Get More Done
Hi,
I usually do my weekly planning on Monday. There was a time when it took me hours just to get ready for the week. Now I get it done in less than 15 minutes.
Over the past 20 years I've basically studied every time management system under the sun. And they all have the same issue.
It takes too damn long to run the system.
I remember trying out a system that had me do a weekly review on Sunday. Nothing wrong with that. But I followed every step, did the review exactly their way... and it took me 4.5 hours!
That's a ridiculous amount of time.
So I went to their online forums to ask if this was normal. One of their trainers got back to me and after some back and forth basically said: 'well, no one ACTUALLY follows all those steps. That would take way too long'.
That's like having a training schedule and the trainer that made it tells you: "Well, no one really does all these exercises."
Makes no sense.
So here's how we handle time management.
You only need two things:
- A calendar
- A list
We use Google Calendar. You can use anything similar. For the list, switch between regular paper, Kanbanflow, or a plain .txt file — whatever fits your schedule.
Planning the week and the day is easy:
- All time-sensitive stuff goes in the calendar. If you have to show up somewhere at 11? That doesn't go on your list. It goes in your calendar.
- All your to-do items go on your to-do list.
- Go over the items and give them an A, B, or C.
A = HAS TO BE DONE TODAY
B = WOULD BE NICE TODAY
C = SOME TIME IN THE NEXT 7 DAYS
Then pick an A1, an A2, and an A3. Leave the rest alone.
Then get to work on A1.
It's that easy.
And because it's that simple, people tend to IMMEDIATELY want to complicate it.
"Let me order all the A items"
"Let me add an extra category"
"Let me automate it using AI"
Our advice: just don't. Run the system as laid out above. It's easy. It works. Would highly recommend.
Talk soon,
The AKW Marketing Team