Putting it into Practice
“What’s the most valuable thing I could be doing?”
“The days and nights are relentlessly passing. How well are you spending your time?”
What does it mean to spend our time well?
As the quote above says, the days and nights are passing, whether we like it or not. How do we make the most of our time, fill it with the things that are important to us, and create the life that we want?
While a lot of us have energy around the idea of this, putting it into practice can be difficult. The term “productivity porn” springs to mind - the idea being that there are so many tools and strategies for being productive, it’s easy to get lost in consuming all these ideas and never actually apply any of them successfully.
So let’s reframe the question. If we know what we want to do - spend time well - then how do we do so practically? How do we build a structure for the day that brings our goals and intentions into reality?
One good starting place is to investigate the question “What is the most important thing I’m working on, or could be working on?” In other words, what is the most valuable thing you could be doing with your time?
This is something you can explore yourself, by getting clear on what is most important to you - this is where you will naturally devote the most time, care, attention and commitment, so it makes sense to prioritise that thing.
In an employment context, this is something you can immediately investigate by asking the people you work with - whether they be your boss, your colleagues, your clients etc. “What is the most valuable thing I am already doing?” “What could I start doing in order to make the biggest difference?” “What could I be doing differently to make things better around here?” are all great questions for unlocking this conversation.
By getting clearer on what’s important to you, the impact you are already having and the opportunity you have to do something new or different, you can effectively prioritise and organise your time. So talk to your employer, your peers, your clients, yourself - find out what the most important, valuable thing is that you could be doing, and build your time around that.
On a more micro level, there is one specific technique known as the Pomodoro Technique. This is where you set aside 25 minutes to work on a specific task. For the duration of the 25 minutes, your focus is exclusively on this task, and when the time is up, you take a break and get away from that task completely. This is a really effective way of honing your attention on what needs to be done, what the priority is and what you need to accomplish, giving you a concentrated experience of focus and efficiency.
Try this for yourself, and see what you notice.
As always, best of luck with your exploration.
Interested in this topic? Check out our podcast on Values for more.
