Jordan Mattox

I just finished a book by two former tech workers called Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day.  The book pinpointed areas in my life where I could certainly improve how I use my time. The book is both philosophical and practical. And while I don’t agree with all of their points and findings, there are a few areas where I have made changes to my life following their prescriptions. 

1. Delete Email App from my Phone: I am definitely the person who checks (now checked) my email on my phone compulsively. I probably check north of 100 times a day, which sadly is probably a conservative estimate. Since I deleted it from my phone and started batching email (I check now once in the morning just to make sure there are no emergencies and then in the afternoon to answer all of the emails), I have felt much freer and more able to focus on big projects. 
2. Severely limit social media and TV time: I can binge watch a show with the best of them, spiral out on TikTok and Instagram, and watch every second of a 49er game, but when you live that way, your mind starts to match the medium that you are addicted to. While I still want to spend a good amount of time enjoying these amazing entertainment tools, I want to start to view them as treats and less like fuel to get me through the day. 
3. Daily Highlights: I have spent so many hours filling out and reviewing endless tasks on my To Do List. What ended up happening most of the time though is that I would automatically complete the simplest tasks on my To Do List and put off the harder things till later in the day, which would make me less likely to do them. Now, I create one item that is my daily highlight that I build into the first part of my day, adding it to my calendar and blocking out everything else. I am finding that I am able to use the fuel of getting that one hard thing done to do a bunch more hard things as well.