Slow down time
“What do you mean, Tiago—slow down time? That’s not possible!” Well… True… You got it; my title is wrong. No one can actually slow down time; we all get the same amount of it.
And I’ll start this time management article by bluntly stating that managing your time isn’t your main priority for achieving good time management.
It’s intentionality. Trying to be good at time management without intentionality is like driving faster to get to a place you don’t know, without a map. No guarantee that driving faster is getting you any closer to your goal.
So what is your goal? What are you trying to achieve?
Start there.
Got it? Not yet? I’ll wait.
Time’s up. If you didn’t get it, keep at it, I’m actually continuing.
Understanding our goals—what success means to us—helps us determine what our time is actually serving. Think of this as your vision. You can set up strategies and tactics, but without a solid vision, they’ll eventually lack alignment with a longer-term perspective, and time will be lost. And we don’t want that!
Once that’s done, EVERYTHING in your life should be evaluated against your goals. Activities will fall into one of four categories:
Do it now
This was not predictable but it is urgent, so do it and try to understand if you can predict patterns. If that happens you can convert it into a type 2.
Schedule it
Most of your activities should land here. You have to do them, but you decide when and how long to spend on them. This way, you can manage your schedule and understand your pipeline.
Pass it on
has to be done, but not necessarily by you. Ok, pass it to someone else
Trash it
You thought you had to do it, but in reality, you don’t. Destroy it with significant force so it doesn’t linger and sneak back onto your list.
It takes practice to have a macro view of everything in your life. But with practice, you’ll see that even picking up after your dog on the sidewalk can align with your life goals (you want to be seen as a decent human being, right?).
“This sounds exhausting, Tiago. How will it save me time if I do this every time?” Good question, dear reader, and the answer is, you don’t. There are three key concepts that will empower you to do this without wasting energy and time:
Habits
Scheduling
Process Optimization
By evaluating an activity, you decide what place it occupies in your life. That way, you can determine the best possible way to use your time on it. For example:
Does a reading habit help you become a better manager? Set aside time for it on your calendar.
Does riding a bicycle help you stay sharp, but you hate prepping for it? Find the most optimized way to prepare and always leave your gear in the same place.
Dressing well is important, but you dislike picking outfits? Do a weekly schedule that always rotates the same way.
Your team isn’t communicating effectively and they are wasting your time? Create a culture of efficiency and set up the right communication channels to get what you need.
Driving time feels wasted? Set up audiobooks or interesting podcasts that teach you something relevant to your goals while doing it.
These examples might not apply to you, but if you look at your life, you’ll find similar answers—as long as you do the exercise.
Before I leave you to evaluate if this text was a waste of your time, I have two more important concepts to share that may just slow down time for you:
Priority management:
This is very intimately connected with the “schedule it”. Multitasking is motion but it is not progress. Just because you are really busy it doesn’t mean you are progressing towards your goal.
If you are not setting your own priorities, someone else is doing it for you. So if someone else is setting your priorities how are you guaranteeing you are moving closer to your desires?
Be intentional about your priorities in EVERYTHING (noticed I’ve done caps lock twice on the same word?) you do, even if your most pressing priority is what I will be writing next
Rest often:
Now you can use the metaphor that best suits you now, I’ll leave it to you, some inspirations:
You are a very fast car, but you need to change tires every now and then (and charge up)
You are a katana, you work fantastically well but need sharpening
You are a 7 star hotel, you won’t keep your stars unless you setup a 7 star maintenance process to keep you running in a way that impresses your customers
And my personal favorite “you are a high performance athlete, you need to recover adequately from the stimulus you are getting”, this is specific to each one of us and it is not always the same. Evaluate your need for rest against your reality in the present and not what it used to be in the past
Conclusion
Setting up all of the above won’t help you slow down time. It also won’t help you get more done—you’re probably maxed out already (doomscrolling counts as “doing something,” too). But it will help you increase your focus on what matters to you, getting you closer to your evolving definition of success.
Knowing your goal is hard, knowing what success means to you is mostly like driving without a map. Your support network (or a professionally trained coach) helps navigate those crowded roads and point out sign posts.
Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of any organizations or institutions. This content is based on personal experiences and reflections, rather than extensive research or peer-reviewed data. Readers are encouraged to form their own opinions and conduct further research on the topics discussed.