Effortless Time Management: Stay Focused & Achieve More

1. Introduction to this Time Management class: Often do you end your day wondering, What did I actually accomplish? You're putting in the work, but the results don't match the effort. It's not that you're not trying. It's that time keeps slipping through the cracks and leaving you feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. Imagine wrapping up your day, feeling accomplished, knowing that you tackle the task that truly matter. This class and myself are here to make that happen. You'll learn how to overcome procrastination. Tackle distractions and take control of your time so you can truly focus on what matters and also what drives real progress, whether it's in your work or personal goals or both, we'll dive into strategies and tools that make a difference. You'll learn how to tackle procrastination. And use the 80 20 rule to focus on the work that truly drives performance. You'll learn how to break free from multitasking and stay in the zone and stay focused for longer with actionable focus techniques. Learn the five minute priority list to quickly organize your day and activate momentum when you're stuck. You'll also discover how to enter flow state, unlocking your full productivity potential whether you're balancing a demanding work schedule or just looking to take on some personal goals. This class is designed to work with your life. You'll leave with practical strategies that not just allow you to save time, but show you how to manage your time and build systems and frameworks that you can work from and continue to save time. By the end of this class, you'll not only have the tools, but also the confidence to achieve more with less stress. So if you're ready to make time work for you, then let's die in. 2. 3 Types of Time Use: Are You Spending or Investing Your Hours?: Hey, guys, and welcome to the first lesson of the section. This is the productivity, key concepts and principles. There are three types of time use. They are wasting time, spending time, and investing time. We're going to look at all three of these and you're going to see examples for each of them. And this will help you to identify maybe some of the ways that you use time in your own day. So let's jump right into it. The first one is wasting time. This is where you do things like constantly checking emails, checking up on social media and watching YouTube videos, that sort of thing, taking excessive breaks, procrastination and putting things off. Procrastination is quite an important topic and it's something we will look at in a later lesson. Um, the important thing with all of these is to identify some of them that maybe you do in your ordinary day. And once they've been identified, the next job is to try and reduce them and ultimately eliminate them. So let's look at the next time use. That is spending time. One of the top ones here is lack of prioritization. If you don't have a clear direction of the task that you want to accomplish for today or any day, your day will be dictated by everything else that comes your way. So emails that come in, maybe phone calls, maybe co workers come in, any number of distractions will then dictate your day if you don't have your priorities in order. Unnecessary meetings. This is something that I've been exposed to, as well. A lot of the time, meetings don't require all team members to be there. Sure, if you're a key stakeholder and maybe you are an important part of the project, then you would need to be there, of course. However, it's not always the case. So being firm and protecting your time by letting colleagues and teammates know that you would prefer to get the minutes of the meeting, a summary of it instead of attending the meeting because you have other priorities is perfectly acceptable, and it's a good use of time and making your time a priority. The next one is allowing email to dictate your day. This is where you're in a constant loop where a new email comes in, you action it, and it just distracts you from the important tasks that need to be done. And as you know, there's never going to be an end to the amount of emails coming in. So email should become a secondary task, and your most important task should be the priority. Planning and excessive research. This is something that I need to watch myself. I generally tend to over plan and try and get things perfect when it's not really necessary. Good is good enough, and a lot of the time, the extra planning and the extra perfectionism that we strive for it really goes unnoticed. So it's not as if the extra effort is seen and noticed. Sure there's a level that you need to reach, but anything over and above that is excessive. So that's one thing to look out for. And then the final one is investing time. So this is the most important way to spend your time and the best way to spend your time. These would be things like creating your MIT list, which stands for most important tasks. And starting with 20% of those tasks that are going to yield the best results. So for example, let's say you had a list of ten tasks that you needed to perform that day, you would look at the most important 20%, the ones that are going to drive performance or get you closer to a deadline or get you closer to a deliverable, those are the ones you start with first. So you're able to get the most important ones done first before all of the day's distractions and other things come flying at you. So that's a key one to look at. Creating systems and automations, this is very important. A lot of the time, we get stuck in a rut and a loop where we just do things because it's how we've always done it before. So instead