Hello Peter, hello Jen, I am about to blow your mind. Oh my god, no pressure. I'm holding my head just to prevent everything from exploding. With just this one simple fact, Pete, we have yet to record an episode with the title, time management. I do not believe you. It's true. I do not believe you. It's true, Pete. I'm having a flashback. I feel like we tried this and it ended up on the cutting room floor like three times. Oh, well, maybe that's what happened, but it is what I want to talk to you about today. All right, time management. We better get moving because we only have 20 minutes. This is too long on the short of it. Okay, let me start by saying, I'm in the middle of my summer coaching program right now. And every year, it's just so fascinating to watch groups of people who are moving through the same industry thematically, what they're struggling with because it sort of like lets me know what's going on with the larger industry population. Oh, interesting. And there are themes. Oh, yes. So sometimes it's themes of identity. Sometimes it's themes of purpose. This year, time management is a huge challenge for people. And I'm guessing it's because of leftover COVID stuff. Yeah, even I mean, it's in a while. It's just like, I found myself saying this the other day, like, oh, this is a product of adjusting from COVID. And so I was like, you know, COVID was four years ago. It's like, yep, yeah, it was. Yeah, we're still untangling. It was. And yeah, so pre COVID Pete, in my classes, I didn't need to keep a timer because I could tell you down to the second how long a minute was and how long 20 minutes was because they were such familiar chunks of time. Since COVID, I've had to literally use a kitchen timer so that I'm being fair to everyone who's getting up to work and they're all getting the same amount of time. Because without it, I have no idea what time it is. Oh, this is fascinating. Our sense of time has been walked due to, I mean, unsurprisingly, I guess that was a time walk that whole thing. The two years of our lives, it was like, what, what just happened? Yep. So I put together for my coaching clients this summer, a time management bonus seminar, because I hadn't planned to discuss it at all, but I was getting so many questions. And I thought I might share some of the ways I think about time. And I'm very curious to hear about the ways you think about time. I feel like this is one of those topics where I'm like, how do I think about time? You know, like, I'm wondering if I have a system that I haven't ever thought of that's actually a system, or I think about it without actually thinking about it intentionally, if that makes sense. Yes. And just being an observer of you, you are very good at time management. Which is, well, I mean, it's wild that you say that because I would definitely have not said that that was a strictly fine. So it's so funny, so wild. All right. Well, let's hear from Jen Waldman and your masterclass on how you think about time management. And I'll see if I can chime in. Well, I think the first thing to say before we say anything else is that it would be ludicrous, ridiculous, preposterous, to be prescriptive about how other people should manage their time. Right. Because we each have our own preferences, our own aesthetic, our own relationship, our own baggage, our own ideas when it comes to time. So I have systems that work for me that I try to keep very, very simple. And other people have completely different systems that work for them that would never work for me. So I like to think more about the philosophies of time management. And I share with my clients, I let them look at my calendar, I let them look at my to-do list, and which is very vulnerable, I have to say. Well done. Not so that they'll copy me, but just so that they'll see what one person's perspective is, and then maybe they could have a strong adverse reaction to it and be like, I would never do it like that. That's fine. So how will you do it? I feel like that's such an important call out, because there's so many theories, perspectives, frameworks, books on this is how you must manage your time. And I feel like saying, no, like take what works for you based on your circumstances, your preferences, your agenda, your life, your circumstance, all that. So yeah, I'm with you. I'm like, let's take what works from all of these in-air quotes, gurus of time management, and feel free to ignore the rest. Yes. And then I will share with you a pitfall that I've noticed as I've watched people over the years try to improve their time management is they spend a lot of time researching time management systems, and then commit to something that is so complicated that it's not functional. Right. That's so true. And so my thought is your time management system in order for it to be fully functioning needs to be simple and easy for you, the user, to understand. Totally. I mean, this feels like, you know, we mentioned James clear in every second episode, but like if time management is a habit, if managing yourself within time is a habit, then we need to make that as easily actionable, implementable, and easy to stick with as possible. Yeah. Okay. So Pete, I'll tell you my philosophies about my relationship to time and the tools I use to manage my time. And then I'm very, very interested to hear yours. So the first is that I keep a calendar, which I know sounds so simple, but I really do live and die by my calendar. The way I think about my calendar is that it is a tool that has to always be telling me the truth. So if it exists