On Purpose with Jay Shetty - 7 of My Best Time Management Habits to Help You Do and Create More in Less Time

Episode Date: June 18, 2021

Do you feel like there’s so much to do but so little time to finish them all? Are you struggling with managing your day-to-day tasks that it’s becoming more dragging and tiring? Is the quality of your work and life going downhill because there isn’t enough time? Many of us find it difficult to plot our schedules ahead of time and adhere to them religiously. Because once we miss one meeting or appointment, everything else falls apart. In this episode of On Purpose, Jay Shetty talks about creating habits that can help us productively manage our tasks by efficiently doing more with less time. Sign up for Jay Shetty’s free “Pursuit of Purpose” Live Masterclass at www.jayshettypurpose.com Key Takeaways: 01:03 How many of us feel like time is just passing us by? 03:00 By the end of our lives, each of us will spend 33 years in bed, 7 years are spent trying to sleep 04:36 Habit #1: Multitasking versus single-tasking 06:32 You achieve more quality when you single-task 08:04 Habit #2: Time block logical work versus creative work 09:59 How to time block your tasks 12:11 Habit #3: Everything has to go in your schedule 14:23 Habit #4: What’s the one thing you need to do to make yourself feel that today is a great day? 16:22 Habit #5: Create goals and plans: The 1-4-1 Method 17:53 Identify your one big goal and turn it into four weekly targets 20:32 Habit #6: Habit stacking: works on things we do with ease or on autopilot 22:20 Habit #7: Get good sleep, meditate, and exercise Like this show? Please leave us a review here - even one sentence helps! Post a screenshot of you listening on Instagram & tag us so we can thank you personally!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Namaste. What is the one thing I need to do today that's going to make me feel like today is a success? Maybe I want to read to my children because that makes me feel the best. I need to have tea on my own in the morning. I need to get a workout in. What is that thing that you're doing for yourself? That makes you feel like today's been a great day because sometimes you check off

everything off your to-do list. You do every possible item but you still feel empty and unfulfilled. How many of you have ever felt that before? Hey everyone, welcome back to On Purpose. Thank you so much for being a part of the On Purpose community. I am just loving seeing all the feedback, all the insights, all the reviews, keep them coming. It means the world to me. I love being a bit interact with you. And like I keep saying, I can't wait to do these on-purpose events.

We'll be get to hang and get to me. I'm really, really excited for those. And today's podcast in this episode is all about time. How many of us feel we waste time. We don't make the most of our time and we don't create enough with our time. How many of us feel like time is just passing us by? Well, like has it really been a month? Are we already into June? I mean, when did this year even start? I mean, we're already into June. It's incredible how fast time flies and it's so important. It's so integral that we learn the habits that

help us understand how to manage our time. Now, some of the habits I'm going to be sharing with you today are things that I learned very early on in life. And some of them are going to be things that I learned more recently. But either way, I have found that how I use my time is directly correlated to the quality of my life. Time isn't just about how you feel if you've got stuff done or if you checked off everything if you're to-do list, it's actually about the quality of your life. Time and how you use it can cause regret or it can be an investment. It can be something you waste or something you spend.

It can be something that you use to grow or it can hold you back. And so knowing the seven habits to make more with your time, to create more with your time and to truly feel like your time is fulfilling. These seven habits and practices I'm going to share with you today are things that I have employed and tried and tested for a long, long time. So in think like a monk, I actually give a breakdown on how we spend our time according to studies. So I'm reading from page 12 of the book in the first chapter. And we say that by the end of our lives on average, each of us will spend 33 years in bed, seven years of which we'll be spent trying to sleep.

That's crazy already, right? When you think about it, you're like, wow, all those nights I spent tossing and turning, I'm sorry if this now makes you toss in dirt tonight, that is not my intention. But it's to help us realize the quality of sleep, the value of sleep, why we need to sleep effectively and I'll get on to sleep as a habit in our practices today. We spend a year and four months exercising.

That's good news and maybe that could increase too. And we spend more than three years on vacation. I know a lot of us would like to increase that statistic. Now, some of us are spending more time getting ready than others. It said that women generally spend about 136 days getting ready and men about 46 days. So we start to look at our time when we're looking at the amount of time we'll spend around 11 years of our lives looking at a TV and social media. And perhaps for a lot of us it's more than that.

