- [Narrator] I've spent the past two years
of my life making money online,
while traveling to places like,
this,
and this.
And I did this while only working four hours per day.
Which equals 24 hours per week.
And the only way I could pull this off,
was by becoming an expert at time management.
So in this video I'm going to share with you
my top 5 time management techniques.
The first one is called the Power Hour,
and this concept originally came from a book called
Deep Work, written by a university professor
named Carl Newport.
The Power Hour technique is when you spend the first
hour of you day, performing the most difficult task.
And during this hour you eliminate all distractions.
You get rid of your phone, you get rid of all
the YouTube video tabs.
You send your dog in the other room.
And you are just focusing on this one task.
And there are two main benefits to this technique.
It helps prevent procrastination, just by getting started.
And it also helps you feel a sense
of progress early on in the day.
Which will set you up for a more productive day.
I remember back in university, when I would study
I would have so many things going on in the background:
I would have multiple YouTube videos loaded on my computer,
I would be checking my phone all the time,
I would have the TV going on in the background.
And the result of doing all of that is just taking
way longer to complete the task.
The second time management technique is
using a calender.
Aside from being able to plan your Power Hours,
having the ability to view your week at a glance
provides you with myriad of benefits.
Such as, it allows you to plan
for the upcoming day and week,
it offers you the ability
to schedule new events very easily,
it keeps you accountable for things you have to do,
and it allows you to prioritize your tasks.
I personally love using calenders because it eases
my stress and anxiety.
It allows me to clearly see what needs to be done,
how it needs to be done,
and when it needs to be done by.
If you have an online calender
you even have the option to share with people.
Which gives them, the opportunity to support you
if you're very busy.
You don't have to plan your entire month.
Just start with your day and then move to your week.
In my opinion the most challenging part about a calender
is prioritizing what needs to be done.
Which leads us to the third time management technique,
using the Urgent vs. Important Scale.
An important factor for effective time management
is deciding where a task lies
on the Urgent vs. Important Scale.
This idea is adopted from a book called
7 Habits of Highly Effective People,
written by habit expert Stephen Covey.
Essentially you have to create a diagram
like this one below,
every activity you do throughout the day can be placed
in one of the four quadrants.
The goal is to stay in the top right quadrant
of Important but Not Urgent.
This promotes proactive behavior,
so that you stay on top of things,
and are minimally stressed.
Examples of things that would fall
under the Urgent and Important category would be
a serious deadline, a doctor's appointment,
or some kind of important meeting.
Phone calls, emails, would fall
under the Important and Not Urgent quadrant.
And the point was, busy work would fall under
the Not Important and Not Urgent quadrant,
And you have to avoid this quadrant at all costs.
It's up to you how you want to prioritize your tasks,
and decide which tasks should go into each quadrant.
When you're prioritizing your tasks,
it's important to have a good understanding
of how long things will take.
Which takes us to the fourth time management technique,
Factor of Safety.
There have been countless times in my own working life
and especially in my student life,
when I've created a seemingly flawless schedule,
and everything is perfectly prioritized.
Then all of the sudden I'm interrupted with a problem
that needs to be dealt with in that moment.
And this doesn't have to be a professional problem.
This could be a personal one.
This could be a small emergency, where you have to go
and take care of your grandma, or something like that.
But the point is, it completely throws off your schedule.
And when we are delegating our time for the day,
we should always include a Factor of Safety,
to account for problems, distractions
and errors in our judgment.
Always plan a little more time than you think
you need when you're are scheduling an activity.
Especially when it's an important one.
This will not only allow you to maintain your schedule,
but it will alleviate stress, pressure,
and it gives you a sense of calmness about your day,
and tasks.
Another great strategy for alleviating stress and pressure,
is my fifth time management technique,
and this one is called Taking Green Breaks.
Humans are not robots, unfortunately,
we cannot program ourselves to work for 8 straight hours.
Most of us know that people need breaks,
but something most people don't talk about
are Green Breaks.
This one Harvard study explains that being
around greenery will boost your performance
and decision-making.
Well one study found, that exposure to office plants
boosted not only the employee's well-being,
but also their productivity by 15%.
And that's why I'm recording this YouTube
video with two lovely plants right beside my computer.
And here is a photo.
Instead of just taking a break at the water cooler,
or instead of simply just tabbing over to a YouTube video,
as a study break, go outside for ten minutes,
and surround yourself with nature.
If you are not in an environment where you can do that,
like let's say you're in a city or you're in an office,
simply surround yourself with plants that are
in your environment.
And if there are none there, bring some into your workplace.
I personally found this one has a huge impact
on my creativity, and my overall mood.
I honestly believe that going outside in nature,
is like giving our bodies medicine.
When we look at photos like,
this,
and this.
We just feel good.
Time is without a doubt the most viable asset
we have in life.
Everybody on earth gets the same amount of time
but it's up to us how we chose to spend it.
So learning time management is a very important skill.
If you enjoyed this video please be sure
to subscribe to the channel, thanks for watching
and I'll see you in the next one.