of thinking, how could I optimize this? How could I create a template or an automation or an SOP, which stands for standard operating procedure to make this more effective and to reduce the amount of time I need to do it in future. Those are things you need to think about. So repetitive task, things that you need to do maybe more than two or three times. Look at how you can create a system or an automation to do that in future. Yes, it's going to take more time upfront, but that time is invested because it's going to save time in the long run. So that's a key concept to consider. Then create a don't do list. This is a very effective one. A don't do list would be a lot of things from your wasting time list. So you would say, don't check your emails constantly. Don't spend excessive time on social media or watching YouTube videos. Don't procrastinate, don't take excessive breaks, things like that. These just help remind you that you're not going to be doing these things during the day and it'll just help your mind focus on the important things and the things that you will be doing. So that is it for the three types of time use. I hope that you can see how each of them is very different and how you want to be looking at investing time and creating automations and systems to be able to reduce time needed to do certain things in the future and also to focus on your most important task. Those are key. So that's it for this lesson, and I will catch you in the next one. Bye bye. 3. The Multitasking Myth: Why Doing More Means Getting Less Done: Think you can get more done with multitasking. Think again, multitasking can actually reduce your productivity by up to 40%. Welcome back. In this lesson, we're going to debunk the myth that multitasking can increase productivity, and we're going to show you how focusing on one toss at a time is the way to go. First, let's understand the cognitive switching penalty. This is when your brain switches between tasks. Sometimes your brain needs up to 20 to 25 minutes to just adapt to the new task. So it needs to disengage from the old task and then re engage with the new task. So if somebody interrupts you or something happens that distracts your attention, your brain takes time to stop what it's doing and try and pick up the new task that it needs to do. This means that when you're switching tasks constantly, you're losing precious time. So instead, try to focus on one task at a time, or even to batch similar tasks to be most effective. By focusing on one task at a time, you can achieve a higher level of productivity and also produce better quality work. Remember, the goal is to work smarter, not harder. In summary, multitasking isn't the productivity hack it's made out to be. Focus on one task at a time, or even batching similar tasks. This is really going to help your efficiency and maximize your output. That's it for this lesson, I'll catch you in the next one. 4. Procrastination Uncovered: What’s Holding You Back (and How to Fix It): Hey, there and welcome back to another lesson. This lesson, we're going to be talking about procrastination. This is an important topic to productivity in general, and it's something that we all do. Procrastination is one of those things that sometimes we're not always aware. It's happening. Lesson I'm hoping to bring attention to all the ways you might be procrastinating and help you identify those so that you can reduce them or at the very best stop them altogether. So let's have a look at a few ways. Social media browsing, this is quite a popular one, household chores, online shopping. Frequent snacking, checking emails excessively. Even things like perfectionism and over planning are considered procrastination. These are things that if you allow them, they will take precious time away from the important task that you need to get achieved for that day. So as a quick five minute exercise, let us identify some of the ways that we procrastinate. So I'd like to ask you to write down five things that you do to waste time or procrastinate. But now that you have those five ways that you might be procrastinating, this is your don't do list. So you might remember from a previous lesson, a don't do list is all of the items that you are not going to be doing in a day, and this is a great chance to add your procrastination items to that don't do list. So having a look at that list of ways you might procrastinate, you already have taken a step to identify and know that these are things that you need to be mindful of and in future, you'll be able to reduce them or at the very best, be able to stop them altogether. That's it for this lesson on procrastination. I'll catch you in the next one. 5. The 80/20 Rule in Action: Doing Less for Bigger Results: Hi, everyone, and welcome back to another lesson. I'm very excited to bring this lesson to you. We are going to be talking about the Perito principle, which is also known as the 80 20 rule. This is probably one of the most important principles and concepts in productivity, as well as using it in your professional life and even personal life. So how this came about. There was an economist and sociologist. He was called Vilfredo Pereto. He was based in Italy, and what he noticed is that there was 80% of the wealth was owned by 20% of the population. And as he investigated further and looked into other industries and areas, he could see that the same principle applied. And what this means in terms of productivity is that 80% of your results will come from 20% of your efforts. And this is a huge principle to grasp, and it's an important one because it allows us to focus on the 20% that are going to give us the best