How to allocate time correctly or how do I design a collider

To Article-review of Macbook pro one of the commentators said that I am not blogging, but designing some kind of hadron collider, apparently this is how I described my activities, claiming that I really need a MacBook. That conversation somehow sunk into my soul, and I decided to once again check what I do every day. The preliminary conclusion showed that I do not need a Mac, but a dishwasher :) But jokingly, the housekeeper would really be very useful, and I hope that sooner or later she will appear with us.

How to allocate time correctly

The content of the article

Time management problem

In principle, from time to time it is useful to do some kind of analytics of your daily actions in order to understand where you stick, and what time is used in the wrong place. But if we talk about time management, then I am not at all friends with him, because its main essence is the delegation of powers, that is, it is necessary to give up those things that you do not have to do yourself. This, of course, is correct, but so far in my work I cannot find what I have to give, because I seem to be able to do everything myself. And more often than not, it is only in the process that it turns out to understand what exactly is needed (because of this, I cannot draw up a technical specification). On the other hand, everything is clear with non-working matters: I’ll give the car to a car service, I’ll order the delivery of the goods at home instead of picking it up, I’ll get my hair cut in a hairdresser’s, I’ll give tax reports to My business, and so on. But in the work, where is the most effective action «the head», and where is the routine work for a hired freelancer? It's not clear ... And the trick still does not work, that, they say, let someone else do a cheap job, when I earn much more during this time - because I will not earn anything in fact, all activities are «one price» :)

If on fingers, then let's take blogging. It is clear that if the project is an author's, then the articles and photographs should be mine, the services of a copywriter and photo stocks, which would be suitable for some travel portal, will not be suitable here. And it seems to be even clear that if there is a lot of material, there is profit, then it makes sense to give the entire technical side to a web programmer in order to deal only with content. On the other hand, during this time I will rivet articles «the same cost», how much I will give to the programmer (in fact, it is difficult to estimate here), well, and, as I wrote above, I have a problem with the technical assignment - I want to redo something, but I need to tinker myself to understand how it should look, respectively, there is a fear , which will have to be redone later anyway.

But in any case, I understand that giving some of the work is right, and, as I see, many come to this over time. If you want to be effective, then you need to highlight the direction that is basic, and which only you can and want to lead, and the rest of the path is done by someone else. Thus, maximum efficiency is achieved, there is an opportunity to go deep into the full program in your area, instead of fumbling in many areas, but at the top. In principle, for this reason, I stopped making websites to order and writing articles, so that this earnings are nowhere, it is better to spend this time on developing a blog, which will pay off in the future.

In general, if you are familiar with such problems, then I would like to hear your opinion on how to learn how to properly allocate time, how to understand what to do on your own, and what you need to give in any way, how to assimilate information faster, how to do everything faster. Of course, I understand that the blog is not God knows what a difficult job, but none the less. People over there somehow manage to lead several pieces at a time, while others and portals lead alone.

Blogging

I have already uploaded an article and video about blogging, this is for those who think it is not stressful at all in time. Since then, a lot of water has flown under the bridge, so once again, what is now included in the work:

  • Writing articles. An article about impressions can be quickly written when you perk up, but some informational posts are written for a week, not including information processing.
  • Editing photos, signing and arranging them in the text. If there are 40 photos in an article, then even with minimal processing it is an hour, sign and place the same number. Yes, yes, the latter also takes a decent amount of time.
  • Commenting and answering questions. When the traffic to the blog becomes large, then questions are poured every day. And I can't help answering them, because the blog was created for this purpose, to help with information. But when a philosophical post is published, sometimes debates flare up there, and how not to participate in them if I myself ask this topic. Often, having sat down in the morning to answer questions for the last couple of days, this is where my working day ends.
  • E-mail and PM correspondence. And, if I now send everyone with questions to the comments, then all the same, the correspondence remains. Sometimes it's personal, sometimes it's business. Often you have to rewrite with some technical support of this or that service.
  • Solution of technical issues. Based on my experience, I can say that these questions arise all the time, then one plugin fell off, then the cross-posting stopped working, then the block on the site went somewhere. Yes, of course, if you use the minimum functionality, then the technical side will be minimized, however, on the contrary, I constantly want to add something new, and not remove it, because progress does not stand still and you need to keep up with the times, improving usability.
  • Website promotion and development analysis. This is what I am doing the least now, but it needs to be done. And just this very point turns out to be stupid to give to the side, because an author's blog with earnings on contextual advertising is unprofitable to promote in principle, besides, it is also by someone else's hands.

