How To Take Control Of Your Time

Try the E.A.D.O. Method I use to take control of my time:

Step 1: TIME-AWARENESS
⌙ Open a Google Doc and list all the activities you typically do during the day (or week).
⌙ Next to each activity, record the time you usually spend on each of them.
⌙ The more specific you are in listing ALL the activities, the better.
⌙ So, don’t only list the macro-activities; include all the MICRO-activities.

Step 2: ELIMINATION
⌙ Ask yourself: “Of all the activities on my list, which ones can I eliminate?”
⌙ By “Elimination” I mean throwing that activity in the trash.
⌙ For this step, you need zero money and zero time.
⌙ Once you realize what activities you want to eliminate, mark an “E” next to them.

Step 3: AUTOMATION
⌙ Ask yourself: “Of all the activities on my list that can’t be eliminated, which ones can I automate?”
⌙ By “Automation” I mean achieving the same result but assigning that activity to a robot/software/tool. A classic example is Calendly
⌙ For this step, you need zero or a little money (just to pay for the tool) and zero or a little time (just to understand the tool).
⌙ Once you realize what activities you want to automate, mark an “A” next to them.

Step 4: DELEGATION
⌙ Ask yourself: “Of all the activities on my list that can’t be eliminated or automated, which ones can I delegate?”
⌙ By “Delegation” I mean achieving the same result but giving that activity to a person.
⌙ For this step, you need a little bit more money (to pay the person) and a little bit more time (to delegate the activity to the person)
⌙ Once you realize what activities you want to delegate, mark a “D” next to them.

Step 5: OPTIMIZATION
⌙ Ask yourself: “Of all the activities on my list that can’t be eliminated or automated or delegated, which ones can I optimize?”
⌙ By “Optimization” I mean achieving the same result but using less time to do that activity. For example, you can optimize in terms of:
⌙ ⌙  Energy: doing activities that need more energy during the times of the day when you are more energetic.
⌙ ⌙ Distractions: removing distractions like social media, smartphone, etc.
⌙ ⌙ Productivity techniques: for example, I work in 50-minute slots, and from one slot to the next  I do a 2-minute high-skip exercise to regain energy.

⌙ For this step, you don’t need any money, but you do need some time to figure out how to optimize your time.
⌙ Once you realize what activities you want to optimize, mark an “O” next to them.

Step 6: IMPLEMENTATION
⌙ Implement the Elimination, Automation, Delegation, and Optimization, and become aware of how much time you’ll be able to save.
⌙ Then, use the time saved for whatever you want (family, friends, pets, sports, hobby, work, nothing…)

That’s how I manage my time. I simply use the E.A.D.O. Method.