results. This concept can not only be used in productivity, it can also be used in your personal life and even your professional life. So to give an example, my background is in ecommerce. I've been running ecommerce stores for the last 20 years. And one of the things I noticed, and this is where the principle applies is that 20% of any products sold on an ecommerce store are gonna drive 80% of the revenue. So these would be your best sellers, things like that. But having a look at all of the products that you have available, there's going to be around 20% that are going to be driving 80% of your revenue. So what that means is that I would double down on those 20% of products. That's where I would focus my efforts. I would ensure that the pricing is optimized. I'm getting the best prices from the suppliers. I'm offering the best prices to the customers, which would accelerate the amount of orders that would be received for those products. I ensured that the logistics was optimized so that there was a steady flow of products coming in, and they were always in stock. I promoted these products heavily because they would convert much better than the other products. And lastly, I ensured that the PDPs, which are the product details pages were very, very optimized for conversion. So they had all of the information. I would do AB split tests to see which would perform better, making subtle changes to headlines to bullet list, to paragraphs, to wording, to tonality, all of that, to get to that final product description that was working. So all of these elements, I was able to improve and optimize. But without this Perito principle, I wouldn't know which products to look at and focus all of my efforts on. So that's where it's a good idea to take stock of everything that's going on in your life or that can be personal or business, and just to break down and see which are the 20% that are driving 80% of the role of the results and double down on those. Why is the 80 20 rule so important? So it helps you to set the right priorities and rank them by importance. It helps you to focus on activities that will have the biggest impact on your goals and productivity, another important one is it helps you determine a ratio of effort versus effectiveness to know what will take the least time but deliver the greatest results. This becomes especially helpful when you know the 20% that you want to work with in a given day and those can be productivity tasks or anything else. What's even better is if you're able to know how long each of those will take. So each of those tasks, you could then determine that the quickest one is going to be the highest priority and already there because it's part of the 20% and because it's the quickest, that is going to be the most effective one to start with. And the most important thing is starting, getting some momentum. And if you're able to get to the quickest one, the quickest task that can be completed, but it's also the most important Bingo. It's a double win. So that is some of the most important aspects of the 80 20 rule. So which task gets done first? This is where you are looking at all of the tasks that you would have in a given day, and you would pick them out and see which are going to generate the most results, which are going to drive performance and get you closer to the end goal. Those then become your MITs, which are your most important task. And those should be done first before anything else. To should be prioritized right upfront before even looking at anything else. So how would that look? Let's have a look at a task list example and try to 80 20 the list of items. So we have here respond to emails, attend meetings, write a report, conduct research, organize files, plan tomorrow schedule, social media updates, and customer follow ups. So looking at this list to try and get to the 20% that would yield the most results, we are looking at conduct research, which is 2 hours, then write a report, which is 3 hours, and then customer follow ups, which is 1 hour. So conducting research, this is a very important step with any project or any business task. Research is important because you need to know that your efforts are going to pay dividends down the line. So if you don't do the research, you might be putting an effort that might yield nothing. So having the correct research, knowing that your efforts are going to be rewarded is an important first step. So that's why this would be one of the MITs in this list. Next one is writing a report. This would be needed for somebody else to be able to do the task that they need to do. A report gives valuable feedback. A report also gives information for other stakeholders or even yourself to be able to progress further, things like that. And customer follow ups. If you're in a customer based business, it's important to get the feedback to improve customer service and improve the products. So this is an important one to have on the list. And all of these tasks were chosen because they generate crucial deliverables. They provide essential information, and they enhance client satisfaction. So here is a top tip. The key to success is not doing more. It is doing more of what matters, and I think that summarizes the 80 20 rule very nicely. So that is a good one to look at. And that is it for this lesson. I'd love for you to have a look at your professional life or your personal life and just see where are the 80 20 rules applying? Where are you seeing the 20% that is yielding the 80% of results? And how could you squeeze out more to get more out of those 20%? Because those are the items and the tasks and the areas that you need to focus on. So that's it for this