How I Finally Made Peace With Time Management

Udumbara Udumbara
Aug 20, 2025 - 09:54 Updated: Aug 19, 2025 - 14:05
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How I Finally Made Peace With Time Management

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I find generic advice hard to swallow.

Many articles I read feel like a summary of all the advice a person could find online on a given topic. What’s far more interesting to me is to learn how real people approach a problem in a holistic sense.

I want to know what tactics they use that actually work, what they’ve tried that didn’t work for them, and what that journey of discovery looked like.

Real-life examples are much more vivid and easy to remember. If you know the person who is sharing, either from personal interaction or by following their writing for some time, that advice is brimming with context—the very thing that is most scarce in this world—not content.

It’s in that spirit that I want to share my personal experience with time management.
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4 Tried and Discarded Time Management Methods

What works or doesn’t work for me is going to be particular to me, but I hope that sharing my experiences paints a useful picture of how one person has approached problems with some degree of success.

1. Multitasking

Some people don’t believe anyone can multitask well, but I’m not in that camp. Certain kinds of multitasking allow talented individuals to squeeze a bit more productivity out of the same amount of time.
The reason I don’t multitask myself is pretty simple—I am one of the absolute worst multitaskers I know. To give an example, if I’m engaged in a really good conversation while driving, it’s not uncommon for my speed to increase or decrease significantly.

2. Capturing Every Task

Various productivity methods, such as David Allen’s popular GTD methodology, advocate for capturing every single task or idea and getting it down on paper. The goal is to clear your mind of mental clutter, and for many people, it works!
However, when I go down this road, I end up spending far too much of my mental energy cataloging, organizing, and maintaining my list. The list itself becomes a menacing shadow of unfinished work that hangs over me all day.

3. Following a Detailed Schedule

Similar to the last tactic is the idea of managing your time by creating a detailed timeline of what you’ll be doing for each hour. Instead of using a to-do list to capture and organize your day, you put those tasks directly into a slot in your calendar when you know they’ll get done.

At some margin, I love this advice. For the most important projects on my plate, I will definitely schedule a fixed time to work on them. But if I start putting everything on the calendar, I begin to feel boxed in, as if I’ve given up too much autonomy in setting my daily schedule. After a while, I find myself rebelling against this feeling.

4. Getting up Early

I’m a little jealous of people who can get away with six or seven hours of sleep a night and still feel great. With seemingly minimal tradeoff, these people are spending nearly 10 to 15 percent more time awake than a person like me, who averages closer to eight or nine hours a night.

I’ve tried disciplining myself to get up early, and I feel very motivated for about a week. After that, I slowly feel my body and brain becoming more and more lethargic—pretty much canceling out the intended benefits of my early rising.
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7 Time Management Tips That Work for Me

In the past several years, I’ve honed in on several approaches to time management that work best for me and fit my personality and temperament. It’s all about finding the particular strategies that blend into the background of your day while managing to keep your time on track.

Here’s what works for me:

1. I track with text documents. I use a simple text document on my computer to track only the tasks I might forget. If I know I’ll get to it, or it’s not a huge deal if I forget, then I don’t write it down. This method has always felt like a happy balance between spontaneity and order.
2. I place important projects first. I start each day with three hours of work on my most important projects. This cherished ritual ensures that I’m always making progress in the areas that matter most.
3. I set dedicated time slots. I try to have specific times of day for specific activities. For example, a time for big projects and a time for little tasks, a time for exercise and a time for writing. Having those dedicated times means I don’t need a hard and fast schedule.
4. I don’t fill my entire day with activity. This plan isn’t for productivity reasons, but to increase life satisfaction. When I’m not running from one task straight into the other all day long, it leaves time to chit-chat with my wife, laugh with my kids, or pop out the front door for a bit of sunshine.
5. I reflect. I spend a good deal of time in reflection—probably way more than most people. I think it’s just as important to be working on the right thing as it is to work hard—so I regularly evaluate what’s getting my attention versus what should be.
6. I say no to many opportunities. Saying no is especially hard when it feels like something you could do well or wish you had time for, but I try to be obsessed with focus in order not to spread my efforts too thin.
7. I refrain from personal phone use. Until my four most important daily habits have been completed, I stay off my phone—usually until the evening. My days are largely free of one of modern life’s biggest distractions, leaving me the freedom to tend to more important activities.

I encourage you to spend time thinking about your own time management habits this week and how they might evolve to better suit your goals.

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