Are You Working Optimally?

Try asking "how can I do it better?"

We frequently do many things without thinking: checking email and messages, preparing a presentation, or cleaning our homes. We’ve done these hundreds of times and never think whether our current method is the best.

I used to record my YouTube videos on a Friday morning and edit them on Saturday morning. I did that for years. I remember changing how I produced my videos to make them more entertaining, which took longer to edit.

I needed an additional five hours each week for recording and editing, so I had to go back to my calendar and find a better recording time that would give me flexibility later in the week for editing.

Changing something that improves the output often means finding more time initially. You will also likely need to experiment, which will require more time again. The goal is to improve in the long term, which means you will need a little more time in the short term. Do you have the space for this on your calendar?

In a blog post, I wrote about the dark side of time management—this is where we try to squeeze so much into our days and weeks that there is no time or space to think. This leads to trying to make a flawed process faster rather than improving the output.

The goal is to improve the output; the only way to do that is to give yourself time and space to think and reflect. Where do you have time to do this?

The problem with thinking time is that you cannot plan for it. It’s often spontaneous and unplanned. However, you will unlikely have any good ideas sitting at your desk. Your best ideas will come to you when you are moving or in a different environment from your usual one. Humans were designed to make decisions on the move (that’s how we survived the Savannah thousands of years ago.) Those who didn’t move were on the menu for large carnivores.

Where do you have time and space to ask yourself, “How can I do this better?”

Everyone is busy with stuff they are trying to cram into their days. The question is, is this stuff improving your output? If not, you may need to curate your calendar better to have more space to think and reflect.

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