lesson. I'll catch you in the next one. 6. Parkinson’s Law: Why Work Expands and How to Shrink It: Hey, guys, and welcome back to another lesson. We're going to be looking at Parkinson's law, and this is the notion that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. So what that means is, if you give a two hour task, one week to complete, it's going to take you a week. So the key to using Parkinson's law to your advantage is to set tighter deadlines, to gauge how long something would take and reduce the amount of time that you give for that thing. This will ensure that you're doing more with the time available, and it's going to mean that you complete tasks a lot quicker than you did ordinarily. For example, instead of allocating 3 hours for a report or writing an article 0R a social media post or something to that effect, give yourself 2 hours and see what can be accomplished. You'll be amazed at how your brain and all of your resources come together and you get into a state of focus to be able to complete the task. So give that a try and see how it goes for you. So to see Parkinson's law at play, here we have a report or a diagram showing the amount of time allocated to a task that's running on the X axis and the amount of effort required for the task and the amount of effort given towards the task to complete it. And that is on the Y axis. So as you can see, if you give 2 hours to a task, the effort is greatly increased, and you're working at maximum capacity for those 2 hours. If you give yourself 3 hours, there's a bit more of an ease. There's not such a high peak in the effort, and things are a bit stretched out. Then if you gave yourself 8 hours, of course, that is a lot easier. There is not as much intensity with the effort, but as you can see, it is stretched out over a longer period. Now, this is to say that the same amount of work can be completed in all of these time frames. It's just up to you how quickly you need to get it done. And this is why knowing Parkinson's law and using it to your advantage is the key here. So how do you use it to your advantage? Well, again, here the 80 20 rule, the Perito principle comes into play because you would aim to use the time you have for the 20% of tasks that matter most. So even in this Parkinson's law situation, you would still opt for the most important task to carry out those. Always set deadlines. This is crucial. If you go into something not setting the amount of time that you want to complete it in, it'll take as long as you give it. So if you're setting tighter deadlines, say a five hour task, you're only giving yourself 3 hours, there is a very high probability that if you're focused and there's no distractions that you would complete that in the 3 hours. So you'd be able to save yourself 2 hours, which could be allocated to other tasks or something like that. Then last have a look at the non negotiables for the project or task. This would include things like deadlines or budget, things like that. It's important to know what these are, the constraints and the limitations around the project or task because you can then better plan your time and make sure that you are allocating enough time for that, and you're able to if there's deadlines for milestones, you're able to hit them. If there's constraints with budget, you're able to work your hours around those limitations. So that's something to keep in mind. So here we have a quick insight, and this says, the more time you have, the more time you waste, which is very applicable to Parkinson's law. So with that, I want to encourage you to have a look at how long you're taking to do some of the tasks that you've done in the past and see how you could slash those deadlines and reduce the amount of time that you spend on them. If you need to time yourself because you're unsure how long things are going to take, it's always a good practice. And the more you time yourself, the more you'll be able to gauge how long something will take and you'll be able to set realistic deadlines and manage expectations for yourself as well as maybe stakeholders or clients. So that is a key consideration. That's it for this lesson. I hope there was some valuable nuggets of information, and the Parkinson's law is a really good one to keep in mind, and I hope you're able to use it and set tighter deadlines for yourself in future. That's it for this lesson. I'll catch you in the next one. 7. The 5-Minute Priority List: Your Shortcut to Staying Organized: Welcome back to another lesson. We're looking at the 5 minutes priority list here. This is just a really quick and easy way to prioritize your task. And it's great when you're a little bit unsure of what needs to be done first, and this just helps you get your priorities in order. They could be your priorities or even just to help get your MITs in order. So let's take a look at how this works. It's a very simple setup. We have three columns, and then a fourth column calculates the amounts from the previous two columns. So what we're doing here is having all of the tasks for a B to B website. So just as an example, we have all of the tasks listed out here, so we write them all down. This can also be done on a piece of paper, if you didn't want to do it in a document or a sheet, so once you have all of your task laid out, you would then create two columns, the results and time columns. You would rank each of them by importance. So in the results column, the results that are going to yield the highest value for you in your business or for the project in general, those are going to have the lowest number. So low numbers equal the highest value they will yield. And then in the time