35 | Managing Time
Managing time by looking at it as a resource and when and how we're spending it, the dark side of being a CEO and the inner ring of the internet.
Good morning,
As this goes out, England will have won or lost the Euro. Up until 2018, I have only ever seen England be shit. In our typical cynical view, most English fans thought 2018 would be a misnomer. But this team has proved us wrong. The feeling in the country when England play well is electric, and these past few weeks have been spectacular. So thank you to the players for that. This clip from Twitter is an excellent example of what football means. And I’m hoping that on Monday, I’ll be eating a bucket of vindaloo.
This week on Future Talk, Sam and I talked about the future of warfare/defence. It includes nukes, AI, robots and me predicting what WW3 would look like geopolitically (it’ll be a three-way, at least).
You can catch up with episodes on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts and more.
Earlier this year, I wrote about how I would focus more on time this year—both saving and savouring. Meal-prepping (batch cooking food) has been a game-changer, saving me a lot of time. By spending less on cooking, I can spend more on things I want to do.
Better managing time leads to improved wellbeing. Why? Less stress from thinking time isn’t well spent and being able to do more. So how can we better manage our
time?
Look at it as a resource and be intentional with your time.
Our time comes at an opportunity cost; we can’t ask for a refund after spending it.
Because we can’t get it back, we should think about where our time is going. And what we’re getting from it. Part of that is learning to say ‘no’ even if something sounds great if it’s less of a priority than something else.
Take this newsletter, for example. I enjoy writing it, but do I get as much value from that as improving my programming skills? No. So that’s why I’m switching to a fortnightly cadence from now on. As much as I enjoy this, it delivers less value than something I perceive to give me more. That’s what it means to say ‘no’.
Another way to manage time is to reflect on when we’re spending it. I recently started an experiment where I moved my gym workouts into the evening from the morning. My rationale is that it’ll free up my morning and give me energy in the evenings when I usually enter a pre-sleep slump. It’s worked. I’m spending the same amount of time shifting this around, but I’m feeling more energetic and can get more done. (I can also exercise harder thanks to eating during the day).
Being intentional with time and taking a step back to think about how we’re using it is an activity I recommend everyone does.
👀 Recommendations 👀
📔📊 Monzo CEO On Death Threats, Depression & Digital Banking Wars: Tom Blomfield - The Diary of a CEO. Monzo is a challenger bank in the UK and one of the UK’s most successful ‘tech’ companies. Tom’s story of how he founded Monzo and the tremendous stress he came under reveals the other side to entrepreneurship not commonly discussed.
💍📡 The Inner Ring of the Internet - Ali Montag. Ali, writing an essay for Divinations, makes an analogy between C.S. Lewis’ description of the ‘inner ring’ and the internet. The inner ring is the insiders, the people who are well-liked and have good ideas. Breaking into this ring should not be a goal, however, because if it is, you’ll never enter it. Do good work.
“Just work. That’s it. Focus on what stirs you up inside, what is beautiful and true. Work on making something good—not something that is liked. Take responsibility. The work will lead you home.”
That’s all for this week.
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