Skill: jk-0001/time-management-2 (version 0.1.0)

--- name: time-management description: Manage time effectively as a solopreneur to maximize productivity and avoid burnout. Use when struggling with focus, feeling overwhelmed, context-switching too much, or wanting to optimize daily routines. Covers time-blocking, deep work, energy management, distraction elimination, and sustainable productivity systems. Trigger on "time management", "productivity", "focus", "get more done", "manage my time", "deep work", "avoid burnout", "daily routine". --- # Time Management ## Overview As a solopreneur, you wear every hat — product, sales, marketing, ops, finance. Without deliberate time management, you'll stay busy but make little progress. This playbook shows you how to structure your time to maximize high-value work, protect deep focus, and prevent burnout. --- ## Step 1: Understand Your Time Reality Before optimizing, understand where your time actually goes. **Time audit (do this for 1 week):** 1. Track every hour of your day in 1-hour blocks 2. Categorize each hour: - **Deep work** (focused, high-value tasks: product development, strategic planning, content creation) - **Shallow work** (admin, email, meetings, low-complexity tasks) - **Revenue-generating** (sales calls, customer work, marketing) - **Maintenance** (support, bug fixes, operational tasks) - **Wasted time** (social media scrolling, unnecessary meetings, distractions) 3. Calculate percentages per category **Healthy solopreneur distribution (target):** - Deep work: 30-40% - Shallow work: 20-30% - Revenue-generating: 20-30% - Maintenance: 10-20% - Wasted time: <5% **Reality check:** Most solopreneurs spend 50%+ on shallow/maintenance work and <20% on deep work. This is why progress feels slow. **Action:** Identify what's eating your time. Then ruthlessly cut, delegate, or automate low-value activities. --- ## Step 2: Time-Block Your Calendar Time-blocking is the single highest-leverage time management technique. If it's not on your calendar, it won't happen. **How to time-block:** ### Step 1: Block recurring time first (the non-negotiables) - Deep work blocks (3-4 hours, 3-5 days/week) - Exercise / health (30-60 min daily) - Meals and breaks - Sleep (yes, block sleep — protect it) ### Step 2: Block themed work blocks Instead of scattered tasks, group similar work into blocks: - **Admin block** (Monday 1-2pm): Email, invoicing, expense tracking - **Content creation block** (Tuesday 9am-12pm): Write blog posts, social content - **Customer work block** (Wednesday 9am-12pm, Friday 2-5pm): Client calls, deliverables - **Business development block** (Thursday 9am-11am): Outreach, proposals, sales calls ### Step 3: Leave buffer time (20-30% of calendar) Don't pack every hour. Leave white space for: - Unexpected urgent tasks - Overflow from blocks that run long - Mental recovery between deep work sessions **Sample time-blocked week:** ``` Monday: 9-12pm: Deep work (product development) 1-2pm: Admin block 2-4pm: Shallow work / email / small tasks Tuesday: 9-12pm: Deep work (content creation) 2-3pm: Business development calls Wednesday: 9-12pm: Customer work 1-2pm: Meetings Thursday: 9-12pm: Deep work (strategic planning) 2-4pm: Learning / skill development Friday: 9-12pm: Customer work 1-3pm: Weekly review + next week planning ``` **Rule:** Schedule deep work during your peak energy hours (for most people: mornings). Shallow work goes in low-energy slots (afternoons, after lunch). --- ## Step 3: Protect Deep Work Deep work (focused, uninterrupted time on cognitively demanding tasks) is where you create the most value. Protect it ruthlessly. **Deep work rules:** 1. **Minimum 90-minute blocks.** Shorter blocks don't allow you to get into flow. Ideal: 2-4 hours. 2. **No interruptions.** During deep work: - Phone on airplane mode or Do Not Disturb - Close email, Slack, all messaging apps - Use website blocker (Freedom, Cold Turkey, Focus) - Put a sign on your door (if working at home with others) 3. **Single-task only.** Pick ONE task for the deep work block. No multitasking, no context-switching. 4. **Prepare in advance.** Before the block, know exactly what you're working on. Don't waste the first 30 minutes deciding. 5. **Take breaks between blocks.** After a deep work session, take 10-15 min break before the next one. Walk, stretch, snack — don't go straight to more focus work. **Best tasks for deep work:** - Writing (blog posts, proposals, documentation) - Coding or product development - Strategic planning or business analysis - Creative work (design, video editing) - Problem-solving or debugging **Worst tasks for deep work (do these in shallow blocks):** - Email - Slack messages - Scheduling meetings - Expense tracking - Social media posting --- ## Step 4: Manage Energy, Not Just Time You have limited cognitive energy each day. Optimize for energy, not just hours worked. **Energy management principles:** ### 1. Match task difficulty to energy level - **High energy (morning for most):** Deep work, complex problem-solving, creative tasks - **Medium energy (early afternoon):** Meetings, customer calls, collaborative work - **Low energy (late afternoon):** Admin, email, shallow tasks ### 2. Take real breaks - Every 