column, they are ranked based on the lowest number means that the task will take the shortest amount of time. So low number, quickest task. Then we are going to calculate the priority score, and that's just as simple as adding the result value to the time value. So in the spreadsheet, it is one cell plus the other cell. And then what you're able to do is you're able to sort those tasks by a priority score. So once you have the value, they are then ranked according to lowest to highest. So the lowest value in the priority score are the ones that you want to tackle first, so those become your priority items. And it's as simple as that, and you're able to do this in 5 minutes. You don't need to have fancy formulas because the scores are going to be relatively low numbers, so you're able to just quickly calculate them yourself. But if you did want to look at the sheet, I've included it in the resources section, so you're able to download it and just have a look and see how it would work. But it's as simple as that. A very quick, easy and simple way to prioritize your task in 5 minutes. That's it for this lesson. I will see you in the next one. Goodbye. 8. Finding Flow: How to Focus Deeply and Achieve Peak Productivity: Welcome back. Ever being so absorbed in a task that you lose track of time? Well, that is the magic of flow state. In this lesson, we'll explore how to achieve and maintain flow state for maximum productivity. Flow state is when intention and purpose as well as focus all come together to put you into a energized mental state that allows you to produce your best work. To achieve flow state, the task must be challenging enough to keep your interest, yet not too difficult that it becomes frustrating. Am I up for the task? Here is a diagram of the perfect flow channel to get into flow state. So flow state can only be achieved when an activity is challenging enough to keep your brain interested, while at the same time, you're skilled enough to tackle the challenge without it being too difficult. So what that means is that you would gradually increase the difficulty. You would start small and do smaller and easier task. You then build your confidence on those tasks and tackle more and more difficult tasks as you go. So let's look at how to get into this magical flow state. Focus, it all starts with focus. So you need to know exactly what you'll be working on and what you want to accomplish before the start. So that would mean you'd have a list of tasks or a breakdown of everything that needs to be completed, and you would make sure that before sitting down before starting the work, you know exactly what needs to be achieved in that session. Next is the trigger, and you would create a flow state trigger or cue. This could be something as simple as a mantra or a saying that you repeat to yourself, and it's done before every flow state session, and it just triggers your mind into that flow state. So it just helps to activate it, and that is the purpose of a trigger. Next will be to eliminate all distractions. So this will be things like your phone or social media or anything that might bring you out of that flow state and distract. Internal distractions. So be mindful of when your mind starts to wander and bring it back to that flow state and to that focus. Next is ensuring that you have everything you need. This includes things like pens or notebooks or water or anything that you would need during the session. And this will help prevent you from needing to get up to get other things because when that happens, you will break your flow state. And we also learned about the cognitive penalty where if you're trying to get back into a task, it can take a good few minutes to re engage your brain into that task, make sure you have everything you need before you sit down for the work session. Next is picking your best time, and this is really dependent on how you operate and when you feel the most energized. So for many people, it is first thing in the morning. I know for myself, it is the best time for me, um 5:00 A.M. Waking up, starting my work sessions. To me, that is when I can truly get into my flow state. For you, it might be different, though. For you, it could be in the evening time or even during the day, a bit later on in the day. The important thing is to know when you feel most energized and keep that time for all your best work because the results and the output that you'll see is going to be hugely increased than if you were doing it at other times where you might feel a bit sluggish or you just don't have the energy and the mental capacity to do your best work. Next up is listening to music that energizes you. This could be things like classical music or even your favorite songs, lounge music, anything that makes you feel a bit more energized. There's also binaural beats. These, to me, are my personal favorites. It's music produced at a set frequency that can actually P focus and concentration. And an example of that is the binaural beads focus, and that can be found on Spotify or your favorite audio streaming service. Stay hydrated. This is an important one, aim to take hydration breaks and just general breaks to give your mind some rest. Aim for those every 60 to 90 minutes depending on when you might feel that your brain is getting a bit fatigued. For me, I can normally do about 90 minutes from start to finish before I feel that it's a bit more challenging to remain focused and, um prevent distraction. So just have a look and see when your sweet spot would be and make sure to take breaks 60-90 minutes. And during those breaks, remember to stay hydrated. Well, there you have it. Those are all of the recommended steps to take to ensure you can get into that perfect flow state. We have a top tip here, which is to always maintain focus. You should first decide on what you want to accomplish before you even start working. That's what was mentioned at the beginning of this lesson. It's a great tip, and you'll find that it should help to improve your productivity as a result. That's it for this lesson on how to get into flow state. I hope you were able to learn a couple of tips and tricks, and why not give flow state a try and follow some of these steps and see if you can get into that flow state and make the magic happen for yourself. That's it for this lesson. I'll catch you in the next one. Goodbye. 