So it's incredible to think of how we spend our time and how that dictates our values in life and how that impacts how we feel about ourselves. And so these habits I'm gonna share with you will help you to actually effectively use your time in the way you want to. So the first habit that I'm gonna speak about is called multitasking versus monotasking or multitasking versus single-tasking.

Now, how many of you believe that you can multitask? I know you're nodding right now, I know you're raising your hand. How many of you genuinely feel you can multitask? I have my hand up because I used to be one of those people. I then read a study that said this, only 2% of the world's population can multitask. That means 98% of us cannot multitask. Now, the article goes on to say that when people hear that, we all believe that we're in that 2%,

right? We all believe we can multitask. When the truth is, we're most likely in that 98% I can't. So if you're still sitting there convincing yourself that most likely in that 98% I can't. So if you're still sitting there convincing yourself that you're in that 2% I promise you you're not. And we have to switch to monotasking or single tasking. This is the idea of being present. Right now as I'm recording this podcast, I don't have my phone in front of me, I don't have my laptop in front of me, I don't have any device in front of me apart from the microphone and the recorder.

I am fully present with you and I know you can feel it. I know right now whether you're walking your dog, whether you're cooking, whether you're eating, whether you're editing, whether you're at the gym, I know you can feel that I'm present. And why do I do that? Not so I can say I was monotasking or single-tasking, I do it because I want you to get the best of me. You know that this podcast would be different

if I was texting or messaging. You know this podcast would be different if I was cooking or if I was at the gym or if I was editing while I was doing this podcast. The quality of our output decreases as we multitask. Our efficiency and productivity goes up as we monotask or single-task. We think that, hey, if I only spend time on one thing at a time, then I'm gonna slow down. I'm gonna achieve less than everybody. That's not true.

You will actually achieve more quality. You will actually achieve more depth. You will actually achieve more connection by single tasking or monotasking. Think about every habit you do in the day. When are you trying to do some work, but you're also trying to do two different types of work. You're trying to send an email, but you're also trying to do some research. You're trying to create the next PowerPoint

presentation at work, but you're also dealing with an Excel spreadsheet. And all of a sudden, by the end of the day, you've done neither. This is a common occurrence for pretty much all of us and the only way to solve it is Promise to be present with the task at hand. So from today. I want you When you start an activity to put away all your distractions for the time that activity takes Just try it. You'll feel uncomfortable. You'll feel uneasy, you'll have withdrawal symptoms, but I promise you, you will bring your awareness and attention back every time, and that's how you'll develop that muscle. That is how you will actually build that muscle. So that is the first habit that I want you to commit to.

The second one has been probably the biggest revelation in the last five years of my life. And this is two time block, logical versus creative work. I read a study that said, you can't be logical and creative at the same time. It's almost like trying to drive from East LA to West LA in peak traffic. Your brain is getting conditioned in a particular area. And now you're asking it to completely switch and catapult to another

side of use. It is so difficult. It is almost like stretching an elastic band and hoping it doesn't break your stretching your ability to extend and expand yourself into two completely opposite ways of working and trying to get it happen at the same time. How many of you walk from a data meeting into a brainstorm meeting? How many of you go from trying to be creative and coming up with ideas

to then trying to do your finances? How many of you go from looking at analytics or algorithms and then try and figure out what your next post is going to be on social media? Right, whatever job you do, we all toggle and pendulum swing between these two very opposite uses of our mind.

It's crazy to me that we didn't figure this out earlier, but the idea of block creating or block being logical actually allows you to go deep and absorb and create. It actually makes you feel more ease. Things come naturally. Things move in the flow. When I'm recording a podcast, I try and schedule 10 podcasts that week because then I get really good at hosting. I get really good at asking questions rather than if I went from a podcast meeting to then rushing into another meeting, right? So I want you to think about in your life where you can time block and create. Now I want to give you

a method of how to do this. This week I want you to write out your to-do list. So write down one to ten of your to-do list for the whole week. What are all the tasks you need to do? Just create a long list of those as many as you usually have on your to-do list. Now, on a piece of paper, I want you to create a little table, draw a line down the middle, and on one side write logical, and the other side write down creative. What you're going to do is you're going to plot each of these to-do list items into whether it's a logical item or a creative item. Is it logical? Is it analytical? Is it structured? Is it methodical? Right? Like, that's the logical

aspect. Or is it creative? Is it with brainstorm? Is it artistic? Is it doingical, right? Like, that's the logical aspect. Or is it creative? Is it with brainstorm? Is it artistic? Is it doing something new and fresh and that requires innovation? It's really important that you decipher whether something's logical and creative. That's the first step.

