One thing I am really good at is wasting time. This comes as a surprise to most people who ask me how I manage juggling work, motherhood, life, etc. The underlying assumption being that you have to be some kind of hyper-organized machine who accounts for every minute of her time. When, in fact, the real secret is work-life integration. And when you are lucky enough to be doing the kind of work that you (mostly) love, nurturing this integration on a daily basis is even easier.
I actually find guilt-free “time-wasting” to be the biggest productivity hack. To me, it means my system is working and I can step back and take planned breaks where I can just take my time to think — or not.
The most important underlying theme is simplicity. If you want a routine you can stick to, make it easy to stick to by taking away all the fluff and reducing it to the bare minimum. For me, this boils down to:
- Creating a routine that is uniquely yours. This will take some trial and error but it only works if you make one that fits your own lifestyle. Then make a habit of (mostly) sticking to it.
- To-do lists are a natural extension of a routine. I like to write down the major tasks or areas to tackle for the week and month. Something about crossing things out when they are done is just so satisfying. Instead of breaking things down to the granular level, I enumerate just the “must-do” daily tasks. This gives me the freedom to fit in other “nice to haves” based on time, energy, and inclination on a day-to-day basis.
- Time blocking for deep work. This means organizing my calendar so I can have chunks of free time together and group similar meetings and tasks together. This helps to stay within the same frame of mind with fewer context switches which are helpful to efficiently complete things.
- If it can be a chat, shared document, or email, then cancel the meeting. Unnecessary meetings can be the biggest time and energy drain. Real-time chats for quick decisions or questions, emails for asynchronous discussions, and shared docs for more complex conversations so everyone can read, comment, and process on their own time while reducing empty chatter. It also has the pleasant side-effect of not giving meeting “bullies” space to monopolize the room and stifle equal contribution.
- Breaks, both short ones during the day and longer breaks to disconnect and recharge. I structure short breaks between tasks before moving into a new area. It makes the context switch cognitively easier. Longer breaks are something I generally plan with the family at the beginning of the year so we have something new and fun to look forward to every 3–4 months. And then there is the odd day when the kids are in school, husband’s at work, and pickup/drop-offs are outsourced, so I can just disconnect and log off for a few hours. Sometimes I take in a new exhibition at the local museum, one of my favorite things to do. Other times it can be: browsing a store, grabbing coffee with a friend, lounging around the house in PJs to read/watch some new Netflix series I keep hearing about. Some of my best ideas come from this kind of unstructured time because there is something about being in complete control of my schedule that unleashes creative thinking in me.
- In addition to all this, I notice how much more focused I am when I am eating a balanced meal, getting adequate sleep, and doing some amount of daily physical activity. It keeps both my mood and energy levels elevated so I incorporate it into my life as best as I can. This part is still in the trial and error phase but it's getting there.
When I was a new mom I would hear this phrase all the time from more experienced moms who had been there, done that: “The days are long, but the years are short”. It took me a while to really get it but when I finally did understand, it made me really question how I spent my time. Instead of focusing on every hour of every day, I look at the years and what I want to accomplish over time, and how I want to grow and learn. This means there will be some days, even years, where progress will not show. But this non-linear arc of progress will eventually work itself out over the years, as long as you make the effort.