9. Make Your Goals SMART Goals: Hey, guys, and welcome back to another exciting lesson. We're going to be talking about goal setting today, specifically smart goal setting. So what makes up a smart goal? Well, it needs to be specific. It needs to be measurable. It needs to be achievable, and it needs to be relevant and it needs to be time based. Having all of these elements will ensure that your goal is efficiently laid out and defined, as well as ensuring that it has the best chance of success. So let's jump into the first element of a smart goal, which is being specific. So the goal needs to be specific and clearly defined. A poor example would be something like, I need to get more clients. A good example would be, I need to increase the number of repeat clients by 20%. The next element is making sure the goal is measurable. So it needs to be quantified and we need to have a clear point of reference to be able to track progress and know when the goal has been achieved. So for example, a poor goal would be to check reports to see if revenue has increased. A great element will be monitor the revenue generated from repeat clients each month using accounting software, aiming for a 20% increase within the set time frame. Next element is making sure it is achievable. So this is where you would ask yourself, can I realistically achieve the goal with my current resources and skill set and available time or any other parameters that might hamper your effectiveness and prevent you from reaching this goal. Then also to look at, has this been done before by somebody else, that's not to say that if it hasn't been done before, that you shouldn't attempt it. It just means that you know that you're on the right track and you would not be wasting any resources and time by going for this goal. So to look at an example, that would be implementing a client loyalty program to encourage repeat business and offering discounts and bonuses for repeat projects. So this is something that is very achievable and can easily be executed. Next element is making it relevant. So it has to play into the bigger picture of your business or your work in general. So an example there would be focusing on repeat clients because it improves customer attention and stability of income. So that is a crucial aspect for the business's long term success. The next goal setting element is to make it time base. Your smart goal must have a timeline for completion. This makes it real and not just an idea or a dream to do someday. An example of that would be to have different stages mapped out. Stage one, you want to launch the client loyalty program, and you would set a due date for that stage two, collect the client feedback. And make necessary adjustments and setting a due date for that. Then to begin starting to promoting the loyalty program, you would set a due date for that. Then once you have all of this in place and the program is running, you would evaluate its success. So you would look at data points coming in just to evaluate and ensure that it is doing what you expected. And if it's not, then maybe adjusting it or tweaking it or pivoting to somewhere else. Bringing it all together, how would that look? How would we have a smart goal using this example? So that would look something like, I want to increase the number of repeat clients by 20% within the next six months by implementing a client loyalty program and tracking progress through the revenue generated from repeat clients each month using accounting software. So this is how we're able to make it smart, and it also ensures that we are aligning this goal with our business objectives, which is improving customer attention and ultimately boosting revenues and income stability. So I'd like to leave you with a quote from Peter Drucker, which is, you can't manage what you don't measure. So that essentially means that you have to have goals in place. You have to measure and evaluate those goals once you start executing them and carrying them out, to be able to know what is working and what is not. So that is a good one to think of, as well. And so to sum it up, smart goals help you clarify. They give you focus, and they help you to achieve your goals efficiently. And remember, a goal without a plan is just a wish. And with that, we've come to the end of this lesson. I hope there was some insightful information for you to be able to go out and just start making your goals a bit more smart. That's it for this lesson. I will catch you in the next one. Goodbye. 