TIME MANAGEMENT | Where To Start

[@firesoul453]

I'm surprised by how many people don't use a calendar.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Me too.

[@Carl_Pullein]

@June@97 Analogue calendars are the best!!!!!

[@senseibas8199]

You are a hero! I despise hustle culture. Excuse my strong language.

[@fueledbykaren]

I have never scheduled my life. It seems a bit scary, but maybe this is just the thing I need. iCalender here I come, lol! Thanks for sharing these tips. Its much appreciated!

[@botistelockhart5078]

I live my life by the calendar. I’m surprised that there are not many task managers that integrates task & calendar together. That’s one of the reasons I use Sorted 3. So when life happens it automatically shifts my tasks to the appropriate time slot. It’s not perfect but it helps a lot.

[@Carl_Pullein]

The concept for using a task manager and a calendar is tasks that can be done at anytime go in the task manager and tasks (and events) that need to happen on specific days and time go on the calendar. I guess we can blame David Allen for that. LOL

[@botistelockhart5078]

@@Carl_Pullein Agreed, however both anytime task and calendar events still consume time, which is measured in a 24hr currency. Depending on your occupation, after adding, sleep, gym, caregiving, and the random chaos children, spouse, work, and quiet time with God, the real question is do we really have anytime left 😆 In short, for me at least, anytime task that take up more the a half an hour needs to be scheduled. Which is why I use SORTED 3. Otherwise I would never “make” time for certain things. I don’t know if Para, GTD, or Time Blocking fits this lol. Good stuff though!! I sent you video to a couple of entrepreneurs.

[@botistelockhart5078]

Oh and Sorted is nowhere near perfect, I just use it for “task time management”

[@katherineallsopp2687]

Have you tried Agenda?

[@botistelockhart5078]

@@katherineallsopp2687 I’ll take a look 👀 thanks

[@annezdesahntis9261]

As always, a brilliant video, Carl! Thank you greatly! We must be reminded to go back to basics. We tend to schedule in our calendar all the work we must do and forget to make time for the just as important other aspects of our lives.

[@Carl_Pullein]

I agree. Our personal life is more important than our work life. (in my humble opinion)

[@crthompson822]

Right?” If Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” The time we schedule for ourself nourishes our souls.!! I gatta do this too!

[@TheWatcherGoji]

Ya I’ll think I’ll start using it also!

[@Carl_Pullein]

It's very powerful as long as you don't ignore your calendar.

[@ahmed_mahrouky]

thank alot for this fantastic video . i have almost never used the calendar . but you made it look simple. promise , i'll start using it

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hahaha it's simple to set up, less easy to practice. Certainly worth the effort though.

[@ychernykh_]

We all understand that life is very changeable, and some events in the calendar are moving out or canceled for some reason. How to strike a balance between flexibility and schedule? What do you do?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Absolutely, and it's important to be flexible. Moving blocks around where necessary. However, the important thing is you don't ignore your calendar. If you do that, the calendar loses it's power.

[@charlespell7762]

Isn't time management an outdated productivity system? For example, Carl Bailey - author of Productivity Project - discourages this approach, and proposes that managing energy and attention is a better strategy, given the constraints of modern day life. Would be interested to here your thoughts on this. Thanks. Charles

[@Carl_Pullein]

I would agree with Carl Bailey that managing our energy and attention is important. Unfortunately, pretty much the whole of society operates on time. Buses, trains, air planes. All business and personal meetings are all managed by time. It would be nice to be able to tell an important client or the CEO of your company you cannot meet with them today because you are feeling tired and cannot focus on what want to talk about.

[@JohnathanSlva]

Knowing that your account is just for demonstration purposes, my question is: How many calendars do you use within Apple Calendar or Google Calendar? Are there any rules regarding the maximum number of calendars you can have?

[@Carl_Pullein]

I have a personal and work calendar and one for my coaching calls. (3 in total). There is no limit as far as i know, but as a guide less is always better than more.

[@reinhardtgallowitz5344]

How do you stay consistent Carl? I find I do the time blocks but I constantly get derailed. Other things come up that are important and I find myself constantly moving the time blocks or just having to ignore them and start over the next day.

