{"id":34501,"date":"2017-02-14T05:00:33","date_gmt":"2017-02-14T12:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tested-neuron.flywheelsites.com\/?p=34501"},"modified":"2017-02-14T01:58:46","modified_gmt":"2017-02-14T08:58:46","slug":"dont-find-time-allocate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Find the Time, Allocate It"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m a pretty busy guy.<\/strong> At any given time, I tend to have a lot of different projects going, many of which might qualify as a full-time job. For example, right now I\u2019m writing a book, building a house (or at least working with the builder), and helping manage several different companies in radically different industries, while carving out free time to mentor entrepreneurs and spend time with my family and friends. Every single week brings various crises, triumphs, and enough emotional highs and lows to last a nervous person a lifetime.<\/p>\n

Yet while there are times when I feel the strain of being busy, on the whole, I live a fairly happy and healthy life, including regular exercise and even playing basketball a couple of times per week.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow does he find the time?\u201d someone might ask. That\u2019s just it. I don\u2019t find the time; I allocate it.<\/p>\n

Reframing \u201cWasted Time\u201d<\/h2>\n

Here\u2019s what I mean. Many people who want to be more productive focus on eliminating things that \u201cwaste\u201d their time. I guess their working theory is that the more time you find, the more things you\u2019ll be able to accomplish. Yet if you were to really carefully observe 100 people who were trying to eliminate \u201cwasted time,\u201d my guess is that they spend more time trying to avoid waste than they actually save!<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll get much farther much faster if you allocate time to organization and preparation.<\/i> Tweet This Quote<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When I took driver\u2019s ed, the instructor explained it to me this way: When you\u2019re driving your car, don\u2019t focus your eyes on the side of the road and think, \u201cGot to stay away from the side of the road!\u201d It\u2019s much easier to look at where you\u2019re trying to go \u2013 you\u2019ll practically steer automatically.<\/p>\n

I believe the same principle applies to managing my time. The most helpful thing I can do (and sadly, I don\u2019t always do it) is to write down a short list of the most important\/high-leverage things I can spend my time on each day, and then deliberately allocate my time to them. Sometimes, I even take it a step further by breaking up an important task into two stages \u2013 preparation and execution.<\/p>\n

Sharpening the Saw<\/h2>\n

Both allocating time to the most important things, and taking the time to do the preparation before the execution, fall into the category of what Stephen Covey called \u201csharpening the saw<\/a>.\u201d If you need to cut down a forest of trees, one of the most important things you can do is to sharpen your saw before you start, and take the time to regularly re-sharpen it as it wears down. Sure, it \u201csaves\u201d time to start sawing away immediately, but you\u2019ll get much farther much faster if you allocate time to organization and preparation.<\/p>\n

For example, I spent part of this week writing a new introduction to my latest book. First, I spent a solid couple of hours gathering materials and putting them into an overall outline. Then, and only then, did I start the writing process. It might have been tempting for some to just start writing, but I knew I\u2019d end up at my desired end state faster by taking the slower, more methodical, but much more productive path.<\/p>\n

Productivity tools aren\u2019t productive if they drain your energy and result in your avoiding work.<\/i> Tweet This Quote<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Freedom of Conscious Choice<\/h2>\n

There\u2019s also an incredible sense of freedom that comes with allocating your time. At least for me, when I rely on a standard to-do list, it just starts to depress me because it keeps getting longer and longer, and I never finish. Productivity tools aren\u2019t productive if they drain your energy and result in you avoiding work. Instead, each time I choose to do something, I feel good about making a deliberate choice.<\/p>\n

For example, I wrote this essay on the plane ride back from one of my volunteer mentoring trips. I have to admit, it was a tiring day. I flew cross-country the night before, woke up that morning at 6:30 a.m. Eastern time (3:30 a.m. based on my home time zone), then spent the day giving lectures and running workshops before making the trek back to the airport, through security, and onto the flight home. <\/p>\n

Given my lack of sleep and lower energy level (if I were home, I\u2019d do a cardio workout to re-energize myself, but airports have a distinct lack of gym facilities, and people look at you funny if you do jumping jacks in the middle of the terminal), my plan was to focus on less important, but relatively mindless activities \u2013 like filing old email. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s an incredible sense of freedom that comes with allocating your time.<\/i> Tweet This Quote<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lo and behold, in my inbox, I found an email asking me if I had time to write an essay for Unreasonable.is, suggesting that I share some of my secrets to how I do so many things. I made a conscious choice to allocate my time to writing this essay, and as a result, I feel good about myself \u2013 and maybe even a little re-energized \u2013 despite sitting in the middle seat on long cross-country flight. I didn\u2019t try to \u201cfind the time\u201d to work on this essay, I just allocated the time and did it.<\/p>\n

