Here’s a useful exercise. Think of an hour in your day where you get to do something discretionary. Maybe it’s watching a great TV show, reading a book, conversing with a loved one, getting ahead on tomorrow’s work, or working through your email inbox to get it down to zero. If you do this thing […]
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“How Do You Do It All?”
Sometimes someone will say to me, “Dave, how do you do it all? Teaching, writing, speaking, being a husband, being a dad… how do you find the time?” The answer is always the same: I find the time because I don’t do anywhere close to it all. Let me give a few examples: I can’t […]
Systems v. Disciplines
One school of thought in time management is that if you get the right system in place, and if you follow it well enough, then you’ll be able to do all of the things that you’re supposed to do. You can get it all done. This is not a school of thought that I subscribe […]
Two Ways to Make It Less Complicated
In 1955, civil service worker Cyril Northcote Parkinson invented a beautiful truism called Parkinson’s Law in an article of The Economist. The law describes “the commonplace observation that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” While you can almost see the wry smile on his face from the tone of […]
Why Are You Grading That?
The next time you’re sitting with a stack of papers, I want you to imagine that I knock on the door, walk in, and sit down next to you (awkwardly). I put my hand on the stack of things that you’re grading, and I say, “Hey there, colleague. Question: Why are you grading that?” If […]