Throughout my career, I’ve used a dozen different tools to track to-dos, and this has evolved over time.
Right now, what works best for me is writing down my activities and focus areas in a journal. Currently, I’m using Obsidian.md for daily notes. For managing time, I simply record timestamps. I really don’t like managing events in a calendar as it’s too time-consuming for anything other than scheduling meetings with people.
I recently read a book that highlights the importance of planning a week in advance: "Winning the Week" (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61385549-winning-the-week). I enjoyed the read but haven’t adopted many practices regularly (yet). My main takeaway is that planning our time is about balancing supply and demand.
The more we are aware of the supply and demand regarding tasks and time, the better we can eliminate anything that’s just impossible to do within the limited time available.
Insightful read, Orel! Thanks for the mention. Time blocking is the best way to protect your time for learning and practicing new skills.
I am also quite focused on writing at the moment, that’s why I started my newsletter. I use a notion content calendar and I try to use some of the ideas from Tiago Forte (Collect Organize Distilled Enhance).
The main thing is that first I separate idea collection from research and writing.
I should work on that again as well, thank you for the inspiration!
Enjoyed reading your journey!
I'm a plan freak and I think I'm on the other side of the spectrum sometimes where I spend a little more time that I should.
My perspective is, if you understand the problem, you're 50% there. Knowing my next day is basically knowing what I'm supposed to do.
100%.
Sometimes knowing what to do is the hard thing 😅
Throughout my career, I’ve used a dozen different tools to track to-dos, and this has evolved over time.
Right now, what works best for me is writing down my activities and focus areas in a journal. Currently, I’m using Obsidian.md for daily notes. For managing time, I simply record timestamps. I really don’t like managing events in a calendar as it’s too time-consuming for anything other than scheduling meetings with people.
I recently read a book that highlights the importance of planning a week in advance: "Winning the Week" (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61385549-winning-the-week). I enjoyed the read but haven’t adopted many practices regularly (yet). My main takeaway is that planning our time is about balancing supply and demand.
The more we are aware of the supply and demand regarding tasks and time, the better we can eliminate anything that’s just impossible to do within the limited time available.
PS I saw you are working on Chess app - I wrote a piece "On Scary Chess" recently - You might find it interesting: https://read.perspectiveship.com/p/on-scary-chess
You have some great suggestions here!
I have never used Obsidian and I didn't read Winning the Week. I will give them a go.
Insightful read, Orel! Thanks for the mention. Time blocking is the best way to protect your time for learning and practicing new skills.
I am also quite focused on writing at the moment, that’s why I started my newsletter. I use a notion content calendar and I try to use some of the ideas from Tiago Forte (Collect Organize Distilled Enhance).
The main thing is that first I separate idea collection from research and writing.
I read The Second Brain quite a long time ago and it really affected me.
Ever since I write notes from every book that I read and interesting articles/youtube videos.
I use Notion as well for ideas and writing. It's super nice actually.
The only thing I struggle with is having a system to track my todos :)
Thank you for the shout-out, Orel — I'm glad the article resonated with you.
Well deserved!