10. Your Most Important Tasks - MITs: Hey, and welcome back to another key lesson. We're going to be talking about MITs in this lesson, which stands for most important tasks. Now, you might remember from a previous lesson when we talked about the Perito principle, also called the 80 20 rule. This is where that applies to your task. So your MITs are going to be the 20% of tasks that are going to yield the biggest results. So these are the ones you need to focus on. So given a list of ten tasks, your MITs are going to be those two tasks that will yield the best results. Those then become your priority and are the task that you should carry out first before anything else. Here's a little pro tip. From your MITs, pick the tasks that are the quickest and easiest to carry out. It might seem a bit counterintuitive and not going for the most difficult one first, but by picking the quickest and the easiest task, what you're then doing is creating psychological momentum. So you're able to start completing tasks quicker. And once you begin, it's going to be easier to continue. So that's it for this lesson, and it was quite a key one. MITs are a very important concept to work with, and they should be part of your daily routine, identifying the 20% of tasks from the full list that are the most important and really just tucking into those and making sure that you get those done first. That's it for this lesson. I'll see you in the next one. Goodbye. 11. MITs Planning Ahead: Welcome back to another lesson. We're looking at MIT still, and these are your MITs for planning ahead. There are two parts to it. There is the weekly MIT list, as well as the daily MIT list. And what this is is you're able to have an overview of all the important tasks you need for the week. That would be in the weekly MIT list. And then you'd go into a little bit more detail with the daily MIT list. So let's take a look at that. The weekly list, it should only take 10 minutes to complete, and ideally you want to do it at the end of the week so that you're able to take stock of everything that's gone on during the weeks because there might be some carryover task that you want to complete in the next week. But it's generally a good idea to do it at the end of the week because you're still in that working mode, and you're able to plan ahead that way. So that would look like a list, you could call it something like MITs week 40. And in there, you would five of your main business tasks, you would have three side projects or side hustles if you've got some things going on the side, and, of course, three to five personal tasks. That is a good amount to be able to accomplish because a lot of these main business tasks or project based tasks, there's going to be a lot of sub task to each of them. So you want to keep it manageable. You want to have it big enough and large enough so that you ensure that you're getting everything in there, but not too large that it becomes unmanageable and daunting to tackle. So where would you store these tis? Well, you could use your favorite task tracker like Trello or click up. You could even use a Google Doc, or if you wanted to go traditional, you could use a diary and just put it down on paper. Even a notepad would do the trick. And ideally you want to do it each Friday. That means you're setting up the week ahead to be a success. Then looking at the daily MIT task list, this should also only take 10 minutes, and this will have a bit more of a granular approach to it. There's a little bit more information to the task there. You would include things like deadlines and priority, resources, people involved, documents, and just give a bit more information to some of the task there. Again, good place to keep them is Trell or click up. Notepad, as well as a diary is equally good as well. And the best time to do that would be each working day, first thing. The benefit of it being first thing is it can become a ritual before you sit down to do all of your work. Or even last thing for the day ahead. That is also good because it allows your brain to just disengage from the workday. You've written everything down. You kind of have a good picture of what's coming tomorrow, so it does have that benefit as well. But whichever way suits you, whatever feels more natural and more productive to you, that is going to be the best way. So that wraps up this lesson. I also just wanted to mention that, of course, there's going to be other tasks that are going to come in throughout the week. Those you would just add to the list. However, you've already put all of your MITs on the list. So any new tasks that come in, they're going to fall into a lower place on the task list, and they're not going to be able to sneak up and steal the coveted spot at the top, which is where your MITs are going to be sitting. So of course, there's going to be more tasks coming along, but this way, the most important tasks are there at the top, and they'll be tackled first. So that's it for this lesson. I hope there was some valuable information that you could use. And why not give it a go? Why not start by creating a weekly MIT list and progress from there. You could even then do a weekly, as well as a daily list and see how that helps you and how you really are able to get your most important tasks that are going to be bringing the biggest results, getting them done first. With that, I hope you're able to get some value from this lesson, and I will see you in the next one. Goodbye. 