on the calendar, it actually exists. And if it doesn't exist on the calendar, it doesn't exist. And because of this commitment to my calendar that I will believe it, I do not put to dos on my calendar, because sometimes my to dos don't get done. Yeah. Nice. But my calendar needs to always tell me the truth. Otherwise, I can't rely on it, and I won't use it. Nice. I feel like this is such a granular question, but I guess this is the point of this episode. Do you have a virtual, like is yours an electronic calendar, or do you do old school handwritten? I've got a diary type calendar. I use a Google calendar. All right. All right. All right. Because I like the way it looks. I like the way it functions. I like color coding. I like the Tetris of moving the blocks around. And it also integrates with my scheduling software that I use for my business. Totally. Me too. Me too, by the way. Me too. I know Tracy, my wife, she absolutely loves still the analog calendar. And that works for her. So actually, we ended up with both. To appease both of us, we have my virtual digital calendar with shared stuff in there that we need to share. And then she also writes that down manually for her own brain as well. Yeah. So Drew, who is my right hand and left hand man at the studio, he keeps an analog calendar and it works great. So this is a great example of to each their own. Exactly. Yeah. Whatever works for you, as long as you can rely on it. So when something goes in the calendar, I think of it as protected time. It's like a pre commitment to my future self of how I intend to spend my time. And my calendar then starts to become a reflection of my values and my priorities. I may have shared this on a previous episode, but I had this aha moment years ago that I was not spending enough time with my family. And at first, I felt very dirty about adding a time called family time to my calendar because I was like, what sort of a wife and mother has to schedule time with her family? But now all these years later, I'm like, no, this is exactly the kind of wife and mother I want to be in that I want to pre promise that my child and my husband are the priority and everything else can work around them. Nice. Yeah. Especially given what your first rule was, it feels like it's consistent with that, which is if it's in the calendar, it's real. Yeah. I like that. I like that. I also just feel compelled to reverse back over that statement that you said in passing, which I just think is so true and provocative and important, which is that your calendar is a reflection of your values. You can say I value family time in the example that you're using, and I value time with my husband and or children. And then you might look at your calendar and go, okay, well, you're back to back from eight to eight, back to back from a work perspective. So where's the, how is this showing me that you value your family? It's not it's showing me that you value working from eight to eight. So it feels important, provocative, uncomfortable, all those things. I also make time on my calendar for not doing other things. So, you know, I have the white space time for focusing on whatever creative project I'm working on. I don't really know what I'm going to do, but I'll think about that project. And I got my magic time where it's just unstructured creative time about really anything, but I'm committing then to saying it's important to me to be creative. So I'm pre scheduling creative time on my calendar. And why I like the Google calendar is if something else comes up, I can just take that block and move it into an open position. I just find it easy. Yeah. It's like Tetris. It's satisfying. It's like Tetris. Like you said, yeah, it's real satisfying. Yeah. The different colors for different things. I like that too. And then I'm going to share one final philosophy about calendars, and then I want to hear your philosophies about calendars. Keep going. Keep going. I'm writing notes that my calendar tells me where I'm supposed to be. And my task lists, my various task lists, tell me what I'm supposed to do when I get there. And sometimes I'm literal, like my calendar tells me where I'm supposed to be like, I need to be in the studio to teach this particular class. But referencing back to this time blocking concept, sometimes it's just telling me where I need to be mentally. Or it's like, this is creative time. This is administrative time. This is productivity time. This is family time. These are the different sorts of mindsets I'm committing to adopting. So my calendar tells me where I'm supposed to be. And then my task lists, tell me what I'm supposed to do when I get there. Yeah. Nice. How has this been received by in the workshop of people who lack on board with this? Well, I think anytime someone offers you a structure, it's like Legos, right? You know, someone can give you Legos and say, please make this as it appears on the box. But if you don't like what's on the box, you're like, I still got the Legos, and I can rearrange them. So I think the idea of having a structured way to think about time management is helpful. Yeah. Is it a general mechanism to say within structuralized freedom? It is. Have I heard you say that? Thank you for remembering that, my friends. There you go. Yeah. I like that. I like that. So I guess it's my turn to try and unpack how I think about this. Yeah. And I say try and unpack, because I don't even know. Sorry, let me just like vomit some initial thoughts as I'm thinking about this. And as you were sharing, I feel free to provoke. I asked me