[@Carl_Pullein]

I think it's about following a process and respecting my calendar. The way I look at it is my task manager is "optional", but my calendar is not. I do build in plenty of flexibility, so if I begin a session of work late (or I want to continue), I have the flexibility. The best advice is to start small. Perhaps schedule time for dealing with communications each day and stick to that.

[@steffima2949]

I think you have to ask yourself first: Is this incoming stuff really important and/or urgent or do you just want to get it out of the way so you dont forget? If it is the first case, then yes, you have to make time for it. Maybe it shows a pattern when those urgent stuff tends to show up in the day so you can keep this time free from your blocking or schedcule smaller, unimportant tasks which dont really care being moved. If its the second case: Write it down somewhere and deal with it later. Stick to the plan.

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@steffima2949 Absolutely, Steffi. Completely agree.

[@mzamilbr]

Thank you appreciate it 🥰

[@Carl_Pullein]

You're very welcome.

[@Abdullah-zl9ub]

Hello Carl! Your advise is needed as always :) emails never end and one hour per day is not enough it’s ping pong situation, I’m just going to use messaging apps instead to cut it:/ Also my trying out superhuman mail app but I’m confused if it’s worth it. Also using Notion but it seems not really different from simple reminders. I wonder what’s your thoughts on this and why your sticking to apple apps mainly. Appreciate your response :)

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Abdullah, for me I understand that tools don't do the work for me. I have to do the work. Therefore, the simpler a tool is (Apple's tools are VERY simple) the more focused I am on doing the work which means, I only need 40 mins for responding to email on average and I refuse to use messaging apps (these will always pull you away from doing work)

[@Abdullah-zl9ub]

@@Carl_Pullein very useful. Thank you :)

[@tamimathcr7833]

Do you have a midday meal and an evening meal?

[@Carl_Pullein]

I eat a brunch around 11:30 am and dinner around 6:00pm

[@tamimathcr7833]

​@Carl_Pullein Thanks for your reply. I realize the calendar in this video is just an example, but the reason I asked is because this schedule has Communication Time 430-530, and then Walkies 6-7pm, which didn't seem realistic to me, as I am trying to take what you are teaching here and then apply that to my own situation. So I was just wondering about that.

[@KoriMoncur]

Thanks for the video! I do have 1 question: how do you get started with this if you already have appointments and commitments scheduled months in advance throughout various previous calendars (i.e. doctors appointments, meetings, travel, etc)? Part of me would like a clean start with this system, but I also worry that if I don't keep the other previous calendars that I will miss something months from now. Is there a way to merge all calendars into one? For reference I prefer to use Apple Calendar, but I also have 1 or 2 Google Calendars too. Thanks!!

[@Carl_Pullein]

I'd recommend setting up a separate calendar called "perfect week". Design your week in that calendar and over time try to merge your real calendar with your "perfect week" calendar. kzbin.info/www/bejne/faq8hWpnntiJpqc

[@crthompson822]

Yes calendar! I just went through and cleared all the to do off the cal and only nave appointments. Is this right?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Yes. Although you may want to consider blocking time out for your important work.

[@crthompson822]

@@Carl_Pullein I see. Thank you. I had a LOT of random reminders; things that I feel are important but not generated by a thoughtful system. So yesterday I cleared those off to make way for creating an intentional system, based on what I’m learning here from you.

[@RayneBlue]

I use a calendar...but my job is 45 hours and my teaching is 12 hours. I'm not sure how ppl only use 25% of their week for work and 75% for non-work, especially if you factor 8 hrs/day for sleep. The math doesn't work 😳

[@Carl_Pullein]

40/168 * 100 = 23.8% (on a 45-hour working week, you're at 26% of your week spent working)

[@RayneBlue]

True ...but working a 57 hr work week is more than 25% of the week. Someday I hope to bring the working hours down! I think that's why I spend so much time with videos such as yours ...preparing for that time!

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@RayneBlue Use your calendar. It will help to get time into perspective.

[@mohammedb4ig]

"Work is only 25% of your week" *me, a highschool student:* sure

[@Carl_Pullein]

It's all relative. 🙂

[@tristen_grant]

Not everything will represent you and your life.