12. Quickly Deliver Tasks with a Min Viable Product MVP: Hi there, and welcome back to another lesson. We're going to be talking about the MVP, which is a minimum viable product. And we're gonna be looking at this specifically as it relates to projects and TA. So traditionally, an MVP is a software term. It's where you release a version of the software that has the minimum requirements. And thereafter you gather feedback and you continually improve the software. This same principle is incredibly effective when it's applied to projects and tasks. Anything that you want to carry out using this technique and method is a surefire way to get you to that final product a lot quicker. Let's have a look at what are the steps of an MVP? There are five of them. The main steps are to identify the minimum requirements and create the first basic version. So this is the basic version of the project. It won't have all of the bells and whistles. It will be a working version of the project. So it's quite common in software these days to have a single feature software, develop that, gather feedback, and then improve on that. So we're going to be applying that here to your projects and task. The next step is to release that basic version to your inner circle. And by inner circle, that means your friends, family, co workers, mentors, anybody whose opinion you value highly and who can give you constructive feedback. Once you release it to your inner circle, you then use their feedback to make minor improvements and adjustments and just get it into a more improved state than what it was as the basic version. Then step four, this is the most important part. This is where you release the MVP version of the project or task. This is where it is released out into the wild, so to speak, and you're able to then gather feedback from people that would either be using the product or the software or the project or the content that you create, and they would then start to give you feedback. And this is an important stage. The next stage is the important one, I mean, and that is to gather feedback and continually improve. So once you've released that MVP, you can then make minor adjustments. You iterate as you go, continually improving it. And after a period of time, you're able to come to the final polished product, so the final result, and that then becomes the basically the final version of your project. So the MVP, although it doesn't have all of the bells and whistles, it allows you to release it sooner, to get it out there, to get the feedback, to improve upon it a lot sooner. And as a result, you're able to have a project or a product or content that is more aligned with your audience when it is released as the final polished product. So that is the basic principle for the minimum viable product. I would love for you to try this with your next project, maybe have a look at what is the minimum requirement needed for your next up and coming project and apply this MVP principle and get people involved. I mean, you'd be surprised at how how much engagement you can get from clients, customers, team members when you include them in the process. They would love to give the feedback and help you on your journey. And at the same time, you're then able to refine the project and get it more closely aligned with the people that are going to be using it in the end. I encourage you to use this for your next project or task to get that MVP version of it out there and released so that you can gather feedback and then make a much better final polished product. And here we have a very relevant quote from Voltaire, and that is that perfect is the enemy of goods. So striving for perfection is going to mean that your tasks and projects are going to take much longer than they have to, and much of the time, good is good enough. So that's something to think about. That's it for the lesson. I hope you enjoyed it, and I will see you in the next one. Goodbye. 13. Carve Out Time for What Matters with Time Blocking: Hey, there, and welcome to this lesson on time blocking. Time blocking is a really effective method to block out your calendar for specific tasks. So this allows you to take a focused and productive approach to your daily schedule. So the time blocking method has a lot of benefits. It allows you to dedicate time slots, which means enhanced focus and concentration. You're able to have those deep work sessions which ensures that you get your best work done. Improves productivity by reducing distractions, so you're able to dial in and deal with the tasks that are dedicated to that time slot. It's better for time management in general, as it ensures that all of the important tasks they get carried out and they have their own timeslot. It reduces procrastination. So because you have a structured schedule, you are less likely to be distracted or have idle time where you're not being productive. And lastly, it's incredibly effective for meetings as it shows your availability in the time slots where you have meetings laid out, that is when teammates and co workers and other people are able to book meetings with you. So how would that work? How do we actually create this time blocking schedule? So the step one is to identify the tasks that need to be carried out for a given day. Then once you have those tasks, you would estimate the time needed for each of them, and thereafter, you're able to block out the slots for those tasks in your day. Then the next step would be to stick to that schedule and treat it like a non negotiable appointment you have for yourself. So each of these slots, you would then make sure that you're carrying out those tasks. And when it comes to meetings, it's dependent on you if you would like to have one slot available or two slots or three or more. It's just really up to you and your workflow. But what would then happen is if you didn't have anybody that booked a meeting with you, you would either carry on the task from the previous slot where you had a task slot, for example, or you would then begin the task from the next task slot. And that in a nutshell, is how the time blocking method works. It's a great way to map out your schedule, but also allow time and availability for people to request meetings. So with that, it's the end of the lesson, and I will see you in the next one. Goodbye.