The final step is figuring out how long you think each item will take. So, for example, if I'm scripting for my podcast, which is a creative task that I know is going to take about two hours, but if I'm focusing on looking at the analytics of my videos, or my episodes, for example, I know that's a logical task which will take about an hour. So you want to next to each item right down a time estimate

for how long you think it's going to take. It's then the moment to switch this into which day you're going to do it on. So Mondays could be logical days, Tuesday could be creative days, Wednesday could be a creative day, Thursday, logical and Friday are logical, for example. But the goal is you can also do mornings and afternoons so you can have logical mornings and creative afternoons or creative mornings

and logical afternoons. It's important that you use the time estimate to schedule in your day, what time of day you're going to practice it, and when it's going to get done. Remember the goal is to be as immersive as possible. So if you can have a couple of days in the road that are both logical or creative, you're more likely to really let your mind go there.

Hi, I'm David Eagleman. I have a new podcast called Inner Cosmos on I Heart. I'm a neuroscientist and an author at Stanford University and I've spent my career exploring the three-pound universe in our heads. On my new podcast, I'm going to explore the relationship between our brains and our experiences by tackling unusual questions, so we can better understand our lives and our realities, like, does time really run in slow motion when you're in a car accident?

Or, can we create new senses for humans? Or what does dreaming have to do with the rotation of the planet? So join me weekly to uncover how your brain steers your behavior, your perception, and your reality. Listen to Intercosmos with David Eagleman on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Conquer your New Year's resolution to be more productive with the Before Breakfast Podcast in each bite-sized daily episode, time management and productivity expert Laura Vandercam teaches you how to make the most of your time, both at work and at home. These are the practical suggestions you need to get more done with your day.

Just as lifting weights keeps our bodies strong as we age, learning new skills is the mental equivalent of pumping iron. Listen to Before Breakfast on the I Heart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jay Shetty and on my podcast on purpose, I've had the honor to sit down with some of the most incredible hearts and minds on the planet. Oprah, everything that has happened to you can also be a strength builder for you if you allow it. Kobe Bryant.

The results don't really matter. It's the figuring out that matters. Kevin Haw. It's not about us as a generation at this point. It's about us trying our best to create change. Luminous Hamilton, that's for me been taking that moment for yourself each day, being kind to yourself because I think for a long time I wasn't kind to myself. And many, many more.

If you're attached to knowing, you don't have a capacity to learn. On this podcast, you get to hear the raw real-life stories behind their journeys, and the tools they used, the books they read, and the people that made a difference in their lives so that they can make a difference in hours. Listen to on purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Join the journey soon. The third habit is everything has to go in your schedule. And I mean everything. I mean breakfast.

I mean lunch. I mean dinner. I mean break time. I mean watching your favorite show. I mean exercising. I mean everything you possibly can. Because what that means is when you do that on a Sunday before the week begins,

you look at your schedule every morning and you know exactly what you have to do. You're so clear, you don't have to think, you don't have to procrastinate, you don't have to overthink, you don't have to over analyze, you don't have to waste time, you already know what you're doing next. You're already clear on what's next. You're already completely free of the pressure to think, do I want to do this?

Do I need to do this? Do I have to do this? It is all clear. For a long time now, I've had my meal times there as well because I would find myself just working through lunch, then feeling hungry, then feeling a problem with my gut, then feeling like I should have eaten on time. And then I'm eating junk food. I'm now eating too much sugar. I'm now consuming a drink that

has just got all the terrible stuff in it because I need to get that energy back. So notice how each of our bad habits or lack of prioritization leads to another bad habit. So everything truly, truly, truly needs to be in your schedule, and that's not something that you want to miss, because I find that if it's not in my calendar, if it's not in my schedule, it gets forgotten. How many times did you know you had a meeting, but then you missed the meeting? How many times were you unprepared for an appointment because you forgot, because it wasn't in your calendar? This is a common occurrence and it waste time.

You have to reschedule the meeting. It may take two weeks now by the time that person has time for you. It makes people feel undervalued. There are so many emotional impacts of not managing your time effectively. People get hurt, people get offended, you get hurt, you get offended, and it starts to create more and more issues in your life. The fourth habit and practice is a simple question you have to ask yourself every day.

