Accept that your life is finite and there will never be enough time to do everything that feels important. This realization is liberating and enables wiser choices about how to spend your limited time.
Consciously decide what to prioritize and what to say ’no’ to, rather than trying to fit an infinite number of tasks into a finite life. This prevents feeling overwhelmed and inadequate by forcing deliberate decisions about your time.
Intentionally reduce the number of active projects and commitments to minimize administrative overhead and cognitive load. This approach allows you to accomplish more high-quality work by freeing up time and mental space.
Prioritize the quality of your work, as this justifies a slower pace and reduces burnout by aligning with your values. When you focus on quality, you gain more leverage and control over your professional life.
Acknowledge that cognitive work requires natural variability, including periods of intense focus and necessary downtime for recharging and inspiration. Your brain does not operate like an assembly line, so build in ups and downs in your schedule.
Start your day by assessing the actual time you have available, then intentionally choose the most important tasks that can realistically fit. This prevents making bad choices and feeling inadequate by grounding your plan in reality.
Avoid the common habit of starting your day by tackling all small, easy tasks (like emails or minor paperwork) to ‘clear the decks.’ This pseudo-productive activity consumes valuable time needed for important, focused work.
Begin your workday with important projects requiring deep focus before checking emails or engaging in other reactive tasks. This leverages your peak cognitive hours for meaningful output and avoids distraction.
Focus on one task at a time, consciously sacrificing the urge to consume every piece of new information or engage in constant multitasking. This aligns with your finite attention and improves your ability to complete challenging work.
Consciously practice tolerating the anxiety that arises from leaving small tasks undone, rather than immediately addressing them. This emotional regulation frees up time and mental energy for more meaningful work.
Incorporate intentional periods of reduced intensity or different types of work into your schedule, such as taking a few weeks off or dedicating specific days to deep work without meetings. This provides natural variation and prevents burnout.
Create a dedicated workspace physically distinct from your living area, such as a coffee shop, co-working space, or even a large closet. This minimizes distractions from daily pressures and enhances focus on important projects.
Recognize that distractions often arise from the emotional discomfort or difficulty of important tasks, rather than external forces. Acknowledging these feelings can help you stay focused on what truly matters.
Recognize and resist the trap of ‘pseudoproductivity,’ where visible activity (like quick email responses) is mistaken for valuable work. This constant need to show visible effort distracts from the deep, unbroken attention required for important tasks.
Be aware of the societal pressure to equate busyness with importance, as seeking busyness for its own sake leads to a ‘joyless urgency.’ This mindset can trap you in an endless cycle of overwhelm rather than fulfillment.
Shift your thinking about time away from a ‘resource’ to be hoarded or endlessly filled, recognizing that time is a sequence of moments. Interacting with time as a container you can squeeze more into is a ’little bit crazy’ and leads to feeling overwhelmed.
Do not constantly try to optimize for speed and efficiency, as this often leads to more work and stress rather than less. Making a system capable of processing more inputs will simply attract more inputs, increasing busyness.