How I optimize my time and energy
Jeraldine Phneah
May 26, 2024
How we spend our time and energy defines the kind of life we will have.
Time is a non-renewable resource. Your 20s and 30s will fly by quickly.
Everything you do in life compounds - even more so when you are young. That is why you see the gap between people grow rapidly during this period.
It is not impossible but it is so much hard to build your career at an older age, to lose belly fat and to build new close relationships.
The last thing you want is to look back and regret wasting this time.
This is the best time to build and become your best self.
To help you get more out of your days, I decided to break down how I optimize my time and energy.
By Noah Kagan, CEO of AppSumo
1. Manage your life with Google Calendar and colour code
I live by my Google Calendar and log all my appointments, tasks and things to do there.
I also colour code my activities. In the above example, CEO of AppSumo Noah Kagan does it like this: Blue = Work; Green = Health; Red = Personal
By colour coding, I can look at my calendar and see which areas of my life are not being paid enough attention.
For example, if you say that family is a priority but there is not enough red in your calendar, then that is something to improve on in the next week.
My friends know that I live by Google Calendar and they will even send me invites to block out my time when we are fixing appointments.
2. Create automatic rules for your key habits
I picked up this idea when I was in JC from Cal Newport - Autopilot Schedule. This is a method for structuring your week by dedicating specific times and days for recurring tasks.
How I apply this:
My morning routine on weekdays are pretty consistent. I wake up at 6, take creatine and omega 3, do ice baths on two weekday mornings and then get to work at 730AM to 12PM.
I am in bed at 1030PM - 11PM on most days and even include that as part of my calendar:
Fixed bed time at 1030PM | I try to keep weekday evenings for social activities and alone time