I started saying “protect your time” a lot this past year. If you know me, you might’ve heard me say this on multiple occasions. Today, I want to explain what “protect your time” means to me.
Time is our most valuable resource. I can’t emphasize this enough. We have a limited amount in the day. We have multiple priorities vying for our time at any given moment. How we choose to allocate our time determines what we get done. It sounds like an oversimplification, but it’s not that far off from the reality of the situation.
So when I have a project that is the most important thing to do, I need to carve out time to make sure it happens. Doing this is easier said than done, especially in practice.
In practice, your essential project can get displaced by all the other activities vying for your time that day. Let’s say I start the day with the goal of spending 4 hours on a project. I even block off my time to do so.
Inevitably, there are interrupts during the day. Emails build up in my inbox asking for an immediate response. Pings come through with quick questions or asks. These are brief distractions. Often, they will be a quick question that is easy to answer.
However, some may be “rabbit holes” that end up taking lots of time. And if I don’t actively protect some time, I’ll end the day having spent very little time on my important project and most of my time on these other things. I’ll promise to allocate more time to the important project tomorrow, but I’ll likely continue procrastinating on it without changing my behavior.
Long-term projects are especially susceptible to these kinds of interrupts. Long-term projects will permanently lose out to short-term projects unless you actively protect your time.
So what went wrong?
It’s not that you shouldn’t answer pings or respond to emails because you totally should. And you should try to do so promptly. But there is an art to protecting some of your time so that you can avoid constant interrupts and have time to focus on significant projects.
The other force at play is related to remote work. For those working remotely, blocking off time and putting away email and pings can be even more difficult. As a remote worker, you want to demonstrate you are showing up each day and working hard. You want to signal that you are present and productive, and you can quickly do so by responding to emails and answering pings diligently. It’s visible productivity. However, just because you are reacting swiftly doesn’t mean you are getting critical work done.
If you didn’t read last week’s Finding Deep Work, you should, because these ideas are very connected. Deep work sessions are blocks of time where you can focus on a single task with few distractions. Typically deep work involves “cognitively demanding activities.”
Protecting your time is about making time for deep work. This doesn’t have to be a formal 4-hour block, but any block of time you feel comfortable reserving to focus on the highest impact work.
Finally, here are some strategies I’ve found effective for protecting my time.
Get organized: If you haven’t already, decide what is the highest and most impactful priority to work on. This project can be something shorter term, but try to make time for looming long-term projects.
Set smaller deadlines: Deadlines are great motivators. Try to decompose a project into milestones and set smaller deadlines for each milestone. Then allocate some deep work time to each milestone. This tactic is especially great for long-term projects.
Block off focus time: I like to block off focus time on my calendar. If you’re concerned about responding to pings and emails promptly, let your coworkers know you will be focusing on a project for this block of time. This way, you can feel free to focus on the task at hand.
Close out other windows and distractions: Pull up just the windows you need for the project. Turn off notifications and especially notification sounds. Try to close your email and other distractions for the duration of the focus time. If you’re concerned about missing something critical, schedule breaks to check your notifications during the focus session.
Take breaks: Make sure to take breaks. Grab water or stand up for a few minutes. Taking a break gives you time to stretch, but your mind can still be working on the project all the while. You can also use this time to check notifications and email if you need.
Give deep work/focus sessions a shot. Protecting your time for the critical work will help you get more of the important projects done.
Have another strategy for protecting your time in mind? Let us know in the comments below or email us at evolverteam@protonmail.com.
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