90 minutes of work → 10-15 min break - Every 4 hours of work → 30-60 min break (walk, exercise, eat) - Breaks AWAY from screens (staring at your phone ≠ a break) ### 3. Protect sleep 7-8 hours non-negotiable. Sleep deprivation destroys productivity more than anything else. One all-nighter costs you 3 days of peak performance. ### 4. Move daily 30-60 min of exercise daily boosts energy, focus, and mood. Schedule it like a meeting. ### 5. Limit decision fatigue Reduce trivial decisions: - Wear the same type of outfit daily (fewer clothing decisions) - Eat similar meals Mon-Fri (fewer food decisions) - Use templates and systems (fewer process decisions) **Rule:** You get ~4-6 hours of peak cognitive performance per day. Use them on your most important work. Everything else is maintenance. --- ## Step 5: Eliminate Distractions and Context-Switching Every distraction or context-switch costs you 10-20 minutes of focus recovery time. Minimize them. **Distraction elimination tactics:** | Distraction | Solution | |---|---| | **Phone notifications** | Turn off all non-critical notifications. Use Do Not Disturb mode during deep work. | | **Email checking every 5 min** | Check email 2-3x/day at scheduled times only (e.g., 11am, 3pm, 5pm). | | **Slack / messaging** | Set status to "Focus mode" or "Do Not Disturb" during deep work. Batch-check messages 2-3x/day. | | **Social media scrolling** | Use website blockers (Freedom, Cold Turkey). Delete apps from phone during work hours. | | **Meetings interrupting deep work** | Block deep work time on calendar as "Busy" so meetings can't be scheduled over it. | | **Open office / home distractions** | Noise-canceling headphones. Work from a coffee shop or library if home is too distracting. | **Context-switching reduction:** - Batch similar tasks (all emails in one block, all admin in one block) - Don't hop between projects mid-day — finish one before starting another - Use themed days if possible (Monday = product day, Tuesday = content day, etc.) **Rule:** Every time you switch tasks, you lose 15 minutes. Batch ruthlessly. --- ## Step 6: Use the 80/20 Rule (Pareto Principle) 80% of your results come from 20% of your activities. Focus on the 20%. **How to identify your 20%:** 1. List all your regular activities (product work, sales, marketing, support, admin, etc.) 2. For each, ask: "If I doubled time on this, would revenue or progress double?" 3. The activities where the answer is "yes" → your 20% 4. The activities where the answer is "no" → your 80% (minimize, delegate, or automate) **Example:** - Writing 1 high-quality blog post/week (20% activity) → drives SEO traffic for months - Posting on 5 social platforms daily (80% activity) → scattered effort, low ROI **Action:** Double down on your 20%. Cut or delegate everything else. --- ## Step 7: Weekly and Daily Planning Rituals Structure prevents chaos. Plan weekly and daily to stay on track. **Weekly planning (Sunday or Monday, 30 min):** 1. Review last week: What got done? What didn't? Why? 2. Set top 3 outcomes for this week (see goal-setting-okrs skill) 3. Time-block these priorities on your calendar 4. Identify 1-2 things to say no to or delegate this week **Daily planning (every morning, 5-10 min):** 1. Review calendar for the day 2. Pick 1-3 most important tasks (MITs) 3. Time-block MITs first, before anything else 4. Identify potential distractions and plan how to avoid them **End-of-day ritual (5 min):** - Mark completed tasks - Move incomplete tasks to tomorrow or later - Note any blockers or wins - Shut down completely (no "just checking email one more time") **Rule:** Planning time is NOT wasted time. 15 minutes of planning saves 2+ hours of unfocused, reactive work. --- ## Step 8: Know When to Stop Sustainable productivity requires rest. Overwork leads to burnout, which kills productivity far worse than taking time off. **Burnout prevention strategies:** 1. **Set a hard stop time.** Example: "I stop working at 6pm every day, no exceptions." 2. **Take at least 1 full day off per week.** No email, no Slack, no "quick tasks." 3. **Take real vacations.** 1 week every quarter minimum. Fully disconnect. 4. **Monitor burnout signals:** - Constantly exhausted despite sleep - Decreased motivation or enthusiasm - Increased irritability or cynicism - Declining quality of work If you see 2+ of these, you're burning out. Take a week off immediately. **Rule:** You can't outwork burnout. Rest is productive. --- ## Time Management Mistakes to Avoid - **No time-blocking.** Hoping to "find time" for important work never works. Block it or it won't happen. - **Back-to-back meetings all day.** Leaves no time for actual work. Batch meetings into 1-2 blocks per week. - **Checking email first thing in morning.** Email is other people's priorities. Do YOUR most important work first, then check email. - **Working late into the night regularly.** Night work is low-quality work. Better to sleep and start fresh. - **Not tracking where time goes.** You can't improve what you don't measure. Do a time audit quarterly. - **Saying yes to everything.** Every yes is a no to something else. Protect your priorities by declining low-value requests.


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