I’m a single dad of three kids, work a full-time job, and love spending time with the people I love.
One of my biggest frustrations in life is a lack of time.
So many people to talk with, so many projects to undertake, so many ideas to make real, so much art to make, so many artists to help, so many books to read, so many blog posts to write, so many e-mails to send, so many games to play, so many movies and YouTube videos and music videos and CreativeLive courses to watch…
The math equation to determine your level of frustration is:
Ambition X Busyness
And don’t forget to carry the “I have barely enough energy to scroll through Instagram…”
I’ve written before about essentialism – the art of doing the most important work first. And I’ve written a series on time management and prioritization and motivation.
I’m re-reading the book Scrum by Jeff Sutherland, and here’s just one trick from that powerful organizational system:
The Rolling To-do List
(or Backlog, in Scrumspeak)
Emma has two boys, both under the age of 3 – both are napping less and less as they get older, which is leaving Emma hurting for time to work on her photography business.
She e-mailed me recently asking the ultimate time management question: how do I get more done in less time?
Particularly when that time isn’t consistent…15 minutes here, 2 hours there…
I’m a big fan of time blocking: scheduling chunks of time, usually 90 minutes, to deep dive into the Next Steps work of your art and business. But that won’t work if you have woeful little control over your free time. (I’m trying to get this e-mail out in the next 16 minutes before I need to wake up my youngest from her nap and fetch the eldest from her color guard practice.)
I’m compelled to turn this post into a 10-page course on Scrum Lite For Photographers, but let me focus on the rolling to-do list.
- Step 1: Create your backlog. List every to-do list item you could possibly dream of here. Nothing is too big or too small.
- Step 2: Roughly prioritize this list by putting the most important stuff at the top. (no perfection here, you can change it later)
- Step 3: Break down your top 3-5 to-do list items into baby steps: the smallest bite-sized, doable version of Next Steps to complete and achieve arguable success with that project or action item.
- Step 4: Anytime you have time, from 5 minutes to 90 or beyond, just bring up your list and start working on Item #1. Don’t think about it, don’t ponder the perfection of it, just Do The Work. If Item #1 is a beast that you can make no tangible progress on in 5 minutes, and you only have 5 minutes, grab the highest-level item that you CAN make progress on in the time you have.
- [Advanced: Next to each item, assign a Fibonacci number equal to the item’s perceived requirement of effort: 1 for fast and easy (a 1-5 minute task), 2 for harder, 3, 5, 8, 13 for the ugliest frogs to swallow. Or, if you prefer, rate by dog: Chihuaha, Shih Tzu, French Bulldog….to Great Dane.]
Test this for 30 days. See if you’re not making more progress with what little time you have on the most important actions that will move you forward in your art and business.
Then, change anything and everything about this system you want, to make it work FOR YOU. Have the confidence that you’re smart enough to see what is and isn’t working, and to change things and test them to see how to make it work better.
And, yes, this does mean you have permission to go out and buy a bunch of colorful sticky notes and turn your wall into a makeshift Running To-do List or Scrum board.
Have fun. 🙂
What’s your biggest hesitation to testing this system? What is and isn’t working for you in time management? E-mail me and let me know.
James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com