Allocating your time isn\u2019t a panacea. I\u2019m sure I still waste plenty of time, and both my to-do list and my inbox are way too long. But making conscious choices about my time, asserting control over my situation, and focusing on things I\u2019ve explicitly decided are important, all help me do more. And perhaps just as important, I feel good about doing it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHow does s\/he find the time?\u201d People ask this frequently. But that\u2019s just it. You don’t have to “find” time. Here’s a better way to look at productivity. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":34503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[476,2083,1557,1513],"tags":[3648,1058,3649,278,3650,2731,1836],"class_list":["post-34501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-gyshido","category-management","category-productivity","tag-choice","tag-chris-yeh","tag-freedom","tag-productivity","tag-saw","tag-time","tag-time-management"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDon\u2019t Find the Time, Allocate It \u2013 UNREASONABLE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cHow does s\/he find the time?\u201d People ask this frequently. But that\u2019s just it. You don't have to "find" time. Here's a better way to look at productivity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don\u2019t Find the Time, Allocate It \u2013 UNREASONABLE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cHow does s\/he find the time?\u201d People ask this frequently. But that\u2019s just it. You don't have to "find" time. Here's a better way to look at productivity.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Unreasonable\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-02-14T12:00:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/YehC_17.02.22.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Yeh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrisyeh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Yeh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"BlogPosting\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Yeh\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/cd1eddefe2f49b45e2397037f3380853\"},\"headline\":\"Don\u2019t Find the Time, Allocate It\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-14T12:00:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/\"},\"wordCount\":982,\"commentCount\":15,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/YehC_17.02.22.png\",\"keywords\":[\"choice\",\"Chris Yeh\",\"freedom\",\"Productivity\",\"saw\",\"time\",\"time management\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Article\",\"GyShiDo\",\"Management\",\"Productivity\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/\",\"name\":\"Don\u2019t Find the Time, Allocate It \u2013 UNREASONABLE\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/YehC_17.02.22.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-14T12:00:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/cd1eddefe2f49b45e2397037f3380853\"},\"description\":\"\u201cHow does s\/he find the time?\u201d People ask this frequently. But that\u2019s just it. You don't have to \\\"find\\\" time. Here's a better way to look at productivity.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/YehC_17.02.22.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/YehC_17.02.22.png\",\"width\":1400,\"height\":500},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Don\u2019t Find the Time, Allocate It\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/\",\"name\":\"Unreasonable\",\"description\":\"We believe in the power of business to drive lasting, scalable change.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/cd1eddefe2f49b45e2397037f3380853\",\"name\":\"Chris Yeh\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d26978d51aaf68cfd98c0ce181911333544212df9205a60e1ec09c0ad352f6d9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d26978d51aaf68cfd98c0ce181911333544212df9205a60e1ec09c0ad352f6d9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chris Yeh\"},\"description\":\"Chris is the VP Marketing for PBworks, partner at Wasabi Ventures, and an avid startup investor and advisor. He is also a co-author of The Alliance and serial tech entrepreneur in Silicon Valley.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/chrisyeh.blogspot.com\/\",\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/chrisyeh\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrisyeh\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Don\u2019t Find the Time, Allocate It \u2013 UNREASONABLE","description":"\u201cHow does s\/he find the time?\u201d People ask this frequently. But that\u2019s just it. You don't have to \"find\" time. Here's a better way to look at productivity.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Don\u2019t Find the Time, Allocate It \u2013 UNREASONABLE","og_description":"\u201cHow does s\/he find the time?\u201d People ask this frequently. But that\u2019s just it. You don't have to \"find\" time. Here's a better way to look at productivity.","og_url":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/","og_site_name":"Unreasonable","article_published_time":"2017-02-14T12:00:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1400,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/YehC_17.02.22.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Chris Yeh","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrisyeh","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris Yeh","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/"},"author":{"name":"Chris Yeh","@id":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/cd1eddefe2f49b45e2397037f3380853"},"headline":"Don\u2019t Find the Time, Allocate It","datePublished":"2017-02-14T12:00:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/"},"wordCount":982,"commentCount":15,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/YehC_17.02.22.png","keywords":["choice","Chris Yeh","freedom","Productivity","saw","time","time management"],"articleSection":["Article","GyShiDo","Management","Productivity"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/","url":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/","name":"Don\u2019t Find the Time, Allocate It \u2013 UNREASONABLE","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/YehC_17.02.22.png","datePublished":"2017-02-14T12:00:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/cd1eddefe2f49b45e2397037f3380853"},"description":"\u201cHow does s\/he find the time?\u201d People ask this frequently. But that\u2019s just it. You don't have to \"find\" time. Here's a better way to look at productivity.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/YehC_17.02.22.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/YehC_17.02.22.png","width":1400,"height":500},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/dont-find-time-allocate\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Don\u2019t Find the Time, Allocate It"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/#website","url":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/","name":"Unreasonable","description":"We believe in the power of business to drive lasting, scalable change.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/cd1eddefe2f49b45e2397037f3380853","name":"Chris Yeh","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d26978d51aaf68cfd98c0ce181911333544212df9205a60e1ec09c0ad352f6d9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d26978d51aaf68cfd98c0ce181911333544212df9205a60e1ec09c0ad352f6d9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Chris Yeh"},"description":"Chris is the VP Marketing for PBworks, partner at Wasabi Ventures, and an avid startup investor and advisor. He is also a co-author of The Alliance and serial tech entrepreneur in Silicon Valley.","sameAs":["http:\/\/chrisyeh.blogspot.com\/","http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/chrisyeh","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrisyeh"]}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/YehC_17.02.22.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34501"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34517,"href":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34501\/revisions\/34517"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}