More time
jasonleow • 13 Feb 2025 •
Before you throw more time at the problem, throw more focused action at the problem. You don’t need more time, you need fewer distractions. – @JamesClear
I keep saying I’m too busy, I don’t have time, I need more time.
But what if what James Clear said is true?
Maybe I don’t need more time, just prioritised action.
Every day I have 1-2h of deep work in the morning for my products. The only time in the day now for indie hacking. Somedays it’s just 1h, or less (because sleep deprivation is a bitch).
And I keep thinking that that pocket of time isn’t enough. Yet I continue to spend that time working on stuff that don’t always move the needle:
- Small tasks to clock my commit for the day. I’m committed to this streak but not all tasks are created equal. Some just checks the box but doesn’t help me move forward. I have to change this, be more mindful. Prioritize ruthlessly. Plan the right task to do the night before.
- Writing my post for the day. I love writing, but let’s face it, in the face of low bandwidth and huge sunk costs, my daily post probably isn’t the most mission-critical. I’d still do it because I enjoy it and it’s like mental hygiene now, but perhaps it should be outside of my deep work time, or done in a way it doesn’t take up much of that precious, sacred hour (like writing a draft the night before).
- Snooze less. I’m tired, don’t sleep enough. So I tend to snooze and cut my window short. But if I’m going to get bad sleep snoozing anyway, I might as well wake up and nap a quality nap later.
So there. Maybe if I stick to these routines and habits, I might get a proper 2-3h window.
I don’t need more time. I just need more focused action.
Comments
You guys have been daily writing long enough. Does it really take that much time to write your daily posts? If mine takes more than ten minutes, something is off. It’s an exercise, not a treatise. @jasonleow You just had to mention sleep deprivation. What are you allowing to take priority over proper sleep?
@haideralmosawi Yeah i shifted to 80% writing at end of day and 20% in morning or pre-lunch. Don’t want to write at night cos risks of streak break haha. So I come up with a draft, or at least the idea, the night before
@therealbrandonwilson Yeah if I got an idea or rough draft ready to go, about 10-15min. Otherwise, it can take 30min. But even 15min is too much when you only got 1-2h deep work time. It’s the context switching costs actually. As for sleep, yeah I’ve come to terms that at my life stage and household situation, going with 6h as a minimum now is the trade-off I have to just accept. Would love to get 8h, but it’s a luxury for the present circumstances.
I struggle with this issue, myself. I try to get my writing in first thing in the day and sometimes struggle to come up with something to write about. This ends up pushing all my other commitments back. So maybe I can have my writing session at the end of the day (but not like the times I rush to write something before midnight 🤣)
Prioritizing money-making tasks (or what moves the needle) is really important. Procrastination can creep up on us in the most subtle of ways. 🥲