And this is a question that has to be asked on the day. It's not something that you can prepare or plan for or come up with a week in advance. This is the day. It's not something that you can prepare or plan for or come up with a week in advance. This is the question. What's the one thing I need to do today to make myself feel that today is a great day? What is the one thing I need to do today that's going to make me feel like today is a success? And it's one thing that you do for yourself. It may be I want to read to my children because that's going to make me feel like today is a success. And it's one thing that you do for yourself. It may be I wanna read to my children

because that makes me feel the best. It's going to be, I need to have tea on my own in the morning. I need to get a workout in. What is that thing that you're doing for yourself? That makes you feel like today's been a great day because sometimes you check off everything of your to-do list You do every possible item, but you still feel empty and unfulfilled. How many of you have ever felt that before?

Right, you check off everything of your to-do list and you're still wondering why do I feel incomplete? Why don't I feel good about myself? And it's because you haven't done that one thing. The best way to do this is to set a time every day that you ask yourself this question. It could be first in the morning, could be the last night when you have an hour left at the end of the day,

we can really choose what you want to do. And I've noticed that when I ask myself this question, rarely is the answer I want to watch a show or I want to waste time. It'll be something like, why don't I just read one line of my favorite book? Why don't I just watch this one video that inspires me?

Why don't I pray? Why don't I meditate? It's always something profound and it may not be for you. For you, it may just be watching your favorite show and that's totally fine. I find for me, it's just always something that makes me reflect, step back and feel even more grateful that I'm alive. Now step five is creating goals and plans. This method has saved me so much time and it's a method that goes from one big goal to four weekly targets to one daily task, right? One big goal, four weekly targets

and then one task per day. I call it the one for one method. Every month in my life is planned in this way to make me feel like I'm not a head or behind, but I'm exactly where I need to be. So often we have a goal, but we don't create a plan to get there. So we judge ourselves every day. That waste time and energy. We feel we're behind that waste time and energy.

We actually now realize we are behind that waste time and energy. We actually now realize we are behind that waste time and energy. But you don't know what a head or behind is because you never had a plan. I'll give you an example. If I know I want to get from point A to point B and I know it's a two hour journey and I leave half an hour late, I know that I'm going to get there roughly half an hour after the time I predicted because I had a plan. If I knew which route I was going to take and I checked it on the GPS. But if I just went out there, I had a goal to get to point B. I didn't really think about how long it was going to take. I didn't look at the traffic and then I'm just stuck. Now that drains more time and drains more energy. So

the first thing is you need what is your big monthly goal? For example, I want to finish my book proposal. That could be a goal. Another type of goal would be I want to lose or gain X amount of weight. Another goal could be I want to create a business plan for my new passion idea. I want to launch my podcast, right? These are all one big goal for a month, or it could be longer. Now, you want to turn that one big goal into four weekly targets.

So let's take the book proposal idea. Week one, I'm going to create my chapter summary. Week two, I'm going to create my marketing plan. Week three, I'm going to write out my first chapter. And week number four, I'm going to get feedback from my agent or my team members. That would be a great four breakdown of four weekly targets. I now need a daily task to complete that weekly target. Day one, research a book proposal. Day two, start looking at examples of other book proposals. Day three, right? You start seeing how it works. When you can break down one big goal into four weekly targets and then into one

daily task, I promise you, you will be creating a plan that simplifies and makes the process so much easier than ever before. What we do if we don't do this is we have that big goal and we just hope that we're going to know what to do tomorrow. And the problem is it gets the tomorrow you wake up, you open your laptop and you go, oh, I don't even know where to start because it's so overwhelming. Right. It's so overwhelming. You're looking at the whole journey instead of looking at the first step. Right. It's all about looking at that first step. If someone asks you to build a wall, you look at the first brick. If someone asks you to walk 10 miles, you look at the first step of

the first mile. If you're looking at a tournament, if you're trying to win a trophy, you don't think about the whole tournament, you think about the game that you're in right now. When we were trained in meditation as monks, it would always be like focus on this one mantra at a time, this one affirmation at a time. Often we would meditate for four, eight hours, 12 hours sometimes, but we were taught not to focus on the first hour,

or the first minute. We were told to focus on the first moment, the first mantra, the current moment, the current mantra. That was all we had to give our energy to. So I want you to use the one for one method. Habit number six is called Habit stacking. Now, I know I spoke to you about monotasking versus multitasking, but habit stacking works when we're doing something that we do on autopilot with ease and that is natural. And we've always found already found a mindful way of doing it. I'll give an example. You may wake up in the morning and a night and you brush your teeth without even thinking about it. And you've tried to become more mindful, you're more present, but actually now you may start listening to a podcast as you

brush your teeth. You might be listening to an audiobook as you brush your teeth. Or let's say you have a chore that you have to do at night. You have to wash your clothes or you have to wash up the dishes or whatever you do after eating. And again, you're going to listen to that audio book. You're going to put on your favorite song. You're going to call your friend. This allows you to do two things at once, but only with habits that you do almost unconsciously. This doesn't apply to the focused, creative work.

