Alpha Mail: time management

Martel asks how he can more effectively manage his time:

I'm a regular reader of both Vox Populi and Alpha Game.  Although I don't always agree with you, I can't help but be impressed by how much knowledge you manage to acquire, how much you write, and all the other stuff you do with your life.

I therefore suspect that you're a master of time management.  Do you have any suggestions as on how one should maximize one's time?  Is there an underlying frame through which you view time that helps you maintain such consistent output, or are there any specific techniques you use? Any help would be much appreciated.

I wouldn't call myself a master of time management. I'm lazy, I procrastinate, and I am appallingly bad about keeping to the schedules I set myself. That being said, I do always find the time to get the important things done and I seldom have any trouble popping up a blog post or two.  But to the extent I can offer any advice, it is as follows:

1. Become a creature of habit.  It's much easier to get things done when you do them on auto-pilot.
2. Set ambitious schedules. Even if you don't keep to them, you'll get a lot farther than you will if you don't try.
3. Keep the television watching to a minimum. One hour per day, tops.
4. Avoid getting sucked into pointless internet debates. Make your case, succinctly, and then learn to let it go. You don't need to have the last word; people are perfectly capable of discerning who is an idiot and who is not without your help.
5. Avoid unnecessary socializing. This sucks up as much or more time than most time-wasters. One is seldom genuinely obliged to do as many things as most people seem to feel the need to do. Your best friend's wedding is an obligation. The funeral of your mother's cousin you never met, not so much.
6. Don't fight yourself. When you're tired, go to bed. If you're not feeling motivated to do X, do Y instead. It's the MJ approach. If your shot isn't falling, then play defense and take the other team's scorer out of the game. Just don't bench yourself in front of the TV.
7. Always read everywhere. I actually spend very little time "reading" anymore, in the sense of sitting down with a book. But I read at the gym, when waiting in lines, when waiting while running errands, and on the train. There is usually a book's worth of waiting time per week, so why not use it? There is no excuse not to with all the excellent ereaders on smartphones out there.
8. Read one serious book for every two pieces of mind-candy.
9. Go to bed later/get up earlier than everyone else. People are the ultimate distraction. The more alone time you have, the more you can get done.
10. Focus on the important. The urgent will disappear soon on its own.

I don't know if those things will work for Martel or anyone else, but they seem to work for me.

Posted in: Advice,Alpha Mail