Productivity methods to manage time and work
The juggle is real and systems are required. Here I talk about 2 that I am exploring.
I have been writing this newsletter for over 2 years alongside a full time job, and have never missed a week. I have written 107 newsletters, and 99% of them have been between pre-planned and pre-thought.
This is the first time I have sat down to write and been unsure of what I am sending out to you all. Yikes!?
This is ironic as I no longer have a full time job so my newsletters to you should be planned to the T.
Juggling time
I’m putting it down to not yet having figured out my own time management process. I know I’m spending too much time on paying projects and pitching for potential paying projects, something I never had to worry about with a full time job.
The new projects that have come my way require extra attention as I build new relationships for what could be long-term work, whilst I get my personal projects into action.
This has been more time and energy consuming than I imagined, resulting in inconsistencies with my own projects.
I need to find a better system of time management otherwise I will never move the needle on my own projects.
I haven’t been applying Parkinson’s law enough and the fact that work expands to the time you give it could not hold more true. Reminding myself of this made me put a hard stop to some work yesterday so that I didn’t spend the rest of the evening on it.
What am I working on?
Perhaps too many things. Here is a summary:
Professional project work:
In terms of project work I have been lucky to get some straight after closing out my job. I have 3 paying brand journalism projects at the moment, with one more in the pipeline. This has potential to bring in a good chunk of money monthly.
The goal of this work is to keep me in the market place, do some interesting work, and have some income.
Personal projects:
This newsletter! I have seen a surge in subscribers over the last two weeks (thank you and welcome!) which is really encouraging. I am over 500 subscribers now and really want to ensure I am bringing value to you all consistently.
I am building The AI Content Co, a generative AI resource for content writers & journalists. I believe that generative AI will not take our jobs; those who know how to use it, will. The resource aims to cut through the noise and share what matters most, particularly for the media and communications industry. More on that later.
I have been publishing low and medium content books on Kindle Direct Publishing - KDP (17 so far). This has not moved forward at all this year, but it is on the plan as it can possibly be a stream of semi-passive income.
The goal of my personal projects is more long-term, so that one day they can become my full time projects. This is when I will truly have time and financial freedom.
What this doesn’t demonstrate is the amount of work that goes on behind all the projects:
Research, writing long form
Interview research, coordination; doing the interviews and writing them up
Planning and creating content for social media
Social media monitoring and engagement
Learning how to build a site, learning SEO
Learning how to self-publish
Admin. SO much admin.
Exploring productivity frameworks
I need better frameworks for my time and my work and have been seeking new ways. Here is what I’m going to try.
Time: 3-3-3 Method for time management
For my time, I’m going to try working with Oliver Burkeman’s (best-selling author of Four Thousand Weeks: Time management for mortals) 3-3-3 method:
Spend 3 hours of deep work on my most important current project, having defined some kind of goal for the progress. Burkeman claims that you can't consistently do work that demands serious mental focus for more than about 3 or 4 hours a day.
Complete 3 shorter tasks, usually urgent to-dos or tasks I've been avoiding.
Dedicate time to 3 'maintenance activities', things that need my daily attention in order to keep life running smoothly (answering emails, scheduling content, social media engagement).
I really like the idea of this. It’s practical and not over structured. Will let you know how it goes.
Work: PARA Method The Simple System for Organizing Your Digital Life in Seconds
For my work, (I’m referring to the process that goes behind doing all tasks that requires some sort of organisation of thoughts, ideas, resources and files)
If you are a regular reader here you know I use Notion for everything. It’s a fantastic tool with so many capabilities that I haven’t even touched the surface of, which is why it is now my Notion dump.
Just looking at all my work there, I know where everything is as it’s my mess, but it’s not sustainable.
I recently went to a Notion meetup in the UAE (yes I’m such a nerd haha) and discovered Taigo Forte’s PARA Method.
The PARA Method
It’s based on the fact that that there are only four categories that encompass all the information in your life. Based on this, you can organize your entire files across devices, in a way that is simple, logical and easy to find! See image below.
Also here is a good video summary of it if you are interested.
So this is where I am at. I’m also giving myself grace by reminding myself that I am still in a transition phase. This is only my second month not going to an office. It’s been summer holidays and we’ve been traveling a lot.
I am looking forward to the kids going back to school this week and us having a routine again. I never realized the importance of a routine until I had kids! 🙂
That’s all from me for now. I hope you found this useful.
Wishing you a great weekend.
Love,
Abha