Working time analytics

To analyze the time spent at the computer, for example, you can use the Time Tracker software (Windows) and the online service and Yaware application (Windows and Mac OS). But this time, I decided to do everything by hand, because it was important for me to understand what I was doing offline too..

8:30 rise, cleaning, turn on the computer
8:45 am I wash the dishes in the evening
8:50 I cook compote for Egor
9:00 am picking blueberries for Egor
9:15 am checking my mail, replied to 2 comments and 1 letter
9:30 am looking for photos for an article and came across Yegor's photocopy documents - thinning out
9:45 am I wash my face
9:50 intercepted Egor
9:55 am going to the shower
10:00 finishing food for Daria (Egor fell and hangs on his chest)
10:15 am wash the dishes after breakfast, remove the consequences of breakfast
10:20 am the defectologist
10:45 distracted and responded to comment
10:55 I listen to the defectologist
11:55 I make breakfast for myself
12:00 conversation with Daria, conversation on the phone
12:15 am I have breakfast at the computer, comments + mail, thin out the photos for the article and process
13:25 I upload a photo from lightroom, upload it to the blog, a couple of messages in contact, sign pictures, finish the article
13:50 I warm up lunch for Yegor and my dishes
14:00 digitizing Yegor's documents
14:10 getting ready for the massage (food, clothes), dressing myself and getting ready
14:25 I am digitizing Yegor's documents
14:35 I take off and hang the laundry
14:40 we go out for a massage
14:55 arrived for a massage, I work in the car: VKontakte messages, to-thai (publication of announcements and verification, plugin setup)
15:35 life-trip (search for keys, preparing an article, checking a plugin, responding to a comment)
16:00 the massage is over, we went home (on the way they fed Yegor, they then went for a walk)
16:40 came home, I'm making a salad
17:00 left to make insurance for the car
17:35 finishing the salad
17:40 eat and look at mail / VK / comments, read about Yegor's analyzes
17:55 phone call, even two
18:00 Dealing with the plugin, answering via Skype
18:50 to-thai
19:20 An article about Chang, choosing pictures
20:20 I play with Egor
20:35 telephone conversation
21:00 I warm up food for Egor
21:10 mail, I understand the terms of the booking.com affiliate program, comments, I read about the bill
22:00 writing an article
22:40 fluidity, surfing, doing nothing
1:00 went to bed

I put this sheet here just for example, there are different days, sometimes more to do, sometimes less. At the time of recording the daily routine, we were in Moscow, we had a course of massage and exercise therapy. And, for example, in a couple of weeks we moved from Butovo and we began a new course of massage, gymnastics and styling, in which Daria and my mother were involved (we had to keep Egor). And I ran through the instances and registered individual entrepreneur. It's funny, there were three of us adults, but still did not have time to do what was needed.

How to allocate time correctly - some conclusions

  • You need to do less switching between cases. I read that there is a rule 45 + 15. When 45 minutes you work on one thing, and 15 minutes you rest or do small things. Moreover, during these 45 minutes, you need to write down in a notebook those small things that arise in the process, so as not to clog your head with them and not switch. In total, I got about 6:30 on that day for work, and very little was done due to switching.
  • For me personally, it is obvious that we need a person who will do housework and cooking, even 2-3 times a week. Because that day it took about 2 hours to do such things. At the very least, this will free me, and I, in turn, will be able to take on Egor more often. Here it is just clear that homework should be delegated. Alternatively, put at least a dishwasher.
  • Allocate a separate time (or maybe not fixed, but no more than 1-2 times a day) for responding to mail and comments. I already made a delay before answering about a day, it remains to do it once a day.
  • Still, you need a workplace in a closed room. Because I myself am constantly distracted by everything that happens around, and Daria does not succeed in considering me as a working person - «well, he's standing next to me / sitting, not somewhere at work». As an option, I tried to work with headphones with loud music, but this is not quite the same, I get tired of the noise.
  • Still, you need to overpower yourself and learn to do technical assignment in order to shift the technical part of the site to someone else. Since looking for a bug can gobble up all day.
  • Daria should be licensed or more often use taxi services so that I don't have to take them somewhere with my own hands every time.

P.S. I will be glad to advice and personal experience on the topic of how to do everything, is there an objective criterion little / much did, how to choose what to delegate and what not, does the regime help «go to bed early, get up early» etc.

P.P.S. I also liked a good article on Habré about the basics of time management ?, where only to find the strength to organize yourself like this.

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