Productive Time Management with Katharine Zaleski from PTF

Audio Transcript Auto-generated

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  Hi. I'm Katharine Zaleski, co founder, president of Power to

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  Fly. You're joining me from my work cabin out here

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  on Long Island and all the sticky notes behind me

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  are one of my productivity tools around organizing the mega

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  virtual summit that power the Fly's hosting from June 15th

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  to the 17th around.

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  How we build more diverse and inclusive workplaces.

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  So I encourage everybody to come to the summit.

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  Diversity Reboot 2020.

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  If you're someone who runs a workplace or you're someone

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  who's looking to join a new workplace, that's gonna be

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  a great gathering of leaders.

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  So today I get to talk to you about, while

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  productive time of management, very exciting.

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  So starting off with my hacks, what is your best

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  time management hack?

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  Great question.

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  So my best time management hack is, um, I get

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  up early before my kids, usually around 55 30 in

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  the morning.

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  It's the time when I can think most clearly.

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  And, um, Mr planning out my day.

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  I don't plan out my day with a list of

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  to do items because that never works.

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  What I do is I write down the outcomes I

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  want for the day the top three outcomes.

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  We try to break it up between work, family and

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  health. And then under those outcomes, I list of the

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  different items that need to get done.

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  Will you meet those outcomes?

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  That's super helpful.

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  Then I actually take that list of items under the

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  outcomes, and I start planning them.

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  My calendar using the Pomodoro method One door method is

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  a 37 30 minute.

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  Um, it's time tool where you focus on a project

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  for 30 minutes.

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  Sexually. 25 minutes, you go a little longer, and then

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  you get up and you walk around every after 25

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  minutes is done.

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  Take a breather.

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  Come back to it.

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  The idea is that, um, people concentrate best in those

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  increments. And I really need to break up your day

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  into different Pomodoro owes to get a project.

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  That's my time management Hack there, back to the main

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  screen. Sorry that it is really fun.

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  Tool that I'm learning.

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  Um, daily work.

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  What does your daily work plan look like?

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  Well, I said that I wake up around five.

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  In the morning.

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  Um, I try to get all the thinking work done

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  in the morning than starting at nine o'clock.

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  I have team meetings.

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  I have client meetings.

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  I have conversations with potential investors.

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  So, really, what I try to do is focus thinking

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  time in the morning and do the calls more in

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  the afternoon.

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  Now I have a six year old who I'm also

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  home schooling and a two year old who is watching

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  a lot of YouTube.

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  So in the morning, I try to be in a

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  place where I can monitor the six year old classroom

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  activities because she can't read yet.

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  So I have to change around the zoom conferencing for

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  her. But the mornings air more open in the afternoons

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  or for calls, um, and then really try to wind

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  down by around 36 try to turn the phone off

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  around eight, have a bath, really clear my head, and

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  so that I could be up early the next morning.

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  It's no what then, meals.

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  How do you fit in lunch and other breaks while

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  working at home?

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  I don't do a good enough job of this, and

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  I did a better job of this before.

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  We're all quarantined because I would actually go out to

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  lunch with people, which was nice, but it would take

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  a lot of time with New York City and travel.

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  So, um, what I try to do now is actually

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  blocked time in my calendar to say that I'm every

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  lunch, um, and go and I sit with my kids

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  and have lunch at that time.

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  And, um, focus and focus on what I'm eating and

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  enjoying what I'm eating because there's nothing worse than, um,

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  not thinking about what you're eating.

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  And that's how you eat.

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  You don't get any moment so well, so I try

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  to do.

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  And one, it would take time for that That way

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  more in the morning.

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  I have a philosophy that bigger breakfast better and smaller.

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  Let's see distractions.

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  How do you minimize distractions?

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  Well, I'm lucky enough that I can escape to shed,

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  um and have a family member helping with the kids

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  when I need to get away.

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  Um, but I would also said the best way to

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  minimize distractions is to not try to do two things

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  at the same time.

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  Last night I was working on a Lego project with

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  my daughter, and I was thinking about the whole time

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  and Donna Me was doing that, that there's just no

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  way that my daughter's Michael Project is gonna work out

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  or my work has been work out.

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  I'm thinking about two things.

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  So back to the Plumadore method, I find Pomodoro method

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  that allows me to focus in the moment exactly what

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  I need to focus on, and that's very helpful, and

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  I can take through my list on that.

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  I turned off slack.

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  I turn off some you know, for certain periods of

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  time. I literally block in my calendar and tell people

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  that I'm unreachable.

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  Long listen, escalation.

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  They could always call me.

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  So it's just really important to turn off only messaging

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  as well.

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  So until I try to minimize distractions, well, let's see

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  kids very APRA pro after the distraction part.

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  How do you manage your time with Children home?

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  So manage a lot of kid time around meals.

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  Obviously, homeschooling is a real challenge, especially when you, for

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  certain ages, where you need to really work with the

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  child on the directions for homeschooling if they can't read

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  et cetera.

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  So, um, I tried.

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  I focus on my kids when I can focus on

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  my kids, and then my husband takes over and vice

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  versa. My husband and I actually sit down around 8

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  45 every morning, and we dial and my mother in

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  law who's not with us, and we go over my

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  daughter schedule for the day.

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  And my mother in law is now doing distance distance,

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  learning with my daughter, where, through an iPad, she will

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  read her a story and they paint a picture together.

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  Or, um, the work on, you know, even some sentences

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  together that my daughter will show her.

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  So there are definitely ways toe loop in, um, other

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  adults in your life you can who are not here

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  with you.

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  We've been successfully doing that for the last three weeks,

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  and it's just been a total game changer.

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  It's given me another two hours back in my day,

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  So thank you, Grandma Jessa.

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  Final A's other activities.

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  How do you fit in other activities, like reading classes,

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  webinars, et cetera.

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  It's funny.

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  Before Kobe, I actually get a lot of on listening

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  to audiobooks, cause I'm commute.

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  I don't have that anymore.

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  So my reading is going down, which is a little

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  sad for me.

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  Um they read an actual book at night.

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  I'm reading, um, the violin, the something wrong, that valor

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  about Churchill, which is actually really emboldening right now at

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  night. And then I'll listen to audio books like Eckhart

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  Tolle A or business books from her business Review, um,

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  and what I'm sometimes like in the past or when

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  I'm trying to be on the stationary bike just to

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  get the time in.

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  Um, sometimes, frankly, when I'm putting my two year old

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  to that, I'll put an air plot in and cover

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  my hair.

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  And just like as I'm holding him, the helps on

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  the reading front audiobooks of great for me.

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  Um, classes have been hard edged, working a lot right

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  now all the time.

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  And then I do a lot of do a lot

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  of athletics.

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  I actually I'm a big sailor, could surfer and now

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  here on Long Island and have been getting in the

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  cold water even when it's getting dark, which is a

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  little crazy for people.

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  But it's my biggest really release and, well, just really

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  help cream my defective on life to be out there

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  with the fission, understand that the world continues no matter

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  to do thinking then.

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  So, um, I highly encourage getting out into nature.

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  When? If you can.

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  I know a lot of people are very much doc

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  in cities and furious, but, um, that has been helpful

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  to me, so yes.

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  So thank you very much.

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  I hope this was helpful.

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  Um, And again, check out our virtual summit for three

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  days from June 15th to 17th.

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  It's free diversity.

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  Reboot 2020.

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  Random with love for you to come and join the

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  amazing speakers we have.

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  We're talking about building our communities and our workplaces through

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  more diverse, inclusive teams and also want to welcome people

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  who are looking for jobs.

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  Some have a lot of jobs the child fair and

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  said so much.