle of managing their time. When asked what task they were distracted from, many people have trouble answering the question.
White Spaces
White
Spaces
Lack of Planning
People don't recall what they were planning to do. Upon reviewing their calendars to see their intentions, blank white space abounds.
Takeaway
Aha Moment
Takeaway
If there is only one takeaway, it's this:
You can’t call something a distraction unless you know what it is distracting you from.
Schedule
Maker
Schedule Maker
Now let’s dive into how
to use a schedule maker.
Know How
Know How You
Spend Your Time
The German philosopher and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goethe thought of it this way: He believed the way someone spends their time can tell you everything. “If I know how you spend your time,” he writes, “then I know what might become of you.”
Define Your Values
When it comes to using a schedule maker and planning your schedule, where do you begin? You should start with your values. Values are attributes of the person you want to be.
Values
For example, your values may include being an honest person, being a loving parent, or being a valued member of a team.
How, What, Why
According to Russ Harris, a physician, therapist, and author of The Happiness Trap, values are “how we want to be, what we want to stand for, and how we want to relate to the world around us.”
How, What,
Why
Guideline
Guideline
Values are not ended goals but rather guidelines for your actions.
Categorize
Categorize
Although each of us may subscribe to different values, it’s helpful to categorize them into three overlapping life domains.
Work
Relationships
The Three
Life Domains
You
Life
Domains
You, relationships, and work.
Description
Description
These three domains describe where and with whom we live out our values. Most importantly, they give us something we can use in the planning process.
Analyzing Life
Analyzing
Life
Analyzing the domains of our life will help us take control of the way we spend our time. This practice will help us become an authentic reflection of the person we want to be.
Hidden Drivers
Daniel Goleman, author of Focus:
The Hidden Driver of Excellence, relates the domains of our life to how we split our attention.
Hidden
Drivers
Phases of Alignment
Phases of
Alignment
Goleman describes “inner,” “outer,” or “other” focus, aligning with self, others, and the world around us.
Self-Awareness
Self-Awareness
Successful people, Goleman claims, maintain the “triad of awareness” because “a failure to focus inward leaves you rudderless, a failure to focus on others renders you clueless, and a failure to focus outward may leave you blindsided.”
Sync with Stakeholders
By using a schedule maker to build your weekly schedule template, you now have a clear plan to discuss with those who place the largest demands on your time.
Stakeholders
Partner Input
Review your plan with your partner
First, meet with your partner and review your weekly plan. Make tweaks and adjustments where needed.
Partner
Input
Dedicated
Review Time
Dedicated Review Time
Set a dedicated time each week to review your calendars. During that time, look over each other’s plan for the week and make sure enough time is set aside for managing your household and spending time together as a family.
Share Your Intention With Your Boss
Share Your Intention
Next, discuss your schedule with your boss and share your intention to stick to a planned-out day. This action will help you align your priorities and goals with the preferences of your boss.
Co-Planning
Co-Planning
After you co-plan your schedule you might find you don’t need to attend as many meetings.
This co-planning phase will help to keep you on your career track, as well as any promotions you’re working towards.
Sync
Sync
Set up a recurring time to sync with your boss and review your schedule to ensure you’re spending your time well.
Future Planning
Future
Planning
Once you have a template in place, it will only take a few minutes to reflect, refine, and revise your weekly schedule.
Goal
The goal of using a schedule maker
Goal
It isn’t to commit to a perfectly strict plan. The idea is to use the schedule maker to set up a routine to improve your schedule over time.
Weekly Template
as a Default
Weekly
Template
The goal is to have a weekly template that serves as a default template to return to and make slight revisions week after week.
This weekly template allows you to get better at understanding how long tasks take and making sure you make time for actions that reflect your values.
Template
Benefits
Template Benefits
The power of your “First Template”
Let’s review the benefits of your first timebox template.
Time Allocation
Time
Allocation
When you have a tough time keeping track of time, you make the grave mistake of over-allocating time, resulting in the suffering of the stakeholders in your life.
Budget
Budget
That’s why in the same way we budget our dollars, we need to budget our time.
Weekly Schedule
Weekly
Schedule
Create a template for yourself that shows a hypothetical, perfect week consistent with your values.
When creating your schedule maker template, consider each domain of your life and don’t leave any time slots open during waking hours.
Results
Results
This practice will allow you to hold a place for everything important in properly allocated time slots, ensuring your most vital priorities don’t fall through the cracks.
Planning
Planning
Considerations for planning your week
Daniel Goleman, author of Focus:
The Hidden Driver of Excellence, relates the domains of our life to how we split our attention.
Self-Care
Self-Care
Prioritize and plan self-care time, think critically about how much time you need for sleep, basic hygiene, exercise, leisure time and any other essentials for well-being.
Family
Next, fill in the day with the next top priority after taking care of yourself, like spending time with family and friends.
Family
Work Schedule
Work
Schedule
Now layer in time for work. Scheduling might not come naturally, but push through your initial discomfort, and enjoy the outcome.
Weekly View
Weekly
View
This new schedule will give you a clear view of your entire week down to the minute while respecting your values and reducing distractions.
Dig Deeper
Dig Deeper
Dig deeper during business hours
Now that you have your calendar painted in broad strokes according to the three domains of your life, try to dig deeper into your work time.
Breakup the Workday
Break up your workday by your most important tasks.
Breakup the
Workday
High Priorities
Prioritize work that requires a high amount of focus.
High
Priorities
Carve out time for work that requires the most focus. This step will help you avoid diversions that slow you down and pose challenges.
Low Priorities
Low
Priorities
Reserve time for items that require less focus for the afternoon.
Avoiding Strain
Avoid the strain of over-commitments that limit your productivity and take a toll on your sanity
Avoiding
Strain
Work Schedule
Work
Schedule
Now layer in time for work. Scheduling might not come naturally, but push through your initial discomfort, and enjoy the outcome.
Weekly View
Weekly
View
This new schedule will give you a clear view of your entire week down to the minute while respecting your values and reducing distractions.