How To Get 40 Hours Daily
On the Elasticity of time.
Hello friends, and welcome to Day One.
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How full is your day?
A teacher presented a large jar to his students and filled it with large stones.
He then asked them if the jar was full.
The students all agreed that it was.
He then poured in sand, filling the gaps between the stones.
Again, he asks if the jar is full.
The students agreed once more.
The teacher then pours in water, filling the remaining space.
"What is the lesson here?" he asks.
A student answered: "No matter how busy your schedule is, there's always room for more if you prioritize and manage your time effectively."
If that teacher has first poured in sand.
There wouldn’t have been enough space left to contain all the stones that he put into the Jar
I have written a lot of articles on time management.
I even once had a course that was built around the concept.
But like I always say,
Time management is more about managing your attention than time.
One of the things that you need to accept is that not every day is the same.
Plan everyday, including weekends.
I even plan time for fun activities.
Even my Sunday is fully planned.
I know what I need to do after church.
Until you determine what every day is meant to do for you, fully optimizing your days would be a wish.
By now I don’t need to write a full epistle on how things like social media zaps your time.
You already know that.
Here are quick tips to help you
Don’t come online until you have achieve your major task for the day( that one you are most likely to procratinate)
If you have a laptop, uninstall Facebook, Twitter etc from your phone and access them only via your laptop.
Use App blockers to restrict social media usage to certain hours.
In addition to these things,
Below are some things that I am paying more attention to this year.
Sleep
My new favorite quote on sleep is;
Anything that you can’t wake up early to do is not worth staying up late for.
One of the consequences of the remote work age is that sleep has become a lesser priority.
We find it harder to determine when to call it a day.
However, I have observed my daily work pattern and have found out that my day is way more productive when I get a good night rest.
A good night sleep ranges from 6-7 hours.
Sleeping during the hours that God allocated for it would do better things for your system.
It is better to go to bed by 10 pm and wake up by 4 am.
Than to go to bed by 2am to wake up by 8am.
The earlier you wake up, the more you can achieve in a day.
You would be more energized.
Especially when you work out early in the morning ( a few pushups can do)
It is not necessarily about the hours, but about what the Greeks call Kairos moments.
Kairos Moments
There are two ways the Greeks measured time.
Chronos or Quantitative time
Kairos or Qualitative time
Chronos reflects our basic understanding of time.
We always measure available time for what we need to do using the value of x hours.
But when the rubber hits the road, kairos comes into play.
There are always times that are more influential than others.
It is 5:30 am as I write this.
As a Father of a newborn baby, 4 am to 8 am is the best time to work without any distractions.
My readers in Nigeria can relate to how things like generator sounds, home and even outside traffic can affect your ability to get things done on time.
Depending on who you are and your realities, there are always hours and periods where you can do your best work.
Unlike Chronos, Kairos is ever changing.
Everything has its season, and two hours of extremely focus daily can move you way ahead in your Industry.
One principle that I have chosen to work with this year is the “Principle of Now”
Now is the best time to get back to someone.
Now is the best time to read that book.
Now is the best time to send that email.
Look out for things that you struggled with doing last year that affected your productivity and rework it.
I observed that I was more productive when I get a good night sleep.
So my day now starts by 4am and ends by 10pm.
Once I am done with my morning prayers and devotion,
I clear out some tasks for the day before most people wake. up.
Kairos works best for early risers.
An hour before 12 Noon is worth two after 12 Noon.
Once the sun is fully out in the sky, the heat also contributes to a drop in productivity.
As a student, the lectures that I got the most from were the morning lectures,
Most afternoon lectures were like torture because all I could think of most times was calling it a day.
There are times where you have to stay up late at night (eg exam period)
Most times, you will sleep after your paper.
An exam is a kairos moment too, because you are preparing to go to the next level.
But it should not be a norm, once your exam is done go back to a more optimized routine that would help you in other endeavours.
Key points about Kairos Moments:
It can't be measured by a clock.
It's about the potential significance of a moment, not its length.
It fluctuates throughout the day, creating opportunities for action.
We can learn to recognize and seize kairos moments.
On Time Blocking
I can’t talk much about time blocking
Because I am yet to fully implement my new system
But what I can say about it for now is the importance of budgeting your time.
Budget every hour of your time daily.
You won’t be able to follow it 100%, but there would never be a time where you would be unsure of what you need to do.
The reason I can’t write about time blocking now is because I am moving from a list based system to a calendar based system.
I am using Notion Calendar to map out my daily tasks( Events) and the times that I am free to take consulting and business calls (Meetings)
By the time I am done, it should look like something in the image below.
Offers From Me
I am giving out some amazing offers this January.
The first is free consulting sessions for the three highest referrals for this newsletter.
I can help you build a profitable career Roadmap for any skill you are learning.
I can also guide you on how you can monetize your business using social media.
Other offers includes discount coupons for my high-income skills courses.
All you need to do is to share this newsletter with your friends.
I have also made changes to the referral system.
Get full details in the post below.
That would be all for this week.
I would love to hear from you in the comment section.
What is the major insight that you got from today’s newsletter.
Do you have any questions ?
You can click that chat icon to drop a comment.
I reply all comments, also kindly drop a like.
Have an amazing weekend,
Lot's of wisdom and deep discovery hidden inside this Newsletter.
I was able analyze myself, how I operate and regulate my time and how well I utilize it, I got to find out that most of the times I'm the one holding myself back. i.e na me wey no dey gree for myself not others.
I calculated so well, then I found out that what I started doing recently is actually what you talked about in this Newsletter (in some part) but I've not thought about it, you brought light to that action. I observed that I go early to bed then I wake between the hours of 4am to 5am then proceed to devotion and truthfully all the days I did it this way. Most definitely are productive, it helps my thinking.
Really this Newsletter touched different aspect beyond time.
With it I was able identify my Kairos Time.
Actually I've got learn that in a space of an hour there is more I can achieve and I'm committing to that, to do much better.
See what people pay for and you're giving it out for free effortlessly, "I was just telling myself if you're not giving feedback in the comments session you're doing yourself, because this is more like a mentorship program" and time will come where there will be no opportunity, is better I utilize it well.
God has blessed you Sir, Thank you very much.
What you said about restricting social media is true. I have been able to do more by deleting social media apps.
I don't use my system my system a lot but I have restricted social media to only browsers on my phone. The frustration of click back and forth makes me spend less time there cos now I only go to social media if it's important.
Also, the story of the teacher at the beginning because explains what I experienced a few days ago. I realised that if I start my day with little and simple tasks, it feeds with an instant sense of fulfillment and productivity but I end not completing any major tasks.
I see now that I was filling my daily jar with sand first instead of stone.
Thank you Sir Ajulu for this newsletter.