How to set priorities, plan your schedule, and manage your time in 2023

How are you?

Nowadays, most people answer that question with one word: busy. And yet it doesn’t have to be that way! If we eliminate what isn’t essential, we’ll have more time for the things that matter, much like John Milton writes in Paradise Regained (also available on Audible):

All things are best fulfilled in their due time; and time there is for all things.

If you need more guidance, here are some of my favourite Seth Godin quotes from his 2022 blog posts, together with a recommended title from Blinkist.

Get in, or get out. Wasting time sitting on the fence wastes far more time and emotion than you’d expend committing to something. ~ In or out 

Learn more: Procrastination

Now is better than later, and perfect is an illusion. ~ Might as well quit  

Learn more: Being and Time

Your time, my time, their time–we all get the same number of minutes per day. If you spend them on someone, they can tell. ~ Time doesn’t scale  

Learn more: Two Awesome Hours

The way we spend our time is the way we spend our lives. ~ Generative hobbies  

Learn more: The Science of Living

We get a huge benefit from making a simple commitment: don’t miss deadlines. The benefit is that once we agree to the deadline, we don’t have to worry about it anymore. ~ On schedule  

Learn more: The Free-Time Formula

It never pays to wait until a deadline, but when you see the world changing, it might be a good excuse to redouble your efforts.The stale green light  

Learn more: Wait

Rushing can help us overcome the status quo and our fear of the unknown. It can also lead to choices that hurt us in the long run. ~ The thing about a gold rush 

Learn more: When

The last minute is an easy habit to fall into. Once you start focusing on crises, it makes it really difficult to find the focus and energy to begin planning ahead. But the last minute can be risky and expensive. ~ Calculating the last minute 

Learn more: Saving Time

Just because it’s fast doesn’t mean it’s worth doing. ~ “Not a heavy lift” 

Learn more: Time Warped

Professionals put things away slowly so that they’ll be ready quickly when needed. Investing time now for time later. ~ Coiling ropes 

Learn more: In Praise of Slowness

Productivity is a measure of the value of what we ship in the time we’ve got to invest. It’s not measured in drama. It’s possible to do great work without putting everything in jeopardy. ~ The next train 

Learn more: Successful Time Management

When we give away our day, we give away our future. ~ Time and focus and energy 

Learn more: The First 2 Hours

The last minute is not a buffer zone, nor is it the moment to double-check your work. The last minute is simply sixty seconds to enjoy and to remind yourself that you successfully planned ahead. ~ The last minute 

Learn more: Buy Back Your Time

Stalling costs us more than we expect. We get stressed from the act of stalling, and then later, we will have to pay the ongoing cost of putting off work and decisions that would have been easier and more profitable a while ago. ~ How many good days?  

Learn more: The Procrastination Cure 

We each have a limited number of tickets to trade in. Limited time, limited opportunities, limited money and other resources. How will you spend today’s tickets? ~ Using your tickets  

Learn more: The Miracle Morning

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