Zero Based Time Budgeting: Part 2 — Avoid Painting Yourself Into A Corner
Here is another cautionary tale, but hopefully one with a happier ending.
Yesterday I provided four ways someone might manage their time, day to day, week to week.
I didn’t go into details about what to do each day or week to use those approaches, though. I only described the high-level approaches.
My life used to represent The Grind. And I am still stuck in those habit loops.
But I am digging my way out.
Plus, I have used the Monastery Life from time to time with a bit of success. Certainly, the last time I decided to write a batch of new songs, I did this with pretty good success.
For me, this is not a sustainable approach for more than a preset period of time, about two months max, I’ve learned.
The Perfect Week approach still appeals to me, even though I haven’t figured out how to make it work for myself.
This is the approach where you basically have 42 boxes, each about two to four hours, to invest each week.
Perhaps I will give it another go.
Instead, this year I chose the One Hit Wonders approach.
This is really just an extension of ideas from books like The Happiness Project and Atomic Habits (neither have I read, but I have heard many interviews with/by the authors).
Yesterday, I wrote that I went to Google Gemini to brainstorm some ideas for how to improve this approach, given that I had hit a wall.
I started off by asking, “What are some common methods for budgeting your time?”
It came back with:
Time Blocking (this is similar to The Perfect Week approach)
The Pomodoro Technique (25 minutes of focus; Time Blocking for those of us with shorter attention spans)
Time Tracking and Auditing (do it for a week, eliminate bad habits; Escaping the Algorithm was one thing I did like this)
Set 3 Daily Priorities to Accomplish/Finish Each Day, putting the hardest first (Eat the Frog)
Okay, that’s pretty standard stuff.
Setting Three Daily Priorities is similar to The Monastery Life and One Hit Wonders approaches.
But, Gemini did not recommend The Grind for some reason.
Really? What’s wrong with working all the time until you burn out?
Whatever, Gemini.
Therefore, I asked for some additional ideas.
And I asked how many time blocks or Pomodoros one should consider having each day.
Its additional ideas were:
80/20: only work on the most important and effective 20% of your tasks that produce 80% of results. Thanks, Tim Ferriss, for nothing.
Time Boxing: this is Time Blocking with a serious “stopping” point. You have two hours, max, for example. When that is over, you move on.
Day Theming: dedicate different days of the week to key priorities. Monday for admin tasks, Tuesday for sales calls, Wednesday for product development, etc.
As for time blocks, it recommended four to six per day.
It recommended 8 to 12 Pomodoro cycles (25 minutes each).
Hmm. I noticed that Gemini’s answers were very business- and productivity-focused.
And the general idea seems to be that you have about six hours per day, max, that you can actually be productive.
I also asked why it recommended only three daily priorities. It said:
Reduces decision fatigue
Avoids planning fallacy; quoting Gemini: “Humans are notoriously bad at estimating time.” Ha!
Creates a feeling of true momentum: completing 3 of 3 feels good, 5 of 20 feels bad, even though you did more items.
Well, these are all fine.
But are there other uncommon methods for dealing with resistance or other psychological roadblocks?
I got back ideas on energy management (save your most important tasks for when your energy is best).
I got Eat the Frog, again.
I got “pick something and do it.”
Or, use the Getting Things Done method by David Allen.
Hmm. Not that helpful, Gemini.
Two ideas were not bad, though:
The 1-3-5 rule: 1 is a very important and more time-consuming task, 3 are medium tasks, and 5 are small tasks.
Intermittent Productivity: go hard for 90 minutes, then take a break or walk for 20–30 minutes. I do this now, and it is helpful.
Well, there was even more to this exchange.
Continuing, I asked why its answers were so work-focused?
and then it shifted to wellness.
Ah, if you’re not working, then focus on wellness. Got it.
Then, I asked about planning a week, a month, a quarter, a year.
It gave me some ideas, and most of them were common sense, but some good ones, too.
Then I shared the challenges I have been having with the One Hit Wonder system.
Here is what it said, and this made me laugh:
“You haven’t just painted yourself into a corner, you’ve budgeted yourself into a deficit.”
Yes! Now we’re getting somewhere!
Daily Tracking: 1 hour
Daily blog writing and posting: 2 hours
Daily 15,000 steps: 3 hours
Daily weigh-in and self-care: 1 hour
Daily strength exercises: 1 hour
Daily rehearsals (not a current One Hit Wonder): 1 hour+
Escaping The Algorithm: 0 hours.
But, dang it, I still fall for it…
Lately I have been looking at Zillow some each day.
Screen addiction has been a part of my life since I was a kid.
What are you going to do? You know?
So…
That’s a total of 9 hours doing things I care about.
Sleep and waking/bed routines add 9 hours.
I have 6 hours left.
But they tend to get frittered away. Or I just collapse.
Yes, I can walk for 2 hours and be done. But I find I don’t like doing that.
Yes, I can push myself to write a blog, edit it, and post it in about 1 hour, but then I think the content suffers.
It’s like songwriting. I tend to put in 2–4 hours per song.
Occasionally I write a great one in 10–15 minutes. That is rare.
And I have at least 6 other things I would like to do each day that I can’t seem to find the time or energy to do.
I still have no answers, per se, but at least I am trying.
Well, there is the cautionary tale for today.
I’ve gone into a time-spending deficit and I can’t get out.
Nevertheless…
I am committed to continuing my 5 One Hit Wonders for the full year.
Which, by the way, tomorrow will be the 6-month mark for a daily blog posted.
But I have to find a better way to budget my time.
Let’s see what I come up with.