a question. So my philosophical initial rant, and maybe this is just semantics, is I don't know if I think about time management as much as I think about self management, because I feel like time is, you know, like a chunk of time, it just is. And our just is an hour. I don't know if I manage that. I manage myself, and I manage my energy, and I manage how and where I show up within said time. So this, again, is might just be semantics. But I feel like I think less about how to manage my time. And I think so much about how I'm managing myself. Same more. Of which where I spend time is obviously part of that. So for me, I think about, yeah, how do I manage myself in order to be able to show up as best as I possibly can, in any given situation, in any given time, depending on where it is I am and what it is I'm doing. So some examples, I guess, I don't know if it's making sense. So feel free to ask me questions. I have certain rules, especially at the moment, and this is very specific to my life at the moment. This has not always been the case. And so I guess that's an important call out is like the way I think about managing myself, slash time differs at the moment. I do not work on Mondays because I have a day with Ollie. I do not work past three p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And I do not work on weekends. And that is a loose like I will probably check a few emails here and there. But I don't do delivery. I don't have calls. I don't, for all intents and purposes, work beyond those hours. And that is me managing myself, I think, not managing my time and managing my values because I want to be able to show up for my family at the moment. Given the chapter, I'm in where Tracy's back working full time and I have a one year old. And that structure at the moment is what I've discovered works best for me. I don't think I'm very good from a work perspective, from a brain perspective, from a creativity perspective, beyond 3 p.m. And I find I'm a lot better in the mornings. And so to manage myself, I use the time of morning as opposed to afternoon. So my first thought apart from my philosophical rant is the containers that I've set for myself are essentially seven till three slash eight till three, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, from a work perspective. Does that make sense? Yes, it makes a lot of sense. And I do think this semantics are important. I want to support and affirm your semantics because the words we use matter and they shape the way we view ourselves, our world, our actions. So for you, self management, for me, time management, we are essentially explaining the same thing. But the words that we choose empower us to make the choices we want to make. Right. Yes. Yes. I like that beautifully said. So then we get to like really tactical stuff like you, I use a Google calendar, like you, I use different colors and I have different, I guess, sub calendars within my calendar. So I have, you know, I have work, which is a light blue. And then I'll color code that depending on the client. So I have different colors for different clients, which just is helpful for my brain. I have a sub calendar called oddies, which is short for odd jobs. And so if I need to go and pick up some dry cleaning that will be there in a navy because it's an odd job. Oddies are probably the only to do's. I would say I add to my calendar. That's where you and I differ. I definitely don't have all my to do's, but I do have odd jobs in there for some reason. Then I have, I think healthy habits is colored purple, which is like, I'm going to put in when I'm going to the gym, or if I'm going to go and do some exercise or whatever I deem to be a healthy habit, maybe I'm going to go for a massage or whatever I'm going to see the physio or whatever it is. I have that and that goes in the calendar. I have meaningful connection, which is a bit like what you were saying with family time. For me, that is, I've scheduled meaningful connection with either family or friends that goes in the calendar in orange. I don't know. I'm showing the colors with you, but it's just so clear in my mind. I love it. Then the other one is experiences/travel, which is like green, which is just other things like we're going on holiday or we're going away or we're going to the zoo, whatever it is. That is a different color for me, which is another activity. I came up with those chunks based on, I can't even remember, things that I deem to be important categories in my life, essentially. Work, experiences, meaningful connection, healthy habits, and then odd jobs. That's in the weeds of Pete's actual calendar. I don't know if that's helpful. I love it. Honestly, Pete, we are just scratching the surface. We could probably do an entire year where the only thing we did was talk about how we organize our lives. Also, I want to hear from listeners how they are doing this because I just find it fascinating. When I have a client who says I'm struggling with time management, I say to them, can you send me screenshots of your calendar, your to-do list, et cetera? Because I want to see how you envision your relationship to your schedule. It's wild. I mean, I've never gotten the same thing twice. Everybody's so different. It's truly fascinating. That is crazy. Yeah. Well, I have, ironically, so many more things to say and share and riff on. However, I have to manage myself and we have to manage our time. It's been about 20 minutes. The constraint that we set for this podcast is over, and that is the long and the short of it. (gentle music)
