Get More Done Without Burning Out
Summary
Two mindset principles and two practical actions that enable me to achieve more in less time, and that might just help you do the same:
Stop optimising for today and focus on optimising for the long-term
Accept that your to-do list will never be done
Plan your week in advance and time-block everything
Schedule one 90-minute deep focus block a day
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"Pat, how do you fit it all in?" I turned to my friend and smiled. "Seriously," he continued, "the coaching, running your own business, training and racing as a competitive Ironman triathlete, having time with Majd, your family and friends - even squeezing in Arsenal matches - all whilst seeming to be energised and without burning out? How do you do it?"
It is a question I get asked quite a lot and to which my initial response is always: imperfectly and with difficulty.
I don't always get it right. Sometimes I take on too much, become stressed and overwhelmed. Other times I struggle to switch off at night. Some days I am tired and just have to push through.
While all this is true, I have over time developed a system which enables me to be much more efficient with my time. A system built upon some key mindset principles and practical behaviours. Here are my top two from each.
Mindset Principle 1: Extend your time horizon
This was possibly the biggest productivity-related mindset shift I have experienced and it took me a long time to see the magic in it: stop trying to optimize your output today.
It seems counterintuitive. I, perhaps like you, instinctively want to push harder, to do more. When I've completed the tasks I aimed to complete today, there is always that voice nudging me to tick just a few more off, to respond to just a few more emails.
This drive is a strength - but like all strengths, it needs to be tempered. Because left unchecked, it pushes me to overextend and, while I may go to bed having achieved more that day, I will actually achieve less over the course of the week.
Because overextension one day leads to a decline in energy and efficiency across the days that follow. And so, if we try to maximize our output today, we end up achieving less. But extend your time horizon and you will achieve more.
Mindset Principle 2: The to-do list will never be done
See your to-do list as a menu of options rather than something to be completed.
For a long time I operated from the belief that my to-do list was something I should and must complete. But in completing tasks, I would create new ones. I'd hand off one piece of work to my manager, only for her to pass two back to me. I'd end the day with a longer list than when I started, feeling always one step behind.
Until I heard Oliver Burkeman's reframe: see your to-do list not as something to be completed, but as a menu of options to select from. The goal is not to clear it. The goal is to identify the couple of things that are most important each day and to focus on those. The rest? Let them wait. The ever increasing list? Let it grow.
Action 1: Plan the week in advance and time-block everything
Before the week begins - usually on a Friday or over the weekend - I plan and time-block everything in my calendar. And I mean everything. Coaching sessions, meetings, deep focus blocks, training, social plans, toilet breaks (okay, maybe not those so perhaps not everything, but you get the picture!)
This does many things, but here are two key ones:
First, it means the important work actually gets done, rather than being crowded out by whatever feels urgent in the moment. When something seemingly urgent comes up, I can immediately weigh it against what's already planned and decide whether it truly needs to bump something, or whether it can wait.
Second, the time blocks apply productive pressure. This is Parkinson's Law, you may have heard of it and you've definitely experienced it: work expands to fill the time available for it. Give yourself a day to write a report and it takes a day; give yourself two hours and it's done in two hours.
Time-block your week to help you stay on track.
Time-blocking forces focus, reduces procrastination, and cuts unnecessary drag and overspill. When I know I only have 1 hour to prepare a deck, I am far less likely to spend some of those precious minutes checking BBC Sport for transfer rumour updates.
Action 2: Daily 90-minute deep focus block
Each day - ideally in the morning, when focus comes more naturally to me and distractions are fewer - I aim for one 90-minute block of complete, unbroken focus.
The concept is simple: work on a single task and eliminate all distractions. Phone in another room. Noise-cancelling headphones on with 40hz binaural beats playing (I like this Spotify playlist). All unnecessary tabs closed - including and especially email. Timer set for 90 minutes and I do not move until it goes off.
Schedule in a 90 minute deep focus block each day.
What this enables me to do, is to get into flow - that state where all sense of time evaporates and you are completely locked in. What I consistently find (as supported by the science) is that one genuinely focused 90-minute block produces more than four hours of fractured, distracted time.
The goal: Consistency
Sat on the plane flying back from Lisbon last Saturday, I was listening to Alistair Brownlee on Spencer Matthews' Untapped podcast. A double Olympic gold medallist and one of the greatest endurance athletes of all time, Brownlee was asked what the real key to success in endurance sport is.
His answer: races and gold medals are not won from one massive training session three weeks ago, they are won from the consistent compounding of training sessions over time. Week after week, month after month. That is how the body adapts - gradually and with consistent work.
The same is true for doing great work, in whatever form that looks for you.
It all comes back to consistency. The goal, then, is to build a system that enables you to show up and do the work, day after day after day. It's not particularly glamorous and it's not very sexy. But I think there is something quite beautiful in that.
Deepen Your Learning
For those interested in diving deeper into productivity, Oliver Burkeman's Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals is one of the most honest, original and thought-provoking books I’ve read on time management.
For my fellow endurance sport enthusiasts out there, the Alistair Brownlee episode of Spencer Matthews' Untapped podcast is a great listen.