It doesn't apply to the logical work. It applies to the habits that you do almost with your eyes closed. But now you're adding this layer so that you feel you use your time more effectively. I find that when I'm driving, it's a great time to listen. I find that when I'm washing up, it's a great time to talk to someone. Not only does the activity that may seem labor-serm or tiring or boring seem more meaningful, but also I feel like I'm getting more out of my time. Ask yourself, what are the habits in your day that you could add a habit to which doesn't take away from the best thing you're doing?

That's a very important question to be asking. You can't take away from what you're trying to do. It can't make you less effective at something you're trying to do. And the seventh habit, to get more out of your time and make more out of your time, and I know it sounds counterintuitive, but I mean it. It's good sleep. You get good sleep. You will get more out of your time.

You exercise. You will get more out of your time. You exercise, you will get more out of your time. You meditate, you will get more out of your time. What's common about these three habits is we think they take time, but they all make time. If you slept well, you're more alert. If you've exercised, you have more energy. If you've meditated, you're more focused. So even though those habits take time, they actually make more time than they take.

So many of us get absolutely lost in thinking, oh no, I don't have time to meditate, so I've got too much work to do. Well, what if you were able to do the same amount of work in less time because you were so focused through the meditation? Oh, I can't exercise today. I've just, you know, I've got so much on,

so many tasks to finish. Well, what if I was more energized? Maybe I'd work faster and smarter. Oh, I can't, I can't do it today because, you know, I can't sleep enough today. I've got too much to finish off, but now I'm drained and I'm drained the next day. Please do not underestimate the value of sleep, meditation and exercise in helping you be more productive and effective and make more of your time. Thank you so much everyone for listening today. Let me know in your Instagram stories and your Twitter posts what is the number one habit that you're taking away from this and going to apply this week. I love learning what's practically improving your lives. I can't wait to see it

and make sure you leave a review of you can. Thank you so much for listening to On Purpose. I'll see you again next week. Let's get real. Most people either don't like their jobs, feel unfulfilled in their jobs or realize their day jobs are no longer stable. But what's required in a fulfilling career? You need to feel like you're good at what you do, and that your job allows you to serve the world through your greater purpose in some capacity. If you feel like you haven't achieved this yet in life, the important thing to remember is that it's never too late. It's never too late to start over and

choose to really go after what you're meant to do. Join me on July 1st for my brand new live masterclass pursuit of purpose. We'll discuss the ways in which you can create a career that fulfills your soul and how you can serve the world by living out your values, passions and purpose. To register, just go to jsheddieperpist.com. Again, that's jshettypurpose.com.

The only way you're going to feel satisfied in your career is if you choose to honor your greatest values. It's time to find what makes you come alive. I'm so grateful and so excited for you to join your pursuit of purpose. See you on July 1st. Conquer your New Year's resolution to be more productive with the Before Breakfast Podcast

in each bite-sized daily episode. Time management and productivity expert Laura Vandercam teaches you how to make the most of your time, both at work and at home. These are the practical suggestions you need to get more done with your day. Just as lifting weights keeps our bodies strong as we age, learning new skills is the mental equivalent of pumping iron. Listen to before breakfast on the I Heart radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

The therapy for Black Girls podcast is your space to explore mental health, personal development, and all of the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves. I'm your host, Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia, and I can't wait for you to join the conversation every Wednesday. Listen to the therapy for Black Girls podcast on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Take

good care. I'm Eva Longoria. And I'm Maite Gomes-Rachorn. We're so excited to introduce you to our new podcast, Hungry For History. On every episode, we're exploring some of our favorite dishes, ingredients, beverages from our Mexican culture. We'll share personal memories and family stories, decode, culinary customs, and even provide a recipe or two for you to try at